Lecturer: Master Zheng-Yan
Subject: Constantly Engage in Open Repentance (時時發露懺悔)
Yesterday I mentioned, “The nature of evil does not exist within. Neither does it exist without nor in between.” Therefore, we should understand that evil “is Empty in nature.” It does not truly exist. “We must always give rise to Seven states of Mind” because evil is inherently Empty. Since evil is inherently Empty how can it be produced? To prevent the arising of evil and bad karma, we must develop the Seven of Mind. You should still remember them.
First is a sense of shame. Second is a sense of fear. Third is a sense of renunciation. Fourth is developing Bodhicitta. Fifth is impartiality toward all beings. Sixth is repaying the Buddha’s grace. Seventh is contemplating the Empty nature of evil.
Through these Seven States of Mind we can thoroughly understand the people and things we face every day. We must have a sense of shame. I often speak of prudence and humility. A person who is prudent and humble will always feel a sense of shame.
Let us often remind ourselves not to be self-important, because many dangers lurk around us. Being overly arrogant is very dangerous. When we think about it, there is nothing to get attached to. Fame, wealth and desire are as ephemeral as a dream. None of them are real and lasting. When we fight for something illusory, we attract much bad karma and afflictions.
Therefore, we should renounce desires and have no cravings. We must constantly develop Bodhicitta. As practitioners, without Bodhicitta, what else is there for us to practice? I talked about the 4 Immeasurables, 6 Perfections, and 37 Practices to Enlightenment. These are the most important practices so we must work on them diligently.
We must also be impartial to friends and foes. The world is one big family, why should we only be close with blood relations? We must always be grateful and repay the Buddha’s grace. We are able to learn many things which leads us to eliminate bad karma. This is due to the grace of the Buddha and the Three Treasures. The Buddha taught us how evil arises and how tremendous suffering comes about. Evil has no inherent, fixed nature. It is the convergence of causes and conditions which creates evil. Therefore, evil is Empty in nature. The nature of evil is Empty. So we need to raise our awareness. We need to be very vigilant, inside and out. Will our minds be misled by external conditions?
So as we learn Buddhism, we must learn to always be vigilant. Thus, we contemplate the Empty nature of evil. The next passage indicates, “Having brought forth the Seven States of Mind, visualize all Buddhas & sages of 10 directions.” Let us “put our palms together.” This means we need to be very mindful in putting our palms together. “We confess, pray and change out of sham.” We must constantly feel shame so we can change. All our wrongdoings come from bad habits. Evil is Empty in nature; it arises from the accumulation of bad habits. So we must constantly pray with utmost sincerity.
In our prayers, we should constantly feel remorse and shame about our actions toward people, things, etc. We must feel shame before we can transform our minds.
We must change our behavior; we must thoroughly change from within. If we can eliminate our past wrong views, we then can change our actions. When we speak of repentance and reformation, we are talking about rectifying our behavior and completely eliminating our afflictions and habits.
If we can do this, “thoroughly repent as if cleaning the heart and liver, rinsing the intestines and stomach, if we can repent in this way, what evil cannot be extinguished? What blessings cannot be created?”
This passage clearly tells us that we need to eliminate our defilement, and tells us how we can do so. It compares that process to “cleaning the heart & liver” and completely rinsing out our intestines & stomach. We must wash and purge our insides thoroughly.
During the SARS epidemic, we promoted the practice of vegetarianism. As humans, we create karma every time we open our mouths. Human stomachs are filled with carcasses. We can only imagine how filthy that is. Thus we must adopt vegetarian discipline. By doing so we can clean out our insides. Next, let us speak of prayer.
In ancient times, everyone from the king down to ordinary citizens annually performed a ritual to pray for peace and blessings. To show their piety, they had to uphold the vegetarian precepts. This was the practice in ancient times. Today, we must also express this reverence. This reverence should be expressed more than just 3 days, 7 days, or even a month out of the year. We need to frequently clean out our insides. It was written, “clean the heart & liver and rinse the intestines & stomach.”
This is a metaphor urging us to constantly keep our hearts and insides clean. Not only that, we must keep our perspectives and thinking pure.
Always give rise to a sense of shame. Keep perspectives and thinking pure. When we change our actions and habits, we can eliminate the defilement in our minds.
If we can repent like this, “through such repentance, what evil cannot extinguished?
What blessings cannot be created?” Repentance is very important. If we do not know to repent, I am afraid we will keep accumulating bad karma. Thus, we must constantly repent. Repentance means to cleanse and purge. So I often compare Dharma to water that washes away impurities. We can wash away the wrongs done in the past. What we have done is already in the past. Now, the best way is to repent.
