The Offense of Committing Sexual Misconduct at Three Places

Original text of Section Three of the Sūtra on the Precepts for Upāsakas (Upāsaka Five Precepts Sūtra): 若优婆塞与人女。非人女。畜生女。三处行邪淫。犯不可悔。若人男。非人男。畜生男。黄门二根。二处行淫。犯不可悔。若发心欲行淫。未和合者。犯下可悔。若二身和合。止不淫。犯中可悔。若优婆塞。婢使已配嫁有主。于中行邪淫者。犯不可悔。余轻犯如上说。三处者。口处大便小便处。除是三处。余处行欲皆可悔。若优婆塞婢使未配嫁。于中非道行淫者。犯可悔罪。后生受报罪重。

Explanation: If an upāsaka engages in illicit sexual conduct with a human woman, a non-human woman, or a female animal, in the three places—the mouth, the anus, and the urethra—he commits an unpardonable offense. If an upāsaka engages in sexual conduct with a human male, a non-human male, or a male animal, as well as with a paṇḍaka or a person of two sexual organs, in the two places—the mouth and the anus—he commits an unpardonable offense. If he forms the intention to engage in sexual conduct but has not yet physically united with the other party, he commits a lesser pardonable offense. If the two bodies have united but he stops and does not engage in sexual intercourse, he commits a middling pardonable offense. If an upāsaka's maidservant has already been married off and has a spouse, and he engages in illicit sexual conduct with her, he commits an unpardonable offense. Other lighter offenses are as stated above. The three places refer to the mouth, the anus, and the urethra. Apart from these three places, engaging in sexual conduct in other places is all pardonable. If an upāsaka's maidservant has not yet been married off and has no spouse, and he engages in sexual conduct with her through non-standard means, he commits a pardonable offense, but the retributive offense he will receive in future lives is very heavy.

Committing illicit sexual conduct in the three places refers to the mouth, the anus, and the urethra. Apart from these three places, engaging in sexual conduct in other places can all be eliminated through repentance. If an upāsaka's servant has not yet been married and has no spouse, and he engages in sexual conduct with her through non-standard means—not in the three places of the mouth, the anus, and the urethra—he commits a pardonable offense, but the retribution he will receive in future lives is very heavy.

Original text: 若优婆塞有男子僮使人等。共彼行淫二处。犯不可悔罪。余轻犯罪同上说。若优婆塞共淫女行淫。不与直者。犯邪淫。不可悔。与直无犯。若人死乃至畜生死者。身根未坏。共彼行邪淫。女者三处犯。不可悔。轻犯同上说。

Explanation: If an upāsaka engages in sexual conduct with his own boy servants, hired hands, and the like, in the two places of the mouth and the anus, he commits an unpardonable offense. If an upāsaka forms the intention to engage in sexual conduct but the bodies have not yet united, he commits a lesser pardonable offense. If the bodies have already united in sexual conduct but he stops midway and does not continue, he commits a middling pardonable offense.

If an upāsaka engages in sexual conduct with a prostitute and afterward does not pay her, he commits the offense of illicit sexual conduct, which is unpardonable. If he pays the prostitute an appropriate price, then paying does not constitute the offense of illicit sexual conduct. If a human has died, or even an animal has died, and the body's supreme faculty has not yet decayed, and the upāsaka engages in illicit sexual conduct with the corpse—if it is with the corpse of a human woman or a female animal in the three places, he commits an unpardonable offense. If he forms the intention to engage in sexual conduct but the bodies have not yet united, he commits a lesser pardonable offense. If the bodies have already united but he stops midway and does not continue, he commits a middling pardonable offense.

The conduct of prostitutes is a transactional activity, with the purpose of earning money to obtain living expenses, not for the sake of engaging in sexual desire. Because their physical bodies belong to them personally and should be managed by them personally, they themselves do not violate the precept against sexual misconduct. A man who engages in sexual conduct with them must abide by the rules of the transaction and pay the fee.

However, if such conduct violates public order and good morals, it will also be subject to moral condemnation in worldly society; if it violates national laws and regulations, it will also be subject to legal sanctions. Modern people live in affluence with many channels for earning money, and there is no situation involving a lack of living expenses, so the prostitution industry is improper and constitutes conduct that violates both the precepts and the law. A definitive conclusion can only be reached by examining the specific intentions of the parties involved as well as the consequences and impact of the conduct.