△三曰不婬
Third: No Sexual Misconduct
二身交會曰婬。
The physical union of two bodies is called sexual misconduct.
解曰。在家五戒。惟制邪婬。出家十戒。全斷婬欲。
The commentary explains: For lay practitioners, the five precepts only prohibit improper sexual conduct. For monastics, the ten precepts completely cut off all sexual desire.
除自妻妾。侵犯外色。名曰邪婬。在家五戒。乃人天之徑路。故佛唯制非禮邪淫。出家十戒。是趣涅槃之淨因。渡苦海之浮囊。浮囊一毀。沉溺苦津。故涅槃經云。如一羅剎。隨渡海者。總乞浮囊。渡者答言。寧捨身命。囊不可得。羅剎復言。不肯全施。見惠其半。彼人亦不肯與。如是展轉。乃至乞微塵許。彼人亦不肯與。菩薩持戒。亦復如是。煩惱破戒羅剎。勸化菩薩令犯重戒。護餘輕者。菩薩不隨。乃至勸犯輕戒。菩薩亦不隨。何以故。菩薩持重戒及輕戒。敬重堅固。等無差別。何況聲聞急求度脫生死。而可輕毀者耶。
Apart from one's own spouse, to infringe upon others' desires is called sexual misconduct. The five precepts for lay practitioners are the path to human and heavenly realms, thus the Buddha only prohibits improper and illicit sexual conduct. The ten precepts for monastics are the pure cause leading to Nirvana, the life raft to cross the sea of suffering. Once the raft is destroyed, one sinks into the bitter waters. As the Nirvana Sutra says: "Like a rakshasa who follows a traveler crossing the sea, asking for his life raft. The traveler replies, 'I would rather give up my life than part with the raft.' The rakshasa then says, 'If you won't give it all, at least give me half.' The traveler still refuses. And so it goes, until the rakshasa asks for even a speck of dust from the raft, but the traveler still refuses to give it." Bodhisattvas uphold the precepts in the same way. When the rakshasa of afflictions tries to break their precepts, urging them to violate the major ones while keeping the minor ones, the Bodhisattva does not yield. Even when urged to violate minor precepts, the Bodhisattva does not comply. Why? Because Bodhisattvas uphold both major and minor precepts with equal reverence and steadfastness, without distinction. How much more so should śrāvakas, who urgently seek liberation from birth and death, dare to lightly transgress them?
但干犯世間一切男女。悉名破戒。
But if one violates the purity of any man or woman in the world, it is called breaking the precepts.
干者。即犯也。亦相侵也。是婬欲之別稱也。世間。謂眾生世間。男女。謂四姓之男女。乃至鬼神畜生男女。於彼大小便道及口。三處作不淨行。皆得不可悔罪。故曰悉名破戒。若沙彌被他強犯。自心受樂。即犯不可悔罪。心不受樂。罪猶可悔。云何受樂。如饑得食。如渴得飲。云何不受樂。如熱鐵入身。如刀刺體。經云。有犯斯戒。非沙彌也。
To act upon it is to transgress. It is also a violation of others. This is another name for lustful desire.
"World" refers to the world of sentient beings. "Male and female" refers to males and females of the four castes, and even to male and female spirits, ghosts, and animals. Engaging in impure acts with their three openings—the two excretory passages and the mouth—all result in an unrepentable offense. Therefore, it is said that all such acts are called breaking the precept.
If a novice monk is forcibly violated by another but takes pleasure in his own mind, he commits an unrepentable offense. If his mind does not take pleasure, the offense may still be repented.
What is meant by "taking pleasure"? It is like obtaining food when hungry, or drink when thirsty. What is meant by "not taking pleasure"? It is like hot iron entering the body, or a knife piercing the flesh.
The scripture says: "Whoever violates this precept is no longer a novice monk."
楞嚴經載寶蓮香比丘尼。私行婬欲。自言婬欲非殺非偷。無有罪報。遂感身出猛火。生陷地獄。
The Shurangama Sutra records the story of the nun Baolianxiang. She engaged in sexual misconduct in private, claiming that such acts were neither killing nor stealing, and therefore carried no karmic retribution. As a result, her body burst into fierce flames, and she fell alive into hell.
生陷。謂不待身死魂墮其中。即此生身地裂陷入阿鼻。此比丘尼。作是言已。先於女根生大猛火。後於身之節節猛火燒燃。墮無間獄。無間。即阿鼻。謂罪人墮此獄中。受燒煑苦。無有間隙樂時。然地獄雖多。總為三攝。一者熱獄有八。在此贍部州下。無間最在其底。八獄各有十六小獄圍繞。二者寒獄。亦有八。在鐵圍山底。罪人於中受寒凍苦。三者邊獄。略有三種。一在山間。二在水邊。三在曠野。此應寒熱雜受。如泰山府君。及僧護億耳所見者是。此諸地獄。名字相狀。及受報差別等事。廣如經論所明。
**Alive and Sinking.** This means not waiting for the body to die and the soul to fall into it. In this very life, the earth splits open and the living body sinks into Avīci.
