20.1 Of Unintentional Crime (KV20.1)

Controverted Point: That the five cardinal crimes, even when unintentionally committed, involve retribution immediately after death.

Theravādin: But you imply that if I accidentally take away life, I am a murderer, and similarly as to the other four wicked deeds forbidden by morality that if I accidentally take what is not given, I am a thief … if I utter untruths unintentionally, I am a liar. You deny. Yet you wish to make exceptions to the relative innocence of such acts in just those five serious cases … .

Can you cite me a Sutta judging unintentional crime like that which says:

“He that intentionally takes his mother's life incurs immediate retribution”?

You cannot. Neither can you maintain your proposition.

Uttarāpathaka: But does not the fact remain that the mother's life is taken? Surely then the unintentional slayer also incurs immediate retribution. Similarly, too, does one who unintentionally kills father or Arahant, or sheds a Buddha's blood, incur a like doom.

Theravādin: Now as to the fifth of such crimes: do you imply that all schismatics incur such a doom? You deny. But think again! You now assent. But does a schismatic who is conscious of right incur it? You deny. But think again! You now assent. But was it not said by the Exalted One:

“There is a kind of schismatic, Upāli, who incurs disaster, purgatory, misery for an æon on, who is incurable; there is a kind of schismatic, Upāli, who does not incur such a doom, who is not incurable”?

Hence it is not right to say that a schismatic who is conscious of stating what is right incurs such a doom.

Uttarāpathaka: But was it not said by the Exalted One:

“He who breaks up the Order
is doomed to remain for an æon on
in states of suffering and woe?

“He who delights in party strife,
and adheres not to the Dhamma,
is cut off from Arahantship.
Having broken up the Order when it was at peace,
he must be cooked for an æon on in purgatory”?

Hence surely a schismatic incurs retribution immediately after death.

The Points of Controversy, an English translation of the Pali Abhidhamma Kathāvatthu. Translated by Shwe Zan Aung and C.A.F. Rhys Davids. First published by Pali Text Society, 1915.

This SuttaCentral edition was prepared by Manfred Wierich and Ven. Vimala and proofread by Josephine Tobin. Some changes were introduced:

Abbreviations, i.e., those of cited works and the participants in the controversies, were expanded.

Cross-references were linked.

Some typographic changes were introduced, among others, i.e.: the phonetic symbol “ŋ” was changed to the Pāli diacritical letter “ṃ”, “ô” to “o”, single quotes to double quotes, and “:—” to “:”.

Letter-spacing with fixed spaces was replaced with bold font.

The corrigenda were merged into the text. Some could not be resolved, though.

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