Sexual Abuse: Secret of Silence

Numerical Discourses of the Buddha (X, 206)*

The Buddha explained: "I declare that actions [karma] willed, performed, and accumulated will not become extinct as long as their results have not been experienced, be it in this life, in the next life, or in subsequent future lives. And as long as these results [vipaka and phala] of actions willed, performed, and accumulated have not been experienced, there will be no making an end to suffering, I declare.

"There are these tainted failures in living caused by unwholesome volition [karma], issuing in suffering, resulting in suffering. These tainted failures are threefold in bodily acts, fourfold in verbal acts, and threefold in mental acts.

How are these tainted failures in living caused by unwholesome volition threefold in bodily acts?

...One conducts oneself wrongly in matters of sex: one has intercourse with those under the protection of:

• father
• mother
• brother
• sister
• relatives or clan
• their religious community; or with
• those promised for a marriage
• protected by law, and even with
• those betrothed with a garland.

Amanda Richardson (savedfromsilence.com)


One in three females and one in five males will be sexually abused before the age of 18. Abuse may cause one to question one's spirituality or even blame a creator/controller God for the pain. Saved From Silence will helps one realize we are not alone. This books restores hope for a future free from that.

• Find Help

Learning of a loved one's abuse can bring on many emotions. These revelations can be overwhelming and may leave one feeling unable to help or be helped. Help a survivor with his or her healing process by learning what to do and what to say (as well as what not to do and say). Saved From Silence explains.

Healing from sexual and emotional abuse is not always a short or easy process. It is different for every survivor/thriver. Saved From Silence opens a dialogue among readers. This is wound not healed on one's own; one becomes sicker every day until it is faced. Saved From Silence inspires one to start the path to ultimate healing. More>>

• Gastrointestinal problems from post sexual abuse stress: They Can't Find Anything Wrong With Me (David D. Clarke)
• LISTEN radio interview (Page2Pantry: 5/15/09, KPFK.org)
• See also Dr. Deborah King (TruthHeals.com)

*Numerical Discourses of the Buddha: An Anthology of Suttas from the Anguttara Nikaya (translated and edited by Nyanaponika Thera & Bhikkhu Bodhi, Altamira Press), pp. 265-269.