Four Objects of Sexual Misconduct

Original Text from the Section on the Five Precepts for Upasakas, Third Part: The Buddha addressed the bhikkhus: "An upasaka should not give rise to lustful thoughts or perceptions of lust. He should not even give rise to such a mind. How much less should he give rise to the bonds of lust, hatred, and delusion, which are fundamental impure evil deeds. Herein, the transgression of sexual misconduct occurs with four types: women, men, pandakas (those of ambiguous sexuality), and ubhatobyañjanakas (hermaphrodites). 'Women' include human women, non-human women, and female animals. 'Men' include human men, non-human men, and male animals. 'Pandakas' and 'ubhatobyañjanakas' are similarly categorized as above."

Explanation: The Buddha told the bhikkhus: An upasaka should not give rise to lustful thoughts or the sensations of lust; he should not even give rise to a lustful mind, let alone give rise to the bonds of greed, hatred, and delusion, and fundamental impure evil deeds. Within these fundamental impure evil deeds, there are four objects with which an individual commits the transgression of sexual misconduct: men, women, pandakas, and ubhatobyañjanakas (those possessing both male and female sexual organs). Among these, the object being a woman includes women among humans, women among non-humans, and female animals. The object being a man includes men among humans, men among non-humans, and male animals. Pandakas are also divided into human pandakas, non-human pandakas, and animal pandakas. Ubhatobyañjanakas include human ubhatobyañjanakas, non-human ubhatobyañjanakas, and animal ubhatobyañjanakas.

Fundamental impure evil deeds refer to the karmic evil deeds created by the fundamental afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion. Other afflictions, such as major, medium, and minor derivative afflictions, are all derived from the fundamental afflictions and are subordinate to them. Therefore, evil deeds created by derivative afflictions are lighter, while those created by fundamental afflictions are heavier. The production of evil deeds first arises because the mind gives rise to thoughts. After lustful thoughts and intentions arise, sexual karma is created. The mind is fundamental, while the karma is subsidiary. The mind is subtle, and the subsidiary karma is coarse. Cultivation involves first subduing the coarse actions, then subduing the mind. Therefore, if one cannot even subdue the coarse actions, subduing the subtle mind becomes even more difficult.

The object with which a being commits sexual misconduct is not necessarily of the opposite sex; it may be of the same sex, a pandaka, an ubhatobyañjanaka, or involve simultaneous sexual misconduct with both same-sex and opposite-sex partners. The object of sexual misconduct may also not be of the same kind but of a different kind, such as between a human and a non-human, a human and an animal, or a non-human and an animal. There are extremely many types of non-humans, including ghosts, spirits, immortal beings, etc. I once saw a mentally unstable woman in a temple who was pregnant with a ghost fetus. A headless male ghost frequently came to her at midnight, and this woman was utterly incapable of distinguishing good from evil or right from wrong. Her family came to the temple seeking to abort the ghost fetus, looking for a spirit medium to persuade the ghost to agree to the abortion. Another woman was pregnant with a snake fetus, a python fetus belonging to an immortal being. The python immortal also frequently visited her at midnight. Such women have extremely heavy karmic obstacles, resulting from extremely severe sexual misconduct in past lives.

Pandakas refer to beings whose male or female organs are incomplete, lacking normal sexual organ function, with restricted physiological capabilities. Some are congenitally without male or female organs; others were castrated later in life, losing their organs or having them rendered incomplete. Such beings also bear heavy karmic obstacles, all caused by past-life actions such as sexual misconduct.

Ubhatobyañjanakas possess both male and female organs. Originally, they are not distinctly male or female, but there is often a predominance towards one gender. Thus, ubhatobyañjanakas are also divided into male and female. Male ubhatobyañjanakas manifest male organs more frequently, perhaps appearing male during the day and female at night. Female ubhatobyañjanakas manifest female organs more frequently, perhaps appearing female during the day and male at night. Such ubhatobyañjanakas cannot live in male communities nor in female communities, as their indeterminate gender easily causes problems. These beings also bear heavy karmic obstacles, similarly caused by frequent sexual misconduct in past lives. Thus, the karmic retribution for sexual misconduct is also very severe.