The Phenomenon of Stealing in the Three Evil Destinies

Beings in the three evil destinies are the poorest in the six destinies. Beings in hell, because of extreme suffering, have no way to commit evil karma, and that is why there is no talk of stealing among them. Hungry ghost beings, because they possess supernatural powers, easily develop stealing: some devour the vital essence of humans, some possess human bodies, and some use all of a person's necessities of life—this is living by stealing life. As for animals, first, they devour one another; second, they depend on humans—either being raised by humans, or stealing human food. A few kinds of animals live by relying on nature, such as bees gathering flowers to make honey, silkworms eating mulberry leaves, and cattle and sheep grazing on grass; they do not live by stealing. Yet it is precisely these animals that are schemed against by humans. For example, bees laboriously make honey, only to have it stolen by humans and other animals in the end. Animals generally survive by stealing, robbing, and fighting—this habit has become fixed, because being poor and incapable, they have no other way.

When an animal's evil karma is temporarily exhausted and its merit is sufficient to be reborn as a human, it temporarily becomes a person, yet it still carries over the animal's habitual tendency of stealing, without having much of a human's disposition. That is why most people also steal from one another; because they are accustomed to it, they do not consider it wrong, and even take it for granted. Evil people do not know they are evil, and the mentally ill do not know they have a mental illness—it is just like this.

People who have descended from the heavenly realms are, generally speaking, aloof and proud, noble-minded, generous, and fond of doing good and giving; they disdain to use other people's things. Their minds have a fastidious purity, and their bodies likewise; they do not engage in the lowly deed of stealing.