Deviant Sex Precept Violation

Question:

Ven. Master:

There are many interpretations of deviant sex on the internet, which makes me confused. Please kindly clarify the following for me:
​
1.The Deviant Sex infraction only applies to those who received the Five Precepts is that correct?

2.In my example, a person (whether male or female) is unhappy. He or she tells the partner so and asks for a divorce because of unhappiness and to continue the marriage would only cause each other to suffer. However, the partner refuses to grant the divorce. After a while, the unhappy spouse develops a sexual relationship with another person. Is that considered a violation of the Deviant Sex Precept? If he or she has not received the Five Precepts, does that count as a violation?

3.If there is a violation is there a way to erase it?

Thank you for your instruction,
​
NVA

Answer:

1. Yes, the Deviant Sex violation only applies to those who received the Deviant Sex Precept, which is one of the Five Precepts. By the way, you can selectively receive the precepts that you feel you can keep. There is no need to receive all Five Precepts if you can’t uphold them. In particular, the Deviant Sex Precept is very hard to observe in this day and age. People should not receive it at all if they can’t uphold it.

2. The Deviant Sex Precept prohibits sexual intercourse outside of marriage, even if the marriage is an unhappy one.

3. Yes, there is a way to repent for the violations. For this you need to see a competent left home person who is qualified to advise you. This is not something you can do through correspondence or through the Internet. It can only be explained in person. In fact, few left home people are qualified to teach you how to repent. Should you have doubts about their approach, you can contact us again and describe their approach. We can then advise you privately about its validity and effectiveness.
​
In general, I wish that left home people would spend enough time to educate their disciples on the Five Precepts before transmitting them. This would then help prevent potential problems.