After this nun spoke these words, first a great, fierce fire arose from her female organ. Then, fierce fire burned fiercely in every joint of her body, and she fell into the Interminable Hell.
**Interminable**, that is Avīci. It means that sinners who fall into this hell suffer the torments of burning and boiling, with no interval of respite or pleasure.
However, although there are many hells, they are generally subsumed under three categories: 1. **The Hot Hells**, eight in total, located beneath this Jambudvīpa continent. Avīci is at the very bottom. Each of these eight hells is surrounded by sixteen smaller hells. 2. **The Cold Hells**, also eight in total, located at the base of the Iron Ring Mountains. Sinners there suffer the pain of extreme cold and freezing. 3. **The Borderline Hells.** Briefly, there are three kinds: 1) in the mountains, 2) by the water's edge, and 3) in the wilderness. In these, one likely suffers a mixture of heat and cold, as seen by figures like the Lord of Mount Tai and the monks Hūṃkara and Śroṇakoṭīkarṇa.
The names, appearances, and distinctions of the sufferings experienced in these various hells are explained in detail in the sutras and treatises.
世人因欲殺身亡家。出俗為僧。豈可更犯。
People in the world lose their lives and ruin their families because of desire. Having left the mundane world to become monastics, how can they possibly transgress again?
王臣士庶。皆曰世人。周幽喪國。晉獻亡家。婬女騎頸。天廟焚身。皆由婬欲所致。自古至今。受惑者非一。被害者難言。如八師經云。佛告梵志曰。婬人婦女。或為夫主邊人所知。臨時得殃。刀杖加刑。手足分離。禍及門族。或為王法收捕著獄。酷毒掠治。身自當罪。死入地獄。臥於鐵牀。或抱銅柱。獄卒燃火。以燒其身。地獄罪畢。當受畜生。若得為人。閨門婬亂。遠佛違法。不親聖賢。常懷恐怖。多危少安。復說偈言。婬為不淨行。迷惑失正道。形消魂魄驚。傷命而𤼭夭。受罪頑癡荒。死復墮惡道。吾用畏是故。棄家樂山藪。出俗為僧。豈可更犯者。謂知五欲過患。故捨之出家。尤棄涕唾。豈復更食。故大論云。入道慚愧人。持鉢攝眾生。云何縱欲塵。沉沒於五情。已捨五欲樂。棄之而不顧。如何還欲得。如愚自食唾。
Kings, ministers, scholars, and commoners—all are called people of this world. King You of Zhou lost his kingdom; Duke Xian of Jin brought ruin to his family. A wanton woman rode upon his neck; a heavenly temple burned his body. All these arose from the force of lustful desire. From ancient times to the present, those who have been deluded are not few; those who have been harmed are beyond words.
As it is said in the *Sutra of the Eight Masters*: The Buddha told the Brahmin, “If a man commits adultery with another’s wife, and her husband or those close to him come to know of it, calamity will strike him then and there. Blades and staves will punish him; hands and feet will be severed. Disaster will reach his whole clan. Or he may be arrested by the king’s law and thrown into prison, where he will be cruelly tortured and must bear the penalty himself. After death he will fall into hell, lying on an iron bed or embracing a bronze pillar, while jailers light fires to burn his body. When his hellish retribution ends, he will be reborn as an animal. If he manages to become human again, his household will be steeped in debauchery. He will turn away from the Buddha, violate the Dharma, keep distant from sages and worthies, and live in constant fear, facing many dangers and little peace.”
The sutra further speaks in verse: Lust is impure action; It deludes and makes one lose the true path. The body wastes, the spirit is alarmed; Life is injured and cut short. One suffers the penalty of dullness and confusion, And after death falls again into evil realms. It is because I fear this That I left home to delight in mountain forests.
Having left the worldly life to become a monk, how could one possibly transgress again? Knowing the faults of the five desires, one renounces them to leave home—just as one discards spit and phlegm, never to consume them again.
Thus the *Great Treatise* says: One who enters the path, a person of conscience, Holds the alms bowl to gather living beings. How then can one indulge in the dust of desire, Sinking and drowning in the five senses? Having already abandoned the pleasures of the five desires, Cast them aside without a backward glance— How could one still wish to regain them? It is like a fool eating his own spit.
生死根本。欲為第一。
The root of life and death. Desire is the foremost.
