bhante dhamma asked
What would your answer to the question 'Are rape victims people who are experiencing Karma vipaka? be' What discourses from the pāḷi canon are you aware of that this topic could potentially involve?
In the context of SN 36. 21. Condensed excerpt:
When an ascetic says "Whatever a person experiences "all that is caused by what was done in the past', they overshoot what one knows by oneself, and they overshoot what is considered to be true in the world.
hence the answer to the first question is
"one must not ask stuff for which a definite answer cannot be known, regarding such a serious crime"
In another sutta buddha warns us not to speculate on things like Kamma, Jhana (samadhi) etc. I do not recall the sutta number.
As for anything related to raping being said by the Buddha, to me it seems Buddha covers all bases when he speaks of the suttas on Hiri Otappa.
AN 2.7 and AN 2.9 Excerpts
AN 2.7
Two bright qualities protect the world, Moral shame and Moral dread.
AN 2.9
If these (Hiri Otappa)were not to be in relation to wives of others, or aunts, nieces or whoever, the world would become promiscuous like goats and sheep, chickens and pigs, dogs and jackals.
According to Buddha the
one without moral dread and shame (the rapist)can be compared to
So it is unfair to say the Buddha's teaching does not cover the issue.
As for the way OP asks the question on rape i can ask a rhetorical question from bhante dhamma.
'Was George Floyd (a black man) who was killed by a cop using his foot on his throat, experiencing kamma vipaka?" "What discourses from the pāḷi canon are you aware of that this topic (lynching, police brutality) could potentially involve?
Personally i would have the sensitivity not to ask such a question. It is almost as if Pulsar was saying George Floyd deserved that, due to his past kamma.
Instead i should be outraged at the very notion of that query, as if inadvertently or intentionally i am going easy on a heinous crime,
using kamma as my excuse.
See my point? I have not read the responses, but the manner in which question was asked seemed unfair to the victim being raped.
Rape is a funny issue, no one wants to talk about it, but not Ven Sujatho. He says in one of his many talks titled
"Far Shore"
that a buddhist nun complained to him about being raped by a buddhist monk, so these outrageous things are a fact, that must not be ignored, even though discussing such creates a great deal of unease in all of us.
Perhaps OP asked the question to bring attention to an issue that deserves attention.
If so thank you.