10. Ten demerits for bodily lewd acts. Upon the accumulation of ten
offenses, the offender’s lifespan and emolument shall be reduced as aforesaid. In this present life, retribution takes the form of festering, pus‑and‑blood‑oozing poisonous sores covering the whole body. After death, one falls into the Universal‑Scourging Hell; upon rebirth, one shall be maimed, infirm and disabled.
For the above‑mentioned articles concerning sexual transgressions, retribution is meted out according to the gravity of the offense once transgressions accumulate to a certain count; hence there exist punishments of varying severity.
Appendix VI Slay the Licentious Mind, Remove the Harm of Licentiousness
Verse:
When one beholds another’s beauty and stirs amorous thoughts,
A bone‑eating blade invades, and misfortune is self‑invoked.
If one nurtures the spirit through the Three Jewels,
Cultivating virtue and sowing merit shall draw blessings unto oneself.
Licentiousness is the chief of all evils. A junzi remains vigilant, daring not to harbor even a single improper idea, and guards against any such idea as he would against a tiger. Hence the junzi’s virtue suffices for firm self‑preservation, lest any base virtue arise and bring about his ruin and disgrace. Upon seeing another’s beauty, though a lustful idea arises yet no physical act is committed, the mind has already wandered and the spirit shifted. Once the mind wanders and the spirit shifts, the mental device of mind inevitably acts recklessly. Take heed! Take heed! Lust is a common human inclination, just as a fine object draws universal admiration; hence lust is hard to eradicate. When a lustful idea stirs, the mental device awakens; when the mind drifts, self‑restraint falters. Even without occasion for gratification, the will is already disordered. Should opportunity arise, morality collapses; with morality lost, peril befalls the person. To guard against the peril of lust, one must first discipline one’s own mind. Let not the mind drift; be vigilant before ideas arise. When ideas originate from the mind, the eyes are the thieves and the ears are the robbers. These thieves and robbers assail from within, leaving body and mind without mastery. Therefore, while restraining the inner mind, one must also guard the eyes and ears outwardly. When eyes and ears cease to function, the mind becomes settled and one’s ideas become upright. To be upright is to harbor no depraved ideas within the mind; this is what is meant by slaying the mind. To slay the mind, one must maintain a strict vigilance at the birth of every idea and caution over every stirring of the intention. To harbor private lustful longing upon seeing another’s beauty incurs karmic punishment according to the precepts, whether or not the act is consummated.