明人在探討「情」、「欲」議題時，常以宗教人物為論述對象，戒律是宗教的根本精神，宗教人物的觸犯戒律牽扯到「性」與「犯罪」，然所謂「食色，性也」，欲望乃人性之本然，出家人是否能藉由修行而斷絕一切欲望，常是備受質疑的一關。本文以明雜劇宗教人物的破戒犯淫為主題，劇作家透過僧尼犯淫破戒的情節，除能說明修持過程之艱辛，深刻地討論人性的「欲望」層面，更批判宗教禁欲主義的虛偽，寄託針砭、警示意涵於其中。在腳色安排上，明劇中扮飾犯戒僧侶之腳色有生、淨、丑三門，大體而言，淨、丑所飾者以反面形象者居多，多屬猾詐、邪惡之徒，生腳所飾者則屬「修行多年高僧，受誘犯戒」類型。此外，違反清規的道姑與女尼多為旦腳所扮，只有《截舌公招》的蘊空為丑腳，旦腳所飾之人物多屬自身修行受到考驗，並未有害人之心，故所觸犯的戒律較為輕微，不若丑腳人物的狡詐狠毒。由此觀之，劇作家有意以腳色行當區分人物形象，人物的性格塑造與腳色運用實有緊密的聯繫。

People of the Ming dynasty often targeted religious characters while probing into subjects of love and lust. Religious Prohibitions are the basic spirit of religion, and religious personages' breaking religious rules ultimately involves sex and crime. As sexual desire, like eating, is human nature, whether monks and nuns can break off all desires by practicing Buddhism or Taoism has all along gained much attention. This paper focuses on the violation of religious rule on sex in the Ming dynasty Zaju (variety plays). It examines the hardships of religious cultivation and the desire of human nature, further suggesting the hypocrisy of religious asceticism. Religious characters in the Ming dynasty Zaju involving in breaking sexual rules contain three types of roles: sheng (young man), jing (male with heavily painted face), and chou (clown). The jing and chou roles often pose as negative characters, sly and evil. As for the sheng roles, they are usually eminent monks who practice Buddhism for years but lured to break rules. In addition, Taoist and Buddhist nuns violating monastic rules are mostly played by the dan (female) roles. They go through tests of the desire during self cultivation harboring no harmful intention, thus their offense against religious disciplines are relatively slight. In conclusion, the dramatists intend to distinguish characters' images by the types of roles, accordingly these personages' personalities are closely connected to the roles applied to.