The Crime of Killing One's Mother

Original text of the first section of the Upāsaka Five Precepts Sūtra:若居士作方便欲杀母。而杀非母。是中罪可悔。若居士欲杀非母。而自杀母。是犯中罪可悔。非逆。若居士方便欲杀人。而杀非人。是中罪可悔。若居士作方便欲杀非人。而杀人者。犯小可悔罪。若人怀畜生胎。堕此胎者。犯小可悔罪。若畜生怀人胎者。堕此胎死者。犯不可悔。

Explanation: If an upāsaka adopts certain means intending to kill his own mother, but what he actually kills is not his own mother, in this case he commits a moderate, expiable offense. This is because subjectively he had no intention to kill toward the one who was not his mother; it was a mistaken killing. If the person an upāsaka intends to kill is not his own mother, yet as a result he kills his own mother, he also commits a moderate, expiable offense; because he had no intention to kill his mother, he does not incur the five rebellious acts offense of killing his mother.

If an upāsaka devises certain skillful means intending to kill a person, but what he actually kills is a non-human being, he commits a moderate, expiable offense, because the offense of killing a non-human being is lighter. If an upāsaka devises certain skillful means intending to kill a non-human being, but as a result kills a person, he commits a minor, expiable offense, because he did not intend to kill a person; the person was killed by mistake, so the offense is light. If a human is pregnant with an animal fetus and aborts this fetus, he commits a minor, expiable offense. If an animal is pregnant with a human fetus and aborts this fetus, causing it to die, the offense is non-expiatable, because this is equivalent to intentionally killing a person.

Original text:若居士作杀人方便。居士先死。后若有死者。是罪犯可悔。若居士欲杀父母。心生疑。是父母非耶。若定知是父母杀者。是逆罪。不可悔。若居士生疑。是人非人。若心定知是人杀者。犯不可悔。

Explanation: If an upāsaka devises skillful means to kill a person, but the upāsaka himself dies first, and afterwards if some other person dies because of the skillful means he devised, the upāsaka commits an expiable offense. If an upāsaka intends to kill his father or mother but doubts arise in his mind, uncertain whether the person is his parent or not—if he knows for certain that it is his parent and kills him, he commits one of the five rebellious acts, which is non-expiatable. If an upāsaka has doubts in his mind, uncertain whether the other party is a human or a non-human being, if he knows for certain in his mind that the other party is a human and kills him, he commits a non-expiatable offense.