On Stealing

The bank credit for the money stolen by the fraudulent check showed up in my account today, plus a refund for the box of checks that I never received. "My" money is back, but if it were really mine, how could it ever have been stolen?

Bodhidharma once said "In the dharma in which nothing can be obtained, not giving rise to the thought of obtaining is called the precept of refraining from stealing."

Am I stealing the money now by conceiving of it as "mine?"

"The dharma in which nothing can be obtained" means that it is not possible to possess anything. We cannot step outside to take hold of it. We already contain everything. To possess something, to obtain something, means to separate oneself from something. From the point of view of realization, everything is unobtainable."
- John Daido Loori