Lecturer: Master Zheng-Yan
Subject: Maintain a Pure Body and Mind (身心清淨遠淫欲)
The Five Desires cause suffering in life. Among them, lust is the worst. Lust causes the most suffering. It is difficult for people to control their lust. A life filled with sexual desire is the most agonizing. Lust brings discord within families. It brings disharmony in society and brings shame to individuals. This is all caused by lust.
These kinds of suffering in life, as we just said, appear on the levels of society, the family, or the individual. What happens after death? The Sutras remind us of the retribution of immense suffering in the Three Evil Destinies.
The next passage in the text says, “As written in the Sutras, the transgression of sexual misconduct can lead sentient beings to suffer in Hell or as Hungry Ghosts.”
Lust is a constant craving. In committing sexual misconduct, one disregards family ethics for fleeting pleasures. In the newspapers we often see reports of incest and inappropriate relationships among family members. We can imagine how these behaviors would affect a family. In society, we see married men or married women having extramarital affairs. Whether it is a secret flirtation, a man keeping a mistress or a woman taking an outside lover, these are all ways to describe an affair. Such people are looked down on and they ruin their own lives and reputations.
Moreover, regardless of how patient someone may be, he cannot tolerate his wife being with another man. Many tragedies or murders occur because of this. So a woman must be faithful to her husband.
Similarly, if a man has a mistress, it would be impossible for the wife to endure. A woman can bear anything except her husband having an affair. Think about it, can such a family be happy? To maintain a happy family, a couple must be loyal to one another. This is a basic responsibility in life. One must abstain from greed for extramarital relationships.
If one has greed for sensual pleasures, one will commit sexual misconduct, and will suffer retribution in Hell. This is the karmic law of cause and effect. The cause of sexual misconduct results in much suffering in the Three Destinies.
The Sutras also talk about this. Look at Nanda; he became a monk under the Buddha, but still could not settle his mind. He was constantly missing his wife. The Buddha was aware of this and one day said to him, “Come, calm your mind. I’ll take you to places you’ve never seen before.” He sat quietly next to the Buddha, and he was taken to see Heaven. When they arrived, Nada saw that. Heaven was filled with many beautiful women. They were even more stunning than his wife, and there were so many of them.
The two also saw a luxurious palace being built. He asked a worker, “Whose palace is this?” The worker answered, “It is for Nanda, the Buddha’s disciple, who is currently practicing and creating blessings on Earth. In the future, he will be born in Heaven, and this palace will be his.”
”What about those women?”
“These beautiful women will keep him company.”
Nada was very happy upon hearing this. “By earnestly engaging in spiritual practice now, I will live in pleasure later.”
Then the Buddha called to him, “Come, let’s continue on.” They arrived in a terrifying place with a red-hot copper post burning in a blazing fire. It was terrifying to behold. Naked men and women were forced to embrace the burning post, screaming in agony and pain until they passed out. They were revived by being splashed with water and then forced to do it again. Their suffering was truly beyond words.
Nanda also saw someone starting a fire. Over the fire was very large pot. Inside the pot was oil. Once the fire was started, it began to boil the oil. Nanda asked, “Why are those people forced to hold the burning copper column?” The person answered, “They were disloyal to their spouses and committed sexual misconduct. So they descended into Hell and are now forced to embrace the copper post.”
“How about the fire you are starting now?”
“Such a large pot of oil will take a long time to boil.”
“What is it for?”
“One of the Buddha’s disciples may be unable to focus on his practice. Even while practicing, he think of breaking his precepts’ and wishes to return home to his wife.”
“Who is it?”
“I hear it is Nanda.”
Nanda was startled “That is me!”
Then the Buddha called to him, “Come, let’s go.”
They saw a group of monkeys that were very ugly. Just looking at them was truly unpleasant for him. At that time, Nanda felt very disgusted and wished to distance himself from them.
The monkey king said, “Come, you will eventually be one of us.”
Nanda asked, “Why would I come here?”
“Because you’re not diligent with your practice. You still have lustful thoughts. After your retribution in Hell, you’ll be born in the Animal Realm. These female monkeys are your future mates.”
Nanda was very frightened when he imagined himself with these ugly monkeys.
At that moment the Buddha said to him, “There’s still time. If you repent from the heart, purify your mind, uphold proper conduct and practice well, you will not be born in Heaven, Hell or the Animal Realm.”
“Since you have heard the Dharma and started to practice, you will attain Buddhahood. Then you will be pure in body and mind and exist in a state of peace and freedom.”
Just then, Nanda awoke. He quickly thanked the Buddha for taking him to see Heaven, Hell, and the Animal Realm. The Buddha said, “The karma created in the Human Realm exists in varying degree. If we make mistakes in this life, the most severe karma will lead you into Hell, which you have just beheld. The next degree leads to the Animal Realm, like those monkeys you just encountered. Aside from monkeys, there are myriad other types of animals. The least severe is to be reborn into the human world is to be reborn into the human world.”
What retributions will these people receive? Let us look at the next passage, which says, “Those in the Animal Realm are born as doves, mandarin ducks, ete.”
This is what lmperial Preceptor Wu-Da wrote. There are two-legged animals, four-legged ones and ones which can fly in the sky. There are animals of land, sea and air. Here, he has mentioned, “doves and mandarin ducks, etc.” because those birds have heavy karma due to lust. He cited two types to represent all species of birds that are born as a result of karmic retribution.
Imperial Preceptor Wu-Da indicated that lust is foremost of all evils. Many wrongdoings in the world are caused by sexual passion. Every day, there is news related to problems caused by lust. The media is constantly reporting on cases where families and ethics fall apart. People are behaving barbarically. They are acting like animals. What sets us apart from animals is that we abide by rules and possess moral integrity. Marriages require this integrity.
Otherwise, we will suffer retribution in the Hell and Animal Realms, before being born again into the Human world. Once born again as human, will we be able to live happily? Some may have already suffered their retributions but have not yet obtained the Dharma, so they have never heard the rinciples. Therefore, they have no chance to repent.
So, after suffering, they are born human. Transmigrating within the Six Realms they do not know how to get free. So, they are reborn in the Human Realm. What happens to them in the Human Realm?
As a human, one’s spouse may be unfaithful. One’s relatives may be unpleasant to deal with.
If it is a man, “his wife is unfaithful.” If it is a woman, her husband will have mistresses. If both parties do this, it creates a very immoral family. Another possibility is that “one’s relatives may be unpleasant to deal with.” If it is not his wife, it may be his children who have problematic relationships. In this way, one’s relatives cannot uphold their moral integrity. Isn’t this suffering?
Even one’s own family, including oneself, cannot abide by the path of human ethics. This is the painful retribution when one is reborn as human. This is due to the karma of sexual misconduct.
Thus, there is this vicious cycle where people continue to create much karma of killing, stealing and so on. This is the karmic law of cause and effect. Killing leads to having a short life, and stealing leads to becoming a servant in the future to repay what one took.
So everyone, in learning Buddhism, we should have faith, the source of the Way and mother of merits, and believe in the karmic law of cause and effect. So, please always be mindful.
(Source: Da Ai TV 靜思晨語 法譬如水)
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