Types of Stolen Items

The issue of stealing is highly complex. As society modernizes, people become more self-centered, and sentient beings possess more belongings than ever before—things previously unimaginable are now owned. These possessions include not only tangible material forms (rūpa) visible to the eye or touchable by the body, but also intangible, formless dharmas, such as information. In reality, the scope of objects that can be stolen is extremely broad, encompassing all dharmas within the five aggregates (skandhas) and eighteen elements (dhātus): the form aggregate, feeling aggregate, perception aggregate, mental formations aggregate, and consciousness aggregate; the six sense bases, six sense objects, and six sense consciousnesses. This includes all rūpa-dharmas (material phenomena), citta-dharmas (mental phenomena), dharmas that are neither material nor mental, as well as the mind and all mental factors (caitasika). To enumerate them specifically would be virtually countless. Both the means of stealing and the objects stolen belong to the dharmas within an individual's five aggregates and eighteen elements and are owned by that individual. If someone forcibly appropriates them without the owner's consent, that constitutes stealing.

As modern technology advances, the range of dharmas that can be stolen increases exponentially, beyond what ancient people could have even conceived. In ancient times, even if someone committed theft, it usually involved stealing property, or at most, stealing a person—all tangible, solid objects. Nowadays, stealing tangible hardware is becoming less common, while stealing intangible software is increasingly prevalent. Below, we will attempt to enumerate them, though they are countless and impossible to list exhaustively. Nevertheless, providing a general classification can help Buddhists examine themselves, engage in self-reflection, repent promptly, strive to eliminate some karmic offenses, remove obstacles on the path of practice, abandon evil and turn towards good, reforming past conduct and cultivating virtue for the future.

Regarding the precept against stealing within the Five Precepts, the dharmas pertaining to what can steal and what can be stolen can be categorized as follows: The first category is tangible, material rūpa-dharmas; the second is intangible but substantial rūpa-dharmas; the third is formless, immaterial dharmas that are neither rūpa nor citta; the fourth is citta-dharmas (mental phenomena); and the fifth is caitasika-dharmas (mental factors).

The first category, tangible material objects, can be seen by the eye, touched by the body, heard by the ear, smelled by the nose, or tasted by the tongue. This includes money, jewelry, various items—all rūpa-dharmas. It also includes the five-aggregate bodies (pancaskandha) of humans and animals, their organs, corpses, etc. These are clear to everyone.

The second category, intangible but substantial rūpa-dharmas, cannot be seen by the eye, heard by the ear, smelled by the nose, or tasted by the tongue, but they can be touched by the body or perceived by consciousness (vijñāna) and the mind faculty (manas). Examples include the magnetic field contained within the human body, the energy fields or auras cultivated by practitioners, etc. A magnetic field is an invisible material energy; every living being possesses a different magnetic field, which affects others differently, having properties of mutual generation and mutual overcoming. Stealing someone else's special magnetic field energy to nourish oneself without their knowledge and permission also constitutes stealing. Not only magnetic fields, but also energy, vitality, essence (jing), qi, spirit (shen), etc.—unauthorized appropriation or use of these constitutes theft. For instance, absorbing others' vital essence (jing) to supplement one's own qi, practices like "absorbing yin to nourish yang" (采阴补阳), etc., all fall under stealing.

The third category, formless and immaterial dharmas, includes: reputation, fame, power, status, merit (punya), image, moral character, patent rights, trademark rights, time, secrets, autonomy, decision-making rights, voting rights, and all other rights and benefits. Appropriating others' labor achievements as one's own, such as monographs, theses, patents, inventions, creations, ideas, designs, etc., would require further subdivision into many types, with different categories having different ownership.

The fourth category is citta-dharmas (mental phenomena): stealing the mind, deceiving others' emotions, deluding the first seven consciousnesses (manas and the six sensory consciousnesses) to gain trust, appropriating what others like, appropriating the dharmas others perceive through seeing, hearing, and knowing, as well as using means to cause others to have perceptual illusions, misunderstandings, misinterpretations, etc.

The fifth category is caitasika-dharmas (mental factors): contact (sparsa), attention (manasikāra), feeling (vedanā), perception (samjñā), volition (cetanā); desire (chanda), resolve (adhimoksha), mindfulness (smriti), concentration (samādhi), wisdom (prajñā); and the eleven wholesome mental factors. Examples include suppressing others' feelings, depriving others of their thoughts, making decisions or choices on behalf of others, appropriating others' ideas and opinions as one's own, etc.