Disclaimer: This translation does not guarantee complete accuracy, please confirm with the original page text.
The statement of the right time is: "The killing of a living being with the knowledge of its being a living being and with the intention to kill, and the action done in that way. The separation from life is caused by five kinds of violence." ||1||
It is said that karma is not accumulated by mere knowledge, etc. To show that there is some accumulation even in the subtle, the second half of the verse says, "Puththo". Thus, even by four kinds of karma, namely, knowledge-based, body-based, ignorance-based, and dream-like, one is slightly touched, and he experiences the result of that karma by mere touch, not by excessive ripening. This means that just as a lump of earth falling on a roof is immediately cleaned, so also the result is experienced immediately after the touch. Therefore, it is said that there is no decay of it, but not its complete absence. Thus, that which is subtle, indistinct, and not clearly experienced in the result, like the holding of a hoof, is subtle and exists with the fault. That is the karma based on knowledge, etc. ||25||
Commentary: The Āgama-kāra explains the statement that karma is free from mental anxiety, by saying:
A person who knows that he is killing a living being, but is not a killer by body, does not have the bondage of karma. The root "kuṭṭa" means piercing. The action of piercing is called ākuṭṭana or ākuṭṭa. The one who does it is called ākuṭṭī. The one who is not ākuṭṭī is called anākuṭṭī. Anākuṭṭī means non-violent or free from violence. This means that a person who kills a living being by mere mental action due to anger, etc., but does not pierce, cut, or destroy the limbs of the living being, does not have the accumulation or bondage of his evil karma. A person who is ignorant, does not have anger, etc., in his mind, and kills a living being by mere bodily action, does not have the accumulation or bondage of karma because there is no mental violence. The half part of this verse has already been said by the commentator in this regard, that the monks have this principle that four types of karma are not accumulated or bound. In this, the two divisions of knowledge-based and ignorance-based, which are done knowingly and unknowingly, are directly taken by the first half of the verse. And the remaining two divisions, namely, path-based and dream-like, are taken by the word "cha". The meaning of "īraṇa" or "īrya" is going. The path or way related to it is called "īrya-path". The karma that is bound by it is called "īrya-path" or "īrya-pathic". This means that while walking on the road, if a living being is killed unknowingly, karma is not bound. Dream-like karma is also not bound. According to common belief, dream is called "svapnānta". The one who is related to "svapnānta" is called "svapnānta". That "svapnānta" karma is also not binding. For example, if someone eats food in a dream, but in reality, he does not feel satisfied or his hunger is not satisfied. Similarly, karma is not bound by killing a living being in a dream. The question is raised, then how do those monks have karma bound? How do they believe in karma bondage? In this context, they say that if the one who is being killed is a living being, and the one who is killing, the killer, knows that he is a living being, and the killer has the thought that I am killing him, then if the killer tries to kill him with his body, and as a result of that effort, the living being is killed, then there is actually violence, and only then is there accumulation or bondage of karma.
(83)