Saturday, November 26, 2011

Prison of Lust - Yishun murders

The Dhammapada says:

"Such a man acquires demerit
and an unhappy rebirth in the future.

Brief is the pleasure of the frightened man and woman,
and the king imposes heavy punishment.
Hence, let no man consort with another's wife."

Recently in the news is the case of the Yishun murders where a mother and daughter were knifed 98 times (Source). The attack happened after 45-year-old Wang Zhi Jian from China quarrelled with his lover Zhang Meng and attacked her while she was sleeping. He also attacked her daughter when she was awakened by her mother's cries. Later, he went into another room and attacked another mother-and-daughter pair who was staying in the same flat at Block 349, Yishun Street 11. In her bid to escape, one of the women, Yang Jie, ran to the kitchen and climbed out the window while holding on to the ledge. Wang then hacked at her fingers. Unable to hold on, she fell to her death. Her daughter was injured. The suspect is believed to have killed the three victims within 1 hr 49 mins.
It was also revealed that the woman had an affair with the suspect when they first met in China. Wang had only been in Singapore for 10 days before he attacked the women. He was here on a 30-day social visit pass. He had previously met with Zhang Meng in Singapore the same year in July and August, hoping that she could introduce him to a job. Zhang and Wang had been engaging in adultery on a regular basis in China and had to run away when Zhang's husband discovered their misconduct. They continued living together immorally in Singapore with Zhang's daughter in close proximity. So it was inevitable that their unwholesome lifestyle ended quickly in a violent tragedy.
The Prison of Lust traps those in the karma of "Kamesu Michacara", leading them to misfortune and punishment in this life and having to climb the tree of spikes in the next. Zhang's husband, a rich police officer in China, is ashamed of the wife's infidelity and refused to have anything to do with what happened here. They have not divorced yet. Innocent victims of the violence include Zhang's daughter and the other pair of mother and daughter sharing the flat. Although tragic, the fact that they were all there together to be killed indicates that they were linked by the same negative karma from past existences. The only surviving girl of the murders was the one that stood by and watched. Unfortunately the cycle has come full circle and will end with Wang being hanged for his crimes. Thus we know that the prison of lust traps sentient beings not only in this life but in many cases it spans across several existences. But no matter in which existence, it drives them to woe and suffering all the same, as long as they do not awaken to their wrong doing. Sad indeed are these beings, never hearing the Dhamma, creating negative karma and suffering for it again and again, yet never learning from their mistakes from life to life. It is hard to see when will they ever be free from the wheel of Samsara.

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