The word "repentance" is a unique term of Buddhism in China. Before Buddhism was introduced to China, the word "repentance" was not used together in Chinese. In India, repentance is a necessary condition for practitioners. No matter whether you have made mistakes in your life, you should repent. For Buddhists, repentance can be divided into several degrees.
The most basic level is that you have made a mistake, and others don't know that nothing unpleasant has happened from others. In other words, there is no hindrance or harm to others, but one's own practice is wrong or negligent, and one must repent. This kind of confession is to blame yourself personally, that is, "to confess your heart". The so-called blame is not to scold yourself, not to regret yourself, but to review yourself. What should I do if I review what I shouldn't do and what I have done wrong? From then on, I vowed never to make mistakes again. This is the first kind of confession.
The second is "repentance." Confess to who? To the person you hurt, or you think it hurts others, or you know it hurts others, but the other person doesn't find it. At this time, you have to confess yourself. Whether the other party knows that we have hurt him or not, we should repent. When we find ourselves sorry for others, we should confess to him. Repentance means that you should take responsibility for what you have done wrong. This is the same for people, even for animals. We hurt animals, and animals can't talk, but we know that if we are troubled by animals, we must repent.
For example, when we were interacting with people, you inadvertently said something that made them sad. Maybe you didn't feel hurt at all, but you found that this sentence should not be said. At this time, you should tell him immediately: "I regret it, I'm sorry!" From now on, I hope I won't do this to you again, even to everyone. This is the second kind of confession.
The third way is to create public anger, or to make a group of people or a group of people hurt or suffer losses, whether mentally or materially, to make a small group or a large group hurt, and the face-to-face confession is called "public confession."
Many people, small people, many people. If some people or several people are hurt by you, or lost because of your influence, then repent to some people. If the whole group suffers from reputation loss or economic loss because of what you have done, it is necessary to confess to the public.
For example, the recitation we hold every half month is to repent in front of the public. This is accepted by monks (Nepal) and Misha (Nepal). In fact, the same should be true of laymen who have been protected by bodhisattvas. What should I do if I am not bound by bodhisattva precepts or monks? When there is a party, publicly confess to the public, or write a repentance book to let everyone know. In our group, both monks and practitioners should always repent in order to keep the three realms clean. It's like we eat every day. Wash the dishes before eating and after eating, so that they will be clean when used next time. If you find dust on chopsticks the next time you use them, you should wash them first.
Confess your mistakes; If you don't make a mistake, or don't know that you made a mistake, but you want to practice meditation, wisdom, or vows, then you should also repent. Just like washing the dishes before eating, repentance is to restore the purity of our three industries. However, after confession, is our karma over? I'm telling you, it's gone. Repentance means that I admit that I made a mistake, so I have to take responsibility to make it up.
Now let's talk about "confession". Repentance is unique to Mahayana Buddhism. In primitive Buddhism and Hinayana Buddhism, there is no such collective mass practice. When we practice together, we must be uniform, so there is a ceremony. If there is no ceremony, everyone will interfere with each other when they practice together. Maybe you practice yours, he reads his words, you worship you, and he worships him, which will interfere with each other in time, action and voice, so it's not * * *. Therefore, the founder Dade was very merciful and made up various confessions. For example, the Great Mercy Mantra (the Great Mercy Mantra with a Thousand Hands and a Thousand Eyes) and Hokkekyo? Popular goods ",and compiled into" compassion ". Practice the Pure Land Method, and Pure Land III becomes Pure Land Confessions. Dharma drum mountain and Nongchan Temple used these two kinds of confessions.
Confessions of Liang Wudi is the largest of all confession documents. In addition to the confession of Emperor Liang, there are confessions of water, pharmacists, Dizang, Guanyin (that is, confession of great compassion), and the earliest confession of Fahua, which is dedicated to Hokkekyo. But when it comes to the great practice of the group, the worship of Confessions of Emperor Liang is the most outstanding and the largest. Confessions of Emperor Liang is very rich in content, which is compiled by combining all the Buddhist names of Mahayana classics, as well as the Buddhist teachings and legal meanings of Mahayana classics. And what good will this do us?
Collective practice, as I said just now, is mutual influence. Our hearts are the same, our chanting is the same, and our ritual movements are the same. At this time, the practice will not be slack, and it is not easy to disperse. If a person worships Confessions of Emperor Liang alone, he is likely to rest after the worship, and it is impossible to gather in the center to worship regularly. When the group worships together, the mage sings along with it, so the atmosphere is very cohesive and it is easier for us to identify and initiate piety in our hearts.
For example, more than 2000 people attended today. It is impossible for thousands of people to fantasize at the same time. There are always a few people who are very steady and focused. As long as a few people are dedicated and pious, our atmosphere will get together. If there are few people, the atmosphere may not be so cohesive. Therefore, the more people, the better the effect of practice.
We have seven days of practice, which is called "eternal seven days", that is, during these seven days, we are all working hard without interruption or rest. The so-called "eternal sun" means that you have to adjust your mentality first every morning and prepare to confess very devoutly; After coming home from confession, I still kept the mood of confession. At the end of this day, we are all in the confidence of practicing. This is called "One Eternal Day", and seven days is the "Seven Eternal Days". Although you don't live in a temple, you'd better practice for seven days with the "Eight Guange amulet" to keep your body and mind clean.
