(Clearwisdom.net)

First Story

During the reign of Emperor Zhengde (1505 - 1521 A.D.) in the Ming Dynasty, there was a man named Zhao Yongzhen. When he was young, he met a fortune-teller who told him: “You will surely win first place in the provincial civil service examination and obtain fame and fortune when you are twenty three years old.”

When young Zhao took the provincial civil service examination, he wrote an excellent article. The examiner decided to choose his article. But, against all of his expectations, he failed all the later exams and thus did not pass the provincial civil service examination. He was very upset and in a dream, he asked the Imperial Deity of Wenchang (the authority in charge of education and examinations) why he failed the exam. The Deity replied: "You were supposed to win first place in the provincial civil service examination, but recently you peeped at your maid out of lust and flirted with the girl next door. Although you did not actually touch these women, you were lustful in mind. This is the reason why you have been deprived of the honor!"

After hearing what the Deity said, Yongzhen burst into tears. He pledged to rectify his mistakes and do a lot of good deeds. He wrote a book encouraging people to guard their chastity and to refrain from lustful thoughts and behavior. As a result he won the first place in the next imperial civil service examination. Later in his career, Zhao Yongzhen was made a feudal lord responsible for guarding a region.

Second Story

There once was a monk named Xingyun. One day he saw a lotus flower and suddenly had a lustful thought. That night, a woman came knocking on his door. Xingyun opened the door and saw the woman and a maiden standing outside the door. The woman said: “I am the Lotus Lady.” Xingyun was very pleased to see the beautiful lady and started talking to her affectionately. After a while the candle went out. The waiter next door heard Xingyun crying and a woman harshly tell him: “Why did you have lustful thoughts? Even if I were really a woman, I would not agree to have sex with you!” The waiter immediately ran to get other monks to come over. They broke into the room and saw only two demons while Xingyun had been decapitated. (“Tailing Guangji” Volume Three Hundred and Fifty Seven)

Third Story

During the last years of the Qing Dynasty, a candidate was going to Beijing for the provincial civil service examination. The manager of the hotel where he was staying was a recently widowed woman. Due to heavy snow blocking the road, he was forced to stayed at the hotel for a few days longer. After a few days of staring at each other, they fell in love and started to have lustful thoughts. The candidate went to the widow's room and was about to knock on the door when he suddenly thought: “No, I can't do this. I'm going to take the provincial civil service examination. If I step inside and have an affair with her, I will be deprived of first-place in the exam by heaven. I have to go back!” While he went back to his room, the widow started thinking about him. She stepped out the door and thought: “No! I am a widow and should hold chastity for my husband. How could I forget about this after seeing a young man? No, I have to go back!” (It is held in Chinese mythology that if a widow holds chastity for her husband and remains clean, she will go to heaven after death; but if a widow is guilty of adultery, the sin is enough to make her go to hell.) So, the widow went back to her room.

After the man returned to his room, he could not contain his burning desire, so he went back to the widow's door and knocked. Before she opened the door, he quickly dashed away, realizing that he should not be there. He was afraid of being deprived of fame and fortune because of adultery. There is an ancient saying that, even if you have very good knowledge and are destined to win first place at the provincial civil examination, if you are guilty of adultery or have committed evil deeds, your first place status will be removed by heaven. So he went back to his room before the widow opened the door. However, the widow already knew he was there, so she went to knock on his door. She also struggled, telling herself that she should not be disloyal. So she went back. They went back and forth like this two or three times. The last time, the man opened the door, but they stood there hesitating, wanting to do it, but also feeling afraid.

At that moment they heard a voice in the air: “Hey! You both wanted to do it, and then were afraid to do it, over and over. My notebook is all messed up!” They heard something thrown down. The man and the widow both trembled. They quickly picked up the notebook that appeared at their feet. It turned out to be the “Merits and Demerits Book”. Their names were in the book: a first-place winner in the provincial civil service examination, whose name was crossed out after being guilty of adultery; a widow who was supposed to go to heaven after being loyal, and the name was crossed out after committing adultery. Looking more closely, there was the word “not committed”, and the names were checked back. Then below that, the word “guilty” was written, and the names crossed out. Then below that was the word “not committed”, and names checked back. Then “guilty” with the names crossed out. The notebook was all messed up with crosses and checks. After seeing this, the two went back to their rooms and would not dare to have lustful thoughts again.

*****

Each thought arising in one's heart is known by heaven and earth. I mistakenly thought that it's alright to have lustful thoughts as long as one does not commit the deeds. Without actual deeds there would be no sin, or the sin is light. It seems I was wrong.

When Lu Qing from the Ming Dynasty came back from the dead, he heard an official in hell telling him that it is a serious sin to have lustful thoughts. If the gods do not record the thoughts truthfully, this is also a big sin for the gods who are in charge of these matters.

Therefore, if one wants good fortune, one needs to get rid of evil and lustful thoughts immediately. Because once a thought of lust arises, it's a big sin and will bring nothing good. One's life is changed forever and one will lose good fortune, or one's life may even be shortened. Bad fortune will come, and it can be said to be one's own fault.

It's even more serious for a practitioner, as one's precious opportunity to cultivate might be ruined by one thought of lust!