Four Types of Objects of Sexual Misconduct

Original text of the Sūtra on the Precepts for Upāsakas, Section Three: 佛告诸比丘。优婆塞不应生欲想欲觉。尚不应生心。何况起欲恚痴结缚。根本不净恶业。是中犯邪淫有四处。男女黄门二根。女者人女。非人女畜生女。男者人男。非人男畜生男。黄门二根。亦同于上类。

Explanation: The Buddha told the bhikṣus: Upāsakas should not give rise to lustful thoughts and lustful feelings; they should not even give rise to the mind of desire, let alone give rise to the bonds of desire, anger, and delusion, and the fundamentally impure evil karma. Among these fundamentally impure evil karmas, each person commits sexual misconduct with four kinds of objects: men, women, paṇḍakas, and those possessing both male and female sexual organs. When the object of sexual misconduct is a woman, this includes human women, non-human women, and female animals. When the object of sexual misconduct is a man, this includes human men, non-human men, and male animals. Paṇḍakas are likewise divided into human paṇḍakas, non-human paṇḍakas, and animal paṇḍakas. Those with both organs include humans with both organs, non-humans with both organs, and animals with both organs.

Fundamentally impure evil karma refers to the afflictive evil karma created by the fundamental afflictions of greed, anger, and delusion. Other afflictions, such as the great, medium, and minor secondary afflictions, are all derived from the fundamental afflictions and are subordinate to them. Therefore, the evil karma created by secondary afflictions is lighter, while the evil karma created by fundamental afflictions is heavier. The arising of evil karma first comes from the stirring of the mind and the arising of thoughts. Once the mind of desire and lustful thoughts arise, the karma of lust is then created. The mind is the root, and the karma is subordinate; the mind is subtle, while the subordinate karma is coarse. In cultivation, one first subdues the coarse actions, then subdues the mind. Therefore, if one cannot even subdue the coarse actions, the subtle mind is even harder to subdue.

The objects with which each sentient being commits sexual misconduct are not necessarily of the opposite sex; they may be of the same sex, may be paṇḍakas, may be those with both organs, or one may have sexual relations with both the same sex and the opposite sex simultaneously. The object of sexual misconduct may also not be of the same kind but of a different kind, such as humans with non-humans, humans with animals, or non-humans with animals. There are extremely many kinds of non-humans, including ghosts, spirits, immortals, and so on. I once saw at a monastery a mentally deranged woman pregnant with a ghost fetus; every night at midnight a headless male ghost would frequently come to visit this woman, and this woman could not distinguish good from bad or right from wrong at all. Her family came to the monastery wanting to abort the ghost fetus, seeking a spirit medium at the monastery to persuade the ghost to agree to the abortion. There was also a woman pregnant with a snake fetus—a python fetus belonging to the immortal class; the python immortal also frequently came to visit that woman at midnight. Such women have extremely heavy karmic obstructions, brought about by extremely heavy karmic offenses of sexual misconduct in past lives.

Paṇḍakas refer to a class of sentient beings whose male or female organs are incomplete or defective, who cannot have normal sexual organ function, and whose physiological functions are limited. Some of them are congenitally without male or female organs, while others were castrated later in life and lost their male or female organs, or their organs became incomplete or defective. Such sentient beings also have very heavy karmic obstructions, all caused in past lives by sexual misconduct and other reasons.

Because those with both organs possess both male and female organs simultaneously, they are not inherently distinguished as male or female; however, there is also a predominance, with one gender being primary. Therefore, those with both organs are also divided into male and female: male dual-organ persons manifest the male organ more often, or manifest the male organ during the day and the female organ at night, while female dual-organ persons manifest the female organ more often, perhaps manifesting the female organ during the day and the male organ at night. Such persons with both organs can neither survive in a male community nor in a female community, because their gender is indeterminate and problems arise very easily. Such sentient beings likewise have very heavy karmic obstructions, also caused by frequent sexual misconduct in past lives; therefore, the retribution for sexual misconduct is also very heavy.