“Licentiousness ranks as chief among all evils; filiality takes precedence among all virtues. Those who indulge in licentiousness suffer diminished blessings and shortened lifespans personally, while gravely corrupting social mores, harming both others and themselves, and such deeds constitute unfilial conduct. Throughout history at home and abroad, countless heroes have had their promising futures ruined by licentiousness.
“Licentiousness drags people down, causes them to lose their mind and nature, and may even lead addicts to death. The nether laws greatly reward filial people yet impose harsh penalties on those guilty of sexual misconduct. I urge everyone to uphold humaneness, righteousness, propriety, wisdom and trustworthiness, practice good deeds to accumulate virtues, preserve the radiance of one’s pre-heaven spiritual nature, and refrain from creating evil causes that lead to hellish retribution.”
Having heard the judge’s admonition, I pressed my palms together in gratitude to him, then returned home riding a white lotus flower.
27 / The Destination of Homosexuals — the Great Hell of Connected Thinking
I am endlessly grateful to all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas for their compassionate deliverance of all beings. Every thought of theirs is devoted to liberating sentient beings. Twenty‑four hours had passed in the human realm. Now I rode the white lotus flower and arrived at the hells once again, where Earth Store Bodhisattva was still saving and delivering beings from suffering here. It turned out the Dharma assembly on karmic causes and effects that had begun the day before had not yet ended.
My heart overflowed with joy to behold Earth Store Bodhisattva again! On behalf of all sentient beings throughout the Dharma realm, I prostrated respectfully to Earth Store Bodhisattva. How pure, cool and compassionate was the Bodhisattva’s Buddha light that filled the entire void! It reminded me of the words spoken by the Buddha in the Avatamsaka Sutra: “They possess the unobstructed pure kindness of the mortal world, for they radiate boundless light that shines equally on all beings; they possess pure kindness filling the void, for their rescue of sentient beings reaches every corner; they possess pure kindness rooted in Dharma affinities, for they have certified the true Dharma of suchness; they possess unconditioned pure kindness, for they abide in the Bodhisattva nature of non-production and non-extinction; they possess benefit-bringing pure kindness, for every act they perform gladdens all sentient beings. They possess unwearied pure compassion, for they bear sufferings for all beings without weariness; they possess pure compassion manifesting birth amid hardship and adversity, for they do so to liberate sentient beings; they possess pure compassion taking birth in wholesome realms, for they manifest impermanence; they possess pure compassion for beings bound to wrong destinies, for they never abandon their great vows through countless kalpas. They practice the Bodhisattva path unceasingly, embracing all sentient beings with the heart of great compassion.”
Earth Store Bodhisattva embodied unconditional great kindness and same-body great compassion, and there were infinite Dharma voices emanating from the Bodhisattva’s pure and compassionate Buddha light. I also aspired to learn from Earth Store Bodhisattva’s great compassion and serve all beings. Empowered by Earth Store Bodhisattva’s pure, kind and compassionate radiance, the hells were made pure, cool and peaceful.
I intended to explain to everyone that the hells are immensely vast and divided into distinct categories. The hell I was visiting then was the Hell of Sexual Misconduct. This was an overarching designation for one major grand hell, beneath which lay eighteen subsidiary minor hells. The souls detained in these eighteen lesser hells committed different forms of illicit sexual misconduct and therefore received differing karmic retributions. Some souls only committed sexual acts at improper times during their mortal lives (the first and fifteenth days of each lunar month, the six fasting days, birthdays of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, days when celestial deities examine human deeds, daytime, family celebration days, death anniversaries, or times when either partner is ill), in improper locations (anywhere beyond the central area of the marital bed; even if the man stands on the floor beside the bed while the woman lies on its edge, it counts as an improper location, to say nothing of other venues) or with improper parts of the body (all parts other than the female genital tract). Souls guilty solely of these transgressions received the punishment of swallowing iron pellets. In truth, every torture endured within each hell was excruciatingly agonizing.
I paid homage to the Magistrate and wished to ask him about homosexuality. The Magistrate said: “Homosexual relations also constitute the offense of sexual misconduct. After death, such people are sent to the hell of connected thinking within the hell of sexual misconduct to receive punishment for five hundred years. If they have committed other forms of sexual misconduct, they will further undergo retribution in other hells of sexual misconduct in turn.”
At once, the Magistrate led me to the hell of connected thinking. All the male and female souls here endure the same karmic retribution. I noticed the duration of torment inflicted by the human-shaped trees varies among them, and observing further might make the reason clear. Among these souls was one I recognized — BLX, a very famous pop singer. In his lifetime, he had countless male and female fans and held numerous concerts. Now he appeared lost in thought. Presently, a walking human-shaped tree approached. Seeing it, he joyfully took its hand and sought to embrace it intimately. Immediately, the tree’s branches and twigs bound him and struck his head relentlessly. Once he collapsed, bloodied and unconscious, a gust from the tree’s leaves slowly restored his body, and the human-shaped tree departed.