First Story
 
During the reign of Emperor Zhengde (1505 – 1521 AD) in the Ming Dynasty, there was a scholar 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 Zhao took the provincial-level civil service examination, he wrote an excellent article. The head examiner had already decided to choose his article for several days. However, against all of his expectations, he made numerous errors in the later exams and failed to pass the provincial civil service examination. He was very upset and prayed to the Imperial Deity of Wenchang (the authority in charge of education and examinations) to inform the reason for his failure through a dream. The Deity revealed, "You were supposed to win first place, 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 that degenerated further by the day. 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 provincial-level 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 with a maid 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 servant 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 a relation with you!” The servant immediately ran to gather other monks. They broke into the room and saw only two demons while Xingyun had been decapitated. (From Taiping Guangji, volume 357)




色欲心起，即为大过 (上)
 
（一）
 
明朝正德年间，有个读书人，名叫赵永贞，他在少年的时候，曾经遇到一位异人告诉他说：‘你二十三岁的时候，必定会考中功名。’等到他廿三岁那年参加乡试，文章写得极好，主考官早已经决定选中他的文章好几天了；不料到了后场的考试，他却是连连的失误，结果没有考中。赵永贞的心中，感到非常的难过；因此就向文昌帝君祈求托梦，告诉他不中的原因；文昌帝君就说：‘你原本可以考中今年的乡试，但是因为你近来调戏你家的婢女，引诱邻居的女儿，虽然都没有成真；然而你的起心颠倒，意淫缠绵不断，心地日益的转暗；所以你命中原有的功名，因此而被消除了。’
 
永贞听了帝君的解说，痛哭流涕，发誓并决心改过，大做善事。于是就刻印戒淫的善书，以警醒世人。结果在下次的乡试中，永贞果然考中了解元，做官做到了藩宪。
 
（二）
 
有位叫行蕴的僧人，有一次他见到了莲花，忽然动了淫欲的想法。当天晚上，就有一位妇人来敲他的门。行蕴打开门看，见到门外站了一位女子，而且还带了一个丫环，并且自称道：‘我是莲花娘子。’而这位女子容光照人，极为美丽，行蕴见了十分的高兴，就与她情意缠绵的谈起话来。一会儿，蜡烛就熄灭了，隔壁的侍者听到行蕴叫苦的声音，和女子厉声的对他说道：‘你为什么妄起淫心，假若我真的是女子，也不会肯跟你苟合啊！’侍者听到之后，就立刻跑去邀集寺里其他的僧众赶来，大家合力破门而入，只看到了两个夜叉，而行蕴已经身首异处了。（《太平广记》卷第三百五十七）