From Nagarjuna's Treatise on the Great Perfection of Wisdom
(Dharmamitra Translation)

Question: What are the benefits of not stealing?

Response: There are two parts to a person's life, that which is in relation to oneself (lit. "internal") and that which is in relation to others (lit. "external"). If one steals valuable objects this constitutes the stealing of [the bases] of someone else's life. How is this so? Life depends upon drink, food, clothing, bedding and other things for its survival. If one robs or if one steals, this amounts to the stealing of someone else's life. This is as described in a verse:

Each and every one of all the beings
Depends upon food in order to continue living.
Whether one takes by stealing or by robbing,
This amounts to the robbing or stealing of a life.
On account of this fact a wise person should not rob or steal.
Moreover, one ought to consider to himself, "If one robs or steals and thereby comes by things which he bestows upon himself, even though his body may be liberally provided for, he will still come upon that time when he too will die. On dying, he will enter the hells. Then, although his family will all be experiencing bliss, he will still have to undergo punishment by himself and be ensconced in a situation from which he cannot be rescued." Having contemplated in this fashion, one should then refrain from stealing.

Additionally, this taking what is not given falls into two categories: The first consists of [surreptitious] stealing. The second is [forcible] plunder. They are both collectively referred to as taking what is not given. Within the sphere of taking what is not given, robbery is the most serious. Why? All people use their wealth to keep themselves alive and so if one perhaps bores a hole in a wall and commits robbery, this constitutes the most impure sort of conduct. Why? One has no power in such a situation to prevent a person's experiencing the terror of being killed. Because one takes things through robbery, in the sphere of forceful plunder, robbery constitutes a serious offense. This is as set forth in a verse:

Hungry and starving, one's body emaciated and thin,
One undergoes punishment in great suffering which is intense.
As for the belongings of others, they cannot be touched.
It is just as if they were a great bonfire.

If one seizes through theft the possessions of others,
Their owners weep and are distressed and afflicted.
Even if one were the king of the gods or someone similar,
One would still perceive this as amounting to suffering.
Although anyone who kills does commit a serious offense, still, he is acting as a thief to the victim of the killing. A person who steals is a thief to all men who have material possessions. If one transgresses against other precepts, in other countries there are those who do not take that to constitute an offense. However, if one is person who steals, there is no country which does not take action against the offense.