The Offense of Unintentional Killing

Original text of the first section of the Sūtra on the Karmic Consequences of the Five Precepts for Upāsakas: 若居士母想杀非母。犯不可悔。非逆罪。若戏笑打他。若死者。是罪可悔。若狂不自忆念杀者。无罪。

Explanation: If an upāsaka intends to kill his mother, but kills someone who is not his mother while mistaking that person for his mother, he commits an unpardonable offense, but it is not one of the five acts of immediate retribution. The upāsaka's mind intended to kill his mother, yet what he actually killed was not his mother; since he did not kill his mother, he does not commit the act of immediate retribution. If, while playing and joking with someone, he strikes the person and the person dies, this constitutes accidental killing, an offense that is pardonable. If his mind is deranged and he has lost awareness of himself and kills someone, there is no offense, because there is no intention—no mind intending to kill the other person.

Original text: 若优婆塞用有虫水及草木中杀虫。皆犯罪。若有虫无虫想用。亦犯。若无虫虫想用者。亦犯。

Explanation: If an upāsaka uses water containing insects—whether drinking it, pouring it out, or watering the ground with it, causing the insects to die—or directly kills insects among grass and trees, he commits the offense of killing in all cases. If he clearly knows there are insects in the water, yet deceives himself into thinking there are none, and drinks or uses the water, he also commits the offense of killing. If there clearly are no insects in the water, yet he deceives himself into thinking there are, and still drinks or uses the water, he also commits the offense of killing, because he has the mind of killing.

There clearly are no insects in the water, yet one insists on imagining insects in it, and then drinks and uses this "insect-containing" water, thereby breaking the precept. Why bring this upon oneself? There are no insects, and in fact no insects were killed—so why does drinking the water still count as breaking the precept of not killing? Because the mind is not pure and harbors the mind of killing. In some water there really are insects; if you do not know it and drink or use the water, and the insects do die, it still does not count as breaking the precept of killing. Because there is no mind of killing, and the lives of insects are not highly valued; without the intention to kill, there is no violation of the precept.

Original text: 有居士起新舍。在屋上住。手中失梁。堕木师头上。即死。居士生疑。是罪为可悔不。问佛。佛言无罪。屋上梁。人力少不禁故。梁堕木师头上。杀木师。居士即生疑。佛言无罪。从今日作好用心。勿令杀人。

Explanation: There was an upāsaka who, while building a new house, was sitting on the roof holding a roof beam in his hands. He lost his grip, and the beam fell and struck a carpenter on the head, killing him. The upāsaka did not understand whether this offense of killing was pardonable, so he asked the Buddha. The Buddha said: "You are without offense."

While building a new house, because the man's strength was insufficient to hold up the beam, a roof beam fell from the roof and struck the carpenter on the head, and the carpenter died. The upāsaka did not understand what offense he had committed. The Buddha said to him: "You are without offense, but from now on, do things carefully and attentively; do not carelessly kill anyone again."

Original text: 又一居士屋上作。见泥中有蝎。怖畏跳下。堕木师上。即死。居士生疑。佛言无罪。从今日好用心作。勿令杀人。又一居士。日暮入险道值贼。贼欲取之。舍贼而走。堕岸下织衣人上。织师即死。居士即生疑。佛言无罪。

Explanation: Again, there was an upāsaka working on a roof who saw a scorpion in the mud. Frightened, he jumped down from the roof and landed right on top of the carpenter, who was struck and died. The upāsaka did not understand what offense he had committed. The Buddha said to him: "You are without offense. From now on, do things cautiously and attentively; do not carelessly kill anyone again."

Again, there was an upāsaka who, after nightfall, entered a dangerous road and encountered bandits. The bandits wanted to seize him. Fleeing from the bandits, he accidentally fell off a bank onto a person who was weaving clothes, and the weaver immediately died. The upāsaka did not understand what offense he had committed. The Buddha said to him: "You are without offense."

Original text: 又一居士山上推石。石下杀人。生疑。佛言无罪。若欲推石时。当先唱石下。令人知。又一人病痈疮未熟。居士为破而死。即生疑。佛言。痈疮未熟。若破者人死。是中罪可悔。若破熟痈疮死者。无罪。

Explanation: Again, there was an upāsaka who pushed a rock down from a mountain. The rock rolled down and killed a person. The upāsaka did not understand what offense he had committed. The Buddha said to him: "You are without offense. In the future, when you intend to push a rock down, you should first shout out that a rock is coming down, so that people are aware of it."

There was a patient suffering from an ulcer on the skin; the malignant sore had not yet matured. The upāsaka lanced the sore, causing the patient to die. The upāsaka did not understand what offense he had committed. The Buddha said to him: "When an ulcerous sore has not yet matured, if it is lanced, the person will die; this is a middling pardonable offense. If a matured ulcerous sore is lanced and the person dies, there is no offense."