What should we do when we worship the Confessions and recite Buddhist scriptures, but we don't worship the Confessions? Read "Amitabha! If you make irresponsible remarks when you have no confession, you can't call it "an eternal day" or "seven eternal days" The layman had better come for seven days. If he can't come every day, he must have at least one eternal day. When you come one day, you will have a clean and diligent day; After seven days, it is seven days of diligence. What's the good of this? I'm just saying, after confession, can you quit your job and remove obstacles? Of course. I think if we can't stop working and remove obstacles, no one will come. But what do you mean by eliminating karma and obstacles?
Karma is mainly our hearts, and our hearts are knotted, which is an obstacle and a karmic obstacle. If you repent, your heart will no longer be knotted, which is not an obstacle. When there are no obstacles in our minds, when we encounter various external obstacles, we will be relieved and reduced. What is the reason? There are two reasons. The first reason is that we have admitted that we made a mistake and are willing to take responsibility for it. The next step is how to make up and remedy the mistakes we have made.
How to remedy it? Make a vow to the resentful creditors in the spiritual world first. Did you write a memorial tablet when we confessed? This is an oath to repay them, but how much merit can you repay them? Looking back means that you are practicing, you are achieving the Dojo, and you are achieving the great cause of carrying forward Buddhism and benefiting students. This is to do good for them. Because you have done meritorious deeds, repaid your creditors and all sentient beings in the spiritual world, they came here to listen to our confession and follow us in repentance. When the flame was released, they also came to listen to it.
We all use Buddhism, Buddha's name and various mantras to confess, which can directly benefit them. Just like saying, we invite them to listen to Buddhism; It's like saying that we treat them not with our mouths, but with our hearts to contact the interests of Buddhism. After listening to Buddhism, they can understand. In this way, there will be no revenge or coming to you.
In addition, when we pay homage to our creditors, we will also invite other orphans to come and give them big alms. This is to make up for all kinds of bad karma made in the past and hurt them. Now we do Buddhism to make up for our mistakes. So, all our sins are gone? No, let's just say that they won't force us to pay our debts for the time being. Small debts, they don't care, if heavy debts, there is still. So always repent and practice.
In addition, the Buddhist scripture says, "Sin is created by the heart, and when the heart dies, sin dies. The essence of sin is empty. How did sin come from? It's caused by our hearts. If our hearts-selfishness, greed, laziness and self-centeredness-are all eliminated, that is, our worries are gone, and we can grow with wisdom, bodhi mind and bodhi fruit. It is not easy to prove bodhi fruit, and practice is to prove bodhi fruit. If our troubles are broken and the bodhi fruit is proved, then there is really no sin.
If you are not free, but your heart can always be empty, then the creditor will not find you. If you often practice the concept of emptiness, it is actually meditation, but when you practice without self-centeredness, you can't find any karma. Is that avoiding debt? No, not avoiding debt! At this time, you should initiate great compassion.
Bodhicitta is wisdom and compassion. Confessions of Emperor Liang, also known as the "mercy Dojo", shows great compassion and is willing to benefit all sentient beings, that is, to follow the path of Bodhisattva. When you have great compassion and benefit all sentient beings, you are doing great kindness anytime and anywhere. Because you are doing good deeds anytime and anywhere, your relatives and creditors just need to get close to you and complain. Originally I hated my creditors, but in the end I became your protector and your helper. In this way, our business will disappear.
Therefore, confession has many functions, from small to large. If repentance can eliminate sin, then you don't understand Buddhism. How can we get rid of sin? Always initiate compassion, be more compassionate and less selfish, and your heart can respond to emptiness. The so-called heart, mostly refers to selfish troubles, the heavier the selfish heart, the heavier your karma; The lighter your selfish heart is, the lighter your karma is. This is for ourselves. Is it useful for our relatives and friends, that is, those who died first and those who are still alive? This is useful to them. This is to do charity for them, to do merit for them, and to accumulate blessings for them. They didn't come by themselves, but you did it for him, and it still worked. But it's best to practice by yourself. You know, what are the advantages of practicing by yourself instead of practicing? Six points is more than one point, six points of merit belong to the practitioner himself, and one point of merit can be returned, but it is still useful.
Therefore, it is best to practice by yourself when you are alive. If we don't have a chance to practice when we are alive and don't know how to practice, then we still have to practice for him or give alms to him after death. If he knows how to give, he will start practicing when he is alive, and all the merits and demerits belong to him.
Do you understand what I said today? Repentance, do you have to come to * * * training to repent, do you want to repent normally? Others don't know that you made a mistake, but you made a mistake yourself. Do you want to confess? I'm sorry for others, and others know it. What should I do? What should I do if I have done something that I am sorry for many people? Confess in public However, many people are stupid and do something wrong. Instead of admitting their mistakes, they invented many reasons to say that it was not my fault. And this kind of person is even more guilty. Therefore, as a Buddhist, if you make a mistake or commit a crime, you must be responsible for yourself and others. This is the most basic confession.
Also, why * * * to confess? Can't a person worship the Confessions of Liang Wudi? One can worship, but not good enough. When a person practices, strength is a yarn. Ten people practice together, and it becomes a thread. If thousands of yarns are together, it is a cable. * * * the power of repair is great. Therefore, we should hold such a law meeting. On the one hand, plant Futian, on the other hand, cultivate happiness and wisdom. Repentance is actually a great merit of cultivating happiness and wisdom. Amitabha.