In our interactions with people and things, we inevitably transgress in thought and deed. Therefore, what was done in the past must be constantly repented from deep within so that it can be completely eliminated. One with a repentant heart will not continue to make mistakes. Constant repentance can eliminate past wrongs and serve as a reminder for the future. This is the purpose of repentance.
Those who cover up wrongdoings create more evil. Those who openly repent eliminate wrongdoings. -Mahaparinirvana Sutra
“Those who cover up wrongdoings create more evil.” If we do something wrong and try to cover it up, this wrongdoing will keep growing. Have you ever heard the saying, ”Bad kids tend to lie?” Indeed, the words of those who constantly do wrong cannot be trusted. They will not reveal and expose the truth. Those who know to openly reveal their mistakes are those who wish to change. We often hear Tzu Chi volunteers revealing their past wrongdoings to others. I always say: “After revealing one’s mistakes, one will improve.” When we reveal our mistakes, we must not hold on to our wrongdoings. We must not hide and conceal our mistakes or evils. If we do, we will not improve. So it is alright to reveal our mistakes. It is in fact helpful to release the impurities and defilement. Do not keep storing up all your impurities and defilement.
If we do so, our minds will remain polluted. Therefore, we must repent. To repent is to expose this filth and wash it away with water. Earlier, we spoke of cleaning and rinsing everything; even our perspectives need to be cleansed. This is called repentance. Let us not think, “No one knows what I did. If no one knows, I won’t talk about it. This is not right. We must confess. This is a small world, so how can we be sure that no one knows our past? We cannot assume no one here knows our history. Tzu Chi has many members, so we are bound to meet someone from our past. Rather than letting others talk about our past, why not openly talk about it ourselves? This is called open repentance.
If someone directs our attention to our wrongs, we must repent immediately. Do not say, “My wrongs are my own affair I don’t talk about it. How can you? By revealing this, you are humiliating me.” This is the wrong mindset. Who does not make mistakes? A wrongful action is a stain. We need to wash the stain away quickly. When we discover it, we must quickly wash it away. When others discover it, we must also quickly wash it away, and accept this with gratitude and repent. Only then are we truly practicing.
We must not conceal or cover up our wrongdoings. If we cover it up, it will grow. If we can openly repent, the evil will dissipate. So open repentance is very important.
Courageously admitting our wrongdoings is called open repentance. If we openly repent, we eliminate evil. If we cover it up, evil will grow.
Aside from practicing the 4 Immeasurables, 6 Perfections, and 37 Practices to Enlightenment, we must always be repentant. If we are not constantly repenting, if we cover up evil and wrongdoings as we practice the Four Immeasurables, the Six Paramitas and the 37 Practices to Enlightenment, then we are still impure.
Thus, we should be very mindful of this passage and focus on cleansing, rinsing our intestines and stomachs and thoroughly cleaning our hearts and liver. We must be pure inside and out, completely clear. If we can do this, there is no evil that cannot be eliminated. So the only way to eliminate evil is through repentance.
When we openly repent, we immediately eliminate evil. When we eliminate evil, we also eliminate karma. When we eliminate karma, we increase our blessings.
A person born into poverty may not remain poor forever or experience karmic retribution forever. With some blessed causes and the assistance of blessed conditions, a person can transcend suffering and attain joy in this lifetime.
There is a great example of this in Indonesia. In the Great Love Village, there are many touching stories. Among those is the story of an elderly couple. With the help of our volunteers, this old couple held hands as they walked to see their new house. When the old man reached the house, he quickly covered and closed his eyes. Our volunteers asked his, “What’s wrong?” he asked, “Is this real? Is this really happening? I am afraid that once I open my eyes, this will all disappear.” He was overwhelmed with joy.
All the while, his wife laughed and hugged our volunteers. She said, “I used live on the Angke River. It was very filthy. The houses were falling apart. There were flies and mosquitoes everywhere, and it stank. Now that I can here, I am so happy and grateful.”
This elderly couple had six children. Unfortunately, five of them passed away. Only one survived. Their son was married and the young couple had gone away to make a living. This elderly couple looked after their two grandchildren. Now, all four of them can live in this beautiful house. So they said, “I feel like I have suddenly traveled from hell to heaven. If I open my eyes, I’m afraid this will be gone.”
See, this elderly couple once planed good causes so when they encountered blessed conditions, heaven appeared before them. They can lead their grandchildren into a heavenly place.
So everyone, we really need to create blessings. If we do not create blessings, conditions will not come to fruition. There are causes and there are conditions. When causes and conditions converge, blessings will appear. Therefore, we must constantly take good care of our minds. We must eliminate karma so blessings can arise. So we must constantly purity ourselves, and cleanse our sides with Dharma-water. So everyone, please always be mindful.
(Source: Da Ai TV 靜思晨語 法譬如水).
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