Translating pāṇa + atipāta

Translations
1

Hello everyone :pray:

Working on my translations I have come to question whether atipāta only means outright killing or it might refer to the whole spectrum, from simply harming, injuring, wounding, all the way up to killing.

From the point of view of the three kinds of unwholesome bodily conduct, strict killing would leave out harming, beating, wounding etc.

But I’m not a Pali expert so my question to the experts is:
Would I be justified in translating pāṇātipātā paṭivirato as “abstaining from harming living beings?”
Are there examples in the canon where pāṇātipātā strictly refers to only killing?

Thank you very much :pray:

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Etymologically the word means “causing the breath to fall (i.e. stop)” This is pretty clearly “killing”

Idha, gahapatayo, ekacco pāṇātipātī hoti, luddo lohitapāṇi hatappahate niviṭṭho adayāpanno pāṇabhūtesu.

In MN 41 for example makes it pretty clear what is meant.

That’s right. The five precepts are not meant to be an exhaustive list of immoral actions.

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Indeed, and to reinforce this: the five precepts were meant to cover only the most clearly defined cases of immoral action. They shouldn’t be extended to cover everything.

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Thank you very much for your replies, Venerables :pray:

I think the best confirmation that pāṇātipāta refers strictly to killing is to be found in MN 135, where killing and harming are treated separately and therefore cannot mean the same thing, as suggested by the Venerables.