From the teaching series “Inner Dreams Kindergarten” by Luang Por Dhammajayo (Wat Phra Dhammakaya) — Exploring the profound reality of human existence through real-life case studies on the Law of Karma.
1. The Background: The Illusion of Seduction and Insatiable Lust
In secular popular culture, romantic promiscuity, habitual seduction, and marital infidelity are frequently romanticized as hallmarks of personal charisma or harmless recreational conquests. However, within Buddhist cosmic law, violating the Third Precept (Kamesu Micchacara) exerts one of the most potent gravitational pulls, plunging souls directly into prolonged torment across subterranean realms.
In this sobering case study, a devotee consulted Luang Por Dhammajayo regarding a male relative. Blessed with handsome physical features and professional prosperity, he indulged in serial infidelity—deceiving women, breaking marriages, and treating courtship as a ruthless game. In his later years, his physical vitality collapsed under excruciating urological disorders, prostatic hypertrophy, and painful chronic sexually transmitted infections. Terrified by his approaching death, his relatives asked: What post-mortem reality awaits those who treat infidelity as a lifestyle?
2. Luang Por’s Insight: The Fiery Thorny Tree and Cycles of Rebirth
Luang Por Dhammajayo illuminated the uncompromising metaphysical mechanics awaiting serial transgressors of moral fidelity:
“Those who habitually engage in sexual misconduct, betraying spouses and leaving tears of heartbreak in their wake, are magnetically drawn to the Third Realm of Yamaloka upon death. There, they are forced to climb the ‘Iron Silk-Cotton Tree’ (Simbali), whose sixteen-finger-breadth-long iron thorns are razor-sharp and blazing with incandescent red flame. Hell wardens brandishing fiery spears impale them from below, forcing them upward, while iron-beaked vultures shred their flesh and gouge their eyes from above. Plummeting down, they are ripped apart by hellhounds, enduring this agony for tens of thousands of Earth years.”
Upon eventually exhausting direct hell retribution, the residual karmic seeds dictate difficult subsequent existences:
- Rebirth as Hyper-Lustful Animals: Manifesting as monkeys, dogs, chickens, or ducks, subjected to perpetual fighting, territorial brutality, and mating frenzy for hundreds of lifetimes.
- Rebirth as Hermaphrodites or Transgender Persons: Upon regaining human status, biological hormones and reproductive organs suffer congenital anomalies, experiencing profound sexual disorientation, social discrimination, and emotional distress.
- Rebirth as Betrayed Women: Reborn as women subjected to identical trauma—married to chronically unfaithful, abusive husbands, enduring the exact sorrow once inflicted on others.
3. Eradicating the Karmic Echo of Infidelity
Luang Por offered compassionate guidance for reversing negative sexual momentum:
- Halt All Infidelity Immediately: Firmly resolve to observe the Third Precept with complete fidelity, honoring one’s lawful partner with unwavering contentment (Sadara-santosa).
- Seek Sincere Forgiveness: Formally acknowledge past misdeeds, apologize to spouses and wronged partners, and ask for mutual forgiveness before the Triple Gem.
- Sponsor Ordinations and Cast Buddha Statues: Supporting monastic ordinations and funding the casting of sacred Buddha images generates pure spiritual merit that cleanses contaminated cellular energy and repairs future bodily integrity.
- Cultivate Inner Spiritual Stillness: Center attention at the Seventh Base of the body. Accessing the sublime bliss of inner meditation naturally dissolves crude sensual cravings, anchoring the soul in lasting purity.
Canonical Tipitaka References
- Mahanaradakassapa Jataka, Khuddaka Nikaya (Jat 544): The Bodhisatta detailed the horrific retribution of the Simbali forest, where adulterers are impaled on incandescent iron thorns, burning with blazing fires for thousands of years.
- Cula-kammavibhanga Sutta, Majjhima Nikaya (MN 135): The Buddha affirmed that those who engage in illicit sexual relations generate widespread enmity, societal hostility, and undergo rebirth in the female or transgender form in subsequent existences.
Original Sermon Audio Recording: Listen to the full sermon recording on YouTube: Ep.1 Case Study Law of Karma (Inner Dreams Series) by Luang Por Dhammajayo
