The conditions for the act of killing.

[Lunaria]

I keep coming across the following in books and online:

According to the teachings of Buddha, five conditions must be present to constitute an act of killing.
•the thing killed must be a living being
•you, the killer, must know or be aware that it is a living being
•you must have the intention to kill it
•there must be an effort to kill
•the being must be killed as the result

Does any one have a source reference for this? It only ever says the teachings of the Buddha but I like know where a piece of information comes from.

Thank you for your help.

[PTa]

These same conditions are listed here:
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/auth ... html#prec2" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Theravada author Bhikkhu Bodhi's preface says:

The tract Taking the Precepts relies principally upon the commentarial explanations of the training rules in the Khuddakapatha Atthakatha, referred to above, and to the discussion of the courses of kamma in the Majjhimanikaya (commentary to No. 9, Sammaditthisutta).
...
Also consulted was the section on the courses of karma in Vasubandhu's Adhidharmakosa and its commentary, a Sanskrit work of the Sarvastivada tradition.

[Dechen Norbu]

Perhaps it's better to clarify that by considering an action as "an act of killing" we are talking in the context of karma/vipaka.
When all those conditions are met, the accumulation of negative karmic potential is the worst.
If, for instance, you step on a bug without intention you won't accumulate the same negative karma as you would if you see a bug and decide to kill it.
Just thought it would be useful to clarify this a bit, even though I'm not sure it was necessary.

[Lunaria]

These same conditions are listed here:
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/auth ... html#prec2" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Theravada author Bhikkhu Bodhi's preface says:

The tract Taking the Precepts relies principally upon the commentarial explanations of the training rules in the Khuddakapatha Atthakatha, referred to above, and to the discussion of the courses of kamma in the Majjhimanikaya (commentary to No. 9, Sammaditthisutta).
...
Also consulted was the section on the courses of karma in Vasubandhu's Adhidharmakosa and its commentary, a Sanskrit work of the Sarvastivada tradition.

Thank you I shall look further into this. I know I sound nit picky and I question everything, but if I am ever asked about any thing I would like to say its from blah blah. Not that I could ever pronounce any of these word anyway.

Thank you Dechen Norbu for the confirmation