Overview
In the mechanism of kamma, these five specific acts are considered the absolute darkest deeds a human being can commit. They are called Ānantarika (immediate) because they are “weighty kamma” (garuka kamma). If a person commits even one of these, it blocks all spiritual progress in this life (they cannot attain jhānas or path-moments) and guarantees immediate rebirth in the deepest hell (Avīci) at the moment of death, with no other kamma able to intervene.
The List
- Mātughāta - Matricide: Intentionally killing one’s own biological mother.
- Pitughāta - Patricide: Intentionally killing one’s own biological father.
- Arahantaghāta - Killing an Arahat: Intentionally depriving a fully awakened being of life.
- Lohituppāda - Shedding the blood of a Buddha: With malicious intent, causing a Fully Awakened Buddha to bleed (a Buddha cannot be killed, so this is the closest equivalent).
- Saṅghabheda - Causing a schism in the Saṅgha: Deliberately dividing the harmonious community of monastics by presenting false dhamma as true and initiating separate Uposatha ceremonies.
Textual References
- Canonical: Parikuppa Sutta (AN 5.129) – The Buddha explicitly states that anyone who commits these actions is incurably bound for hell for the duration of the eon. Devadatta famously committed the 4th and 5th.