Instruction on the Sin of Killing on the Path

Original text from the first section of the Upāsaka Five Precepts Sūtra: If one dispatches someone to die along the road. Knowing that there are fierce, hungry beasts along that road. One sends them to proceed along that dangerous road. Thinking thus: May that person die in the dangerous road. If the person dies, the offender commits a non-expiable offense. Others who are involved also commit offenses. As explained above. This is called killing in a dangerous road.

Explanation: The method of killing by dispatching someone to die midway is as follows: The upāsaka, knowing beforehand that there are fierce beasts hungry along that road, sends the person he wishes to kill to that dangerous road, thinking thus: May he die in that dangerous road. If that person dies, the upāsaka commits a non-expiable offense. If that person does not die immediately but later dies as a result, the upāsaka also commits a non-expiable offense. If that person does not die immediately and later does not die as a result, the upāsaka commits a medium expiable offense. This is the method of killing in a dangerous road.

Although the person is actually eaten and killed by the beast, not directly by the upāsaka’s own hand, because it was intentionally schemed by the upāsaka, it is equivalent to the upāsaka killing him. This is even more serious than killing with one’s own hand, as it innocently causes the beast and that person to form an evil karmic bond. In the future, when the beast repays the debt, it will be far more painful than simply paying with one life.