Lzh Mu Bu Pm Pj 3Murder
Pāli / Sanskrit:Manussaviggaha
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Explanation of the Manussaviggaha Sutta (The Sutta on Killing a Human Being)
Background
The Manussaviggaha Sutta is found in the Vinaya Piṭaka of the Pāli Canon, specifically in the Pārājika section, the first and strictest regulations in Buddhist discipline. This discourse is recorded in the form of kamma paths, that is, actions leading to karmic results.
The background of this discourse arises from events in the bhikkhu community while the Buddha was alive. The discourse was established to define the boundary of actions that violate discipline, especially the act of killing a human being, one of the four great offenses (Pārājika) leading to expulsion from the Sangha community if violated. This is an important humane and legal work, reflecting respect for life and moral conscience in the early tradition of practice.
Main Content
The Manussaviggaha Sutta focuses on the legal and ethical definition of the act of killing a human being (manussaviggaha). According to the Theravāda Vinaya Piṭaka, if a bhikkhu or bhikkhunī has the deliberate intention to kill a living human being (manussassa jīvitā voropanāya), whether by hand, knife, or poison, and if that human being dies because of that action, then the practitioner has committed Pārājika, an absolute violation.
The discourse clearly explains three factors constituting this offense: first, the object is a living human being, a biological body possessing life; second, intention (cetanā) deliberately wishing to harm; third, the result that death occurs. If one of these three factors is absent, the act may still be considered a breach of discipline, but it will be classified differently, more lightly than Pārājika.
The discourse also considers borderline situations: if a bhikkhu has no intention to kill but unintentionally causes a person’s death; or if he has the intention but another person dies instead of the intended person; or if he attempts to kill but does not succeed. These cases are considered separately in the context of lighter offenses, often called Saṅghādisesa or Pācittiya.
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