An accidental mistake receives a different answer. Asked about food that has spoiled unintentionally, the judge says it should not be eaten: illness or other harm would make that a further loss. He still asks for repentance over the lapse and more care afterwards. His answer also describes reciting a Buddha's name or a sacred formula over the food and offering it to other creatures as a religious way of forming a beneficial connection. The acknowledgment of waste is joined to a wish to do good; consuming spoiled food is expressly rejected. [4]
At work, the decisive question may be permission. In Ayu's summary of Dizang's teaching on the Five Precepts, company stationery, private telephone calls, charging a personal phone, and personal copying or faxing fall under the rule against taking what has not been given when the employer has not consented. Being able to reach a supply cupboard or use a machine does not establish permission for every use. An allowance for occasional personal printing, for example, need not include taking supplies home.
These everyday situations call for different kinds of attention. In the garment purchase, it is the intended purpose; with food, it is gratitude and care for what has been obtained; with workplace resources, it is the owner's permission. Recognising the difference makes correction possible. A harmful plan can be abandoned, a wasteful habit changed, or consent sought before a resource is used. [5]
Notes
[1] Yinlü Wuqing, vol. 2, ch. 19, on the three purchases, their classification, the results of predominant karma, and the intention required for liberation. An early Buddhist formulation of karma as intention appears in Aṅguttara Nikāya 6.63, section 5. Vol. 1, ch. 15, also describes ordinary residents of the underworld. [Source 1](https://origin.dhammatalks.org/suttas/AN/AN6_63.html)
[2] Yinlü Wuqing, vol. 1, ch. 3, gives the specified case of unmarried people who have not had intercourse with the opposite sex, the loss of lifespan, and the conditions for mitigation. Vol. 2, ch. 12, gives Dongyue Dadi's instruction about preventing future retribution.
[3] Belén Pascual-Vera et al., ‘The cross-cultural and transdiagnostic nature of unwanted mental intrusions,’ International Journal of Clinical and Health Psychology 19(2) (2019): 85–96, DOI 10.1016/j.ijchp.2019.02.005, introduction and abstract. The article describes unwanted and unexpected mental events and does not adjudicate religious responsibility. [Source 1](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijchp.2019.02.005) [Source 2](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6517647/)
[4] Yinlü Wuqing, vol. 2, ch. 8, on the sources of a meal, fubao, the two women's habits, and food spoiled unintentionally. The offering to other creatures is the judge's religious prescription, not a recommendation about safe food or wildlife feeding.
[5] Yinlü Wuqing, vol. 1, ch. 7. The employer's consent is the stated condition for personal use of company supplies and services. The example of a limited printing allowance explains how permission can have a defined scope.