殺生をめぐるガワンタシの見解

The aim of this paper is to analyze the debate about compassionate killing and unintentional killing in rTen ’brel chen mo and to clarify Ngag dbang bkra shis’s (1678–1738) understanding of killing.
Killing is described as one kind of the ten unvirtuous karma in Buddhism. One must avoid killing because it brings about the transmigration into the unhappy realm. However, in some Buddhist scriptures, we can find examples where killing is allowed in specific cases. Asaṅga (ca. 330–405), in his Bodhisattvabhūmi, states that if a Bodhisattva, motivated by compassion (karuṇā), kills a robber who is engaging in the sin of immediate retribution, the Bodhisattva is not sinful, and in fact, much merit is brought forth. This type of killing (hereafter “compassionate killing”) is the action that the Bodhisattva should perform. This idea is widely accepted in Mahāyāna Buddhism, as shown in previous studies.
With regard to a Bodhisattva’s compassionate killing as a skillful means (upāyakauśalya), Ngag dbang bkra shis, in his rTen ’brel chen mo, states that this type of killing falls into the category of virtuous karma (dge ba’i las) as long as it is motivated by white intention (bsam pa, *āśaya), bringing about a white fruition. His idea is based on the theory of black-white karma provided in Asaṅga’s Abhidharmasamuccaya. Moreover, Ngag dbang bkra shis provides a debate about unintentional killing. The point here is that Ngag dbang bkra shis clearly distinguishes unvirtuous karma (mi dge ba’i las, *akuśalakarman) and unvirtuous way of karma (mi dge ba’i las lam, *akuśalakarmapatha). The latter is established through the correspondence between actual karma and intention, while the former is not always established through the correspondence between them. For example, when one aims to kill only Devadatta and then unintentionally kills Yajñadatta, misunderstanding him to be Devadatta, one does not generate an unvirtuous way of karma. However, this does not mean that this person does not generate unvirtuous karma. Although the person kills Yajñadatta, his original intention was to kill Deavadatta, not Yajñadatta. Considering this, when the person kills Devadatta motivated by the intention to kill Devadatta, an unvirtuous way of karma is established. Ngag dbang bkra shis’s idea, which is based on his reading of Tsong kha pa’s (1357–1419) Lam rim chen mo, is keeping in line with the definition of killing given by Vasubandhu in his Abhidharmakośa IV.73ab. Thus, it can be concluded from Ngag dbang bkra shis’s debate, that the categorization of karma as being virtuous or unvirtuous, as well as the establishment of a way of karma, are determined by its intention.