一切眾生所以有身者。皆由初念顛倒。見他交會。自以婬心投托母胎。而成身根。故名曰生。所謂一切眾生。皆以婬欲而證性命是也。有生必滅。故名曰死。是知生死根源。皆以婬欲為首。故云第一。欲除生死。須斷婬心。故經云。若諸世界。六道眾生。其心不婬。則不隨其生死相續。婬心不除。塵不可出。必使婬機身心俱斷。斷性亦無。於佛菩提。斯可希冀。
All living beings come to possess a physical body because of an initial deluded thought. Seeing others engage in union, they are drawn by their own lustful mind to enter a mother's womb, thus forming a physical body. This is called birth. As it is said, all living beings come into existence through lustful desire.
Where there is birth, there must be death. This is called passing away. Thus, we know that the root of birth and death lies foremost in lustful desire. Therefore, it is said to be the primary cause.
To transcend birth and death, one must cut off the lustful mind. As the sutra states: "If all beings in the six realms of the world have no lustful thoughts, they will not follow the cycle of birth and death."
If the lustful mind is not eliminated, one cannot break free from worldly dust. It is essential to sever the impulse of lust in both body and mind, until even the nature of severance itself is absent. Only then can one aspire to the enlightenment of the Buddha.
故經云。雖婬泆而生。不如貞潔而死。
Therefore, the scripture says: It is better to live a life of purity and die, than to live a life of indulgence.
泆音逸。婬放也。婬泆雖生。而戒身慧命已喪。由此墮落三塗。不復人身矣。貞潔雖死。而戒身慧命常存。生生往來人天。修證菩提。故大律云。寧著毒虵口中而死。不著女根中而生是也。昔安陀國。有一少欲比丘。使沙彌往一淨信家迎食。時彼淨信合家赴會。唯留一女。年始十六。容貌端正。而為婬欲火燒。五體投地。白沙彌言。我舍珍寶無量。汝可屈意為此舍主。我當供給使令。沙彌心念。我寧捨命。不毀禁戒。即入房閉戶。胡跪合掌發願。不捨三寶正戒。願生寂靜家。盡漏成道。即刎頸而死。國王聞知。歎未曾有。即躬往作禮。以屍乘於寶車。種種供養。積眾香木而茶毗之。故十戒經云。雖婬泆而生。不如貞潔而死。此之謂也。詳如賢愚經。
Indulgence is the dissipation of lust. Though one may live in wantonness, the life of precepts and wisdom is already lost. Thus, one falls into the three evil paths, never to regain human form again. Though one may die in chastity, the life of precepts and wisdom endures forever, life after life moving between the human and heavenly realms, cultivating and realizing enlightenment. Therefore, the great Vinaya says: "Better to die in the mouth of a poisonous snake than to be born from a woman's womb."
In the past, in the land of Antuo, there was a monk of few desires who sent a novice to a devout household to fetch food. At that time, the entire family of that devout household had gone to an assembly, leaving only a daughter, just sixteen years old, beautiful in appearance, yet burning with the fire of lust. She prostrated herself on the ground and said to the novice, "I have countless treasures in this house. You may lower your intentions and become the master of this home. I will serve and obey you." The novice thought to himself, "I would rather lose my life than break the precepts." He then entered a room, closed the door, knelt with palms together, and made a vow: "I will not abandon the Three Jewels or the true precepts. May I be reborn in a family of tranquility, exhaust all defilements, and attain enlightenment." He then cut his own throat and died.
When the king heard of this, he marveled at what had never been before. He personally went to pay respects, placed the body on a jeweled carriage, made various offerings, piled fragrant wood, and cremated it. Therefore, the *Sutra of Ten Precepts* says: "Though one may live in wantonness, it is not as good as dying in chastity." This is what it means. For details, see the *Sutra of the Wise and Foolish*.
噫。可不戒歟。
Alas! How can we not be cautious?
正法念經云。寧食毒虵蟲。及以烊銅等。終不破禁戒。而食僧飲食。智度論云。破戒之人。若著法服。則是熱銅鐵鍱。以纏其身。若持鉢盂。則是盛烊銅器。若所噉食。則是吞熱鐵丸。飲熱烊銅。若受人供養供給。即是地獄牛頭獄卒。若入精舍。則是入大地獄。若坐僧牀。是為坐熱鐵牀上。如經論說。可不懼哉。
The Sutra on the Right Mindfulness says: Better to eat poisonous snakes and insects, or even drink molten copper, than to break the precepts and consume the food of the monastic community.
The Treatise on the Great Perfection of Wisdom states: For one who violates the precepts, wearing the monastic robe is like wrapping oneself in red-hot iron plates; holding the alms bowl is like carrying a vessel of molten copper; eating food is like swallowing red-hot iron balls and drinking molten copper; receiving offerings and support from others is like being served by the ox-headed jailers of hell; entering the monastery is like entering the great hells; sitting on the monastic seat is like sitting on a bed of red-hot iron.
As the sutras and treatises warn—how can one not be filled with dread?