Witnessing this, I asked the Magistrate: “Does the tree’s departure mean their punishment is finished?” The Magistrate replied: “It does not. Homosexuality is a form of mistaken affectionate attachments within one’s thoughts. As you have just seen, all these souls attract the human-shaped tree only after such longing thoughts arise within them. Those whose longing thoughts resurface after longer intervals carry lighter lustful cravings; those whose longing thoughts arise swiftly face heavier retribution.”
I asked: “If condemned souls cease such thoughts entirely, will they no longer suffer punishment?”
The Magistrate answered: “When condemned souls completely abandon these thoughts, they may leave this hell. All their karmic forces originate from deluded, inverted thoughts. The karmic hell debts of some homosexuals are comparatively lighter. For instance, one born male was repeatedly reborn as a female in past lives. Though endowed with a male body in this lifetime, they have been unable to shift away from a feminine way of thinking in their subconscious. Hence they are not drawn to women and remain attracted to men, just as in former lifetimes. The same principle applies to those born female. This is the primary cause of homosexual attraction and sexual misconduct among mortals in the human world. If such homosexuals commit no other sexual transgressions and merely seek a companion with whom they live, addressing each other as spouses, they will receive punishment in the hell of connected thinking for fifty hell years. Should all karmic seeds of homosexual misconduct be eliminated within those fifty years, they may leave the hell ahead of schedule. If those seeds of homosexual misconduct remain unremoved, an additional thirty years of punishment will be imposed.”
Beside the hell of connected thinking stands a great hell, utterly empty. I found this most strange, for every other hell teems with suffering sentient beings. None I had seen had ever been vacant. I questioned the Magistrate: “Why is this hell completely empty?” The Magistrate said: “Some beings in the mortal world are currently developing certain aphrodisiacs. They remain in the research phase, but once completed, these substances will be marketed and sold. This hell is reserved for all who participate in developing these aphrodisiacs, to receive their punishment in the future.”
I asked further: “Does this mean merely harboring thoughts that break the precept against sexual misconduct counts as an offense?”
The Magistrate said: “Indeed. Every time such thoughts arise, one’s innate vital energy is stirred, and one’s upright vitality is already damaged.”
I gained profound insights once more today, and gave thanks to the Magistrate!
I prostrated to the Magistrate! I departed riding a white lotus flower.
28 / Paying Homage to Earth Store Bodhisattva at the Hall of Initial Turning of Nether Radiance
Grateful for the empowerment of the Buddha! I departed riding a white lotus flower.