Master Jun Hong Lu’s Discourse
(Question 190)
21 November 2017
REASONS FOR RECURRING DREAM TESTS RELATED TO SEXUAL MISCONDUCT AND METHOD TO EXERCISE SELF-RESTRAINT
Question: There is a Buddhist practitioner who keeps having dreams tests related to sexual misconduct almost every night despite having persistently repented his past immorality in this aspect. He may have passed a dream test but the test keeps evolving and takes on various shapes and forms. As a result, he feels physically and mentally drained. Why does he have so many dream tests? Does it mean that the karmic obstacles associated with his past sexual misconduct have yet to be completely eliminated or he has yet to offer a sufficient amount of Little Houses?
Answer: There are a few reasons for one to have dreams related to sexual misconduct.
First, they had committed a hefty amount of sexual misconduct in their past lives and have accrued a huge karmic debt of affection from their past relationships.
Second, in real life, they are still creating new negative karma and have watched or read an excessive amount of pornography. They may not be physically committing the lewd acts, but they have sinned in their minds.
Third, phenomena related to people and matters from their past life relationships may be taking place now. This explains why the dreams keep cropping up at specific times. In such a case, it is no longer a dream test but rather karmic obstacles that are being revealed from the root of their karma. These karmic obstacles need to be eradicated; no matter how insurmountable, they must learn to exercise self-restraint.
Let me teach you a method to exercise self-restraint: If sleeping arouses your lust, you must sleep less. This is because when one is sitting or standing they are less likely to give rise to such bad thoughts.
Those who are fond of lazing around in bed have the tendency to commit sexual misconduct, ‘taunted’ by their lustful thoughts. Whenever such unwholesome thoughts arise, you must first get up and walk around and if you feel tired thereafter, you can take a nap on a sofa. By doing so, you will feel much better.
You must curb your lust because when foreign spirits occupy your body, they will make you commit sinful acts and you will end up creating new negative karma. These foreign spirits are out there to cause an outflow to your merits and virtues, creating troubles to your life. When misfortune finally befalls you, they have succeeded and what follows is that the demon will start to occupy your body. You need to be diligent in your recitation. Sleep less.
Do you know why in the past, old monastics did not lie down when sleeping? This was because they wanted to overcome all their desires and hence, they adopted a sitting posture while sleeping.
It’s believed that when one is well-fed and well-clad, they are inclined to be lustful. This explains why in the past, people were not encouraged to eat too full a meal. It’s not good to overeat. On the other hand, excessive sleep is also a form of greed. Those who sleep too much tend to be greedy, lazy and muddle-headed.
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