Stealing is the act of taking away what others love.

Once we have summarized all the content of stealing and clearly expounded the behavior of stealing, we will know exactly how many people in the world commit stealing and how widespread the phenomenon of stealing is—and this includes Buddhists. Only the noble-minded person does not steal. A noble-minded person can refrain from looking at what is improper, refrain from listening to what is improper, and understands not to do unto others what one does not wish done to oneself. But how many noble-minded people are there in the world? The noble-minded people of ancient times were pure in body and pure in mind, with a purified mind and few desires, indifferent to fame and fortune, and without contention with the world. Generally they would not have the mental conduct of stealing; they knew how to respect others and would not deprive sentient beings of what was theirs. Nowadays, many people who keep pets sterilize their pet cats and dogs—all of this counts as depriving cats and dogs of their reproductive rights without their consent. One who respects sentient beings will not violate them, and will have neither the mind nor the conduct of stealing. Selfish, domineering, and overbearing people frequently violate the interests of sentient beings; they may violate them at every moment and in every place without even realizing it.

Take any single precept and it turns out to be extremely deep and subtle. If one has the conditions, circumstances, and merit (puṇya) to observe every precept fully, one can truly bind the manas tightly with the precepts; one will have no mind for unwholesome deeds, and gradually one will have no mind even for what is not unwholesome, and one's progress on the Path will advance. The noble-minded do not take away what others love. Nowadays people in the world burn with greed, compete to outdo one another, crave grandeur and credit for achievements, have a strong desire for self-display, and all want to stand above others—can such people refrain from depriving and violating sentient beings? Each one wants to highlight themselves, proving themselves by belittling others; their hearts are not even kind enough.