An Iranian woman, Mokarrameh Ebrahimi, reportedly faces being stoned to death for having an affair with a married man, Jafar Kiani. Punishment by stoning probably is not meted just on adulterers. People could be stoned for various reason including blaspheming, believing in another God and even for being not a virgin on the wedding night. Christians in ancient times, probably do not stone adulterers. In the mount of Olives, a woman said to have commited adultery was brought to Jesus and since Moses was said to have commanded that adulterers be stoned, Jesus's opinion was sought as to what to do. It was in the mount of Olives then that Jesus had uttered this famous line: He that is without sin, let him first cast a stone. To the woman, Jesus had said that he did not condemn her and had then asked her to go and sin no more. I suppose that is what the third of the five Buddhist precepts is all about. Kāmesumicchācāra veramaṇī sikkhāpadaṃ samādiyāmi, I undertake the training rule to abstain from sexual misconduct. There probably has never been a set Buddhist law that states that adulterers should be stoned or be punished in any other way. Indeed if adulterers are sinners, Karma probably would take care of them.
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