Plundering Network Groups Is a Form of Violent Theft

If someone forcibly takes over an online group on the internet, changes the group's ownership, compels group members to abandon their previous learning, and forces them to study the Dharma as determined by the group taker, thereby altering the members' sense of belonging and autonomy, this constitutes theft. If this person was instigated by others or an organization, then those others or the organization are the primary thieves, while the person who seized the group is an accomplice in theft. Both parties bear the offense of theft and robbery, having robbed the group's resources, including its members.

If someone maliciously incites, subverts, and lures away the group's administrators and key members, sowing discord between the members and the group owner, such actions also constitute theft, stealing the group's resources and members. If such acts are committed against a group led by ordained monastics, it constitutes the offense of destroying the Sangha Jewel's propagation of the Dharma, the offense of theft by alienating sentient beings from the Sangha Jewel, and the offense of stealing the resources of the Three Jewels. The nature of this goes far beyond simple theft; it is far more heinous. This is not the conduct of Buddhist practitioners nor of ordinary people. It is akin to the actions of disciples of demons, directed by demons, aimed at destroying the Three Jewels, dismantling the Sangha, and undermining Buddhism. As stated in the Earth Store Sutra: "Slandering the Three Jewels, shedding the Buddha's blood, defiling the pure and falsely accusing the Sangha, sowing discord and stirring conflict, destroying or misusing things unreasonably, belittling the Dharma and disrespecting the teachings." Such karmic offenses constitute hellish karma, leading to the retribution of hell.