The Buddhist saying goes:
"One thought can lead us to become the Buddha, one thought can also lead us to become Mara (the Evil One)."
What drives seemingly ordinary men with wives and kids like Took Leng How (Ah How) and Leong Siew Chor to commit cold-blooded murder? None other than the craving of the flesh - lust. Lust is a burning prison just like the other poisons. The former man is young, possesses a high sex drive and living far away from his wife. The latter man is old, never had sex outside of marriage but lusts for something different.
For Ah How, his thoughts are constantly preoccupied with sex while working here in Singapore. These thoughts caused him to develop a perverted lust for a little girl close to him - Huang Na. Such feelings of lust grows stronger and stronger until they could not be contained. As a result, an evil plan formed in Ah How's mind and when the opportunity arrived (Huang Na's mother went back to China), Ah How decided to carry out his dastard crime on little Huang Na. Not wishing to be discovered, he automatically did the next worst thing - silencing the girl by murder. How he disposed of her body and escaped back to Malaysia is history.
In Leong SC's case, having worked most of his life away for family and children like most Singaporean men do, a secret lust to expereince something different also grew in his mind. This lust found its place in the person of Liu Hongmei, a nubile young lady from China working under him in the factory. Liu gave in to his advances and Leong succeeded in gratifying his lust. Feeling somewhat satisfied yet guilty, Leong spent a large part of what little money he had to fulfill whatever needs Hongmei has. However things quickly got out of hand when Liu decided to end this sinful relationship. Frugal by nature, and not wishing to let go, another poison arised in Leong's mind - Anger. Filled with Anger, Leong stole Hongmei's ATM card to take back some of the money he had given her. But his anger was not appeased and Leong murdered her the next day. How he dismembered her body in his own house and disposed of it in Kallang River is also history.
These cases again verify the Dhamma of how unwholesome thought leads to woeful karmic results. Although Ah How is still on trial and Leong still in remand, I dare say that both men would not be able to escape the gallows. After their deaths, they would be reborn in Hell to suffer further for their evil deeds. Immense suffering indeed, all caused by their own thoughts of lust. If only sentient beings fully understand the terrible suffering that such unwholesome thoughts bring, nobody would dare to think evil, let alone commit evil. Therein lies the importance of an education in the Dhamma.
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