Lecturer: Master Zheng-Yan
Subject: Sincerely Repent To Eliminate Ignorance (虔誠懺悔去無明)
“With each passing day, we draw closer to death. Like fish in decreasing water, how is there joy?” Thought the days are passing, the karmic force is still difficult to eliminate. We remain unaware as we live our lives, and continue to create karma, life after life. Therefore, we must make a resolution and seize each moment to practice. Let us use these impermanent moments to engage in practices that will last forever.
Here, the Water Repentance states, “we must, confess, pray and change out shame.”
We truly should be ashamed and change. If we cannot reform ourselves, these habits will always remain. These habits, like seeds, will remain and sprout whenever certain karmic conditions arise. Once we are tempted, these habits arise. So we must thoroughly change and eliminate habits. How do we do so? It is clearly indicated in the Repentance Text.
Thoroughly repent as if you are cleaning the hart & liver and rinsing the intestines & stomach. Through such repentance, what evil cannot be extinguished? What blessings cannot be created? “Clean the heart & Liver.”
We repent as if to wash ourselves with water thoroughly from head to toe. So “cleaning the heart & liver” is about opening up the mind and carefully washing it from top to bottom. This shows our sincerity in wanting to change. We should be sincere in changing ourselves. Let us not say, “Okay, I’ll work on it gradually. Yeah, I will change, more or less.” With such a mentality, we will never succeed in changing. It is like taking our time cleaning a dirty place, saying, “We will clean it gradually.”
As we clean very slowly, it will take so long that the sections we have cleaned are filthy again. Before we even finish cleaning, the space will be dirty again. This is much like weeding a field. I remember we used to grow peanuts. Crops did not grow well on our land. However, the weeds flourished. At the time, there were only a few of us. This land was of considerable size. Removing weeds was no something we did regularly, and we did not know how to do it. To try to clear the weeds completely, We knelt down with a sickle and tried to pull them out one by one. We wanted to pull out the purple nutsedge through its interconnected roots and tubers. If we dug slowly, we could dig up all the plants.
But to do so thoroughly took a long time. Since we were cleaning it so slowly, when we came back a few days later, the weeds were flourishing in the same place again. Doing things “gradually” or “slowly” is completely unfeasible. We need to understand the proper method and be very meticulous in carrying it out. When we are meticulous and know the method, this is being diligent. If you know the right method, but do it slowly, and not diligently, as you weed and move forward slowly, whenever you look back, weed will be flourishing in the area you just cleared.
This is an example in our external environment. What about in the environment of our minds? We have to rely on ourselves. No one else can do the cleaning for us. We need to look to ourselves. Are we sincere? Are we truly praying? Are we truly ashamed? When we confess, we do not cover or hid anything. We truly open our minds to sincerely pray so we can “clean the heart & liver.” This is very crucial.
Although these passages look simple, they have deep meanings. What is so deep? They tell us to pray, repent and clean ourselves. Next, we need to “rinse the intestines & stomach.” To cleanse and clear them requires a lot of water and it requires a lot of effort. This passage is really about purifying our actions, speech, and thoughts. We must be pure in our actions, we need to change the way we speak, and we should be very mindful our thoughts.
Hence, if we can repent, the Threefold Karma of body, speech, and mind, with utmost sincerity, then “what evil cannot be extinguished? What blessing cannot be created?”
We must repent with utmost reverence and purity in our actions, speech and thought.
This is like completely cleaning our insides. When everything is clean, what karma or wrongdoing will remain? What ignorance cannot be eliminated? All ignorance and bad karma will naturally be eliminated.
We should constantly wash out minds with Dharma-water, and with utmost sincerity repent the Threefold Karma, all wrongdoings and faults. Doing so can eliminate ignorance, and bad karma will disappear along with it.
However, we should not mistakenly think that if we simply recite the Water Repentance, and our bad karma will be eradicated. This is not so. We must repent sincerely and with total acceptance. By doing so we can eliminate our karma. Once we eliminate ignorance, we will no longer be entangled by it and bad karma will pass. Over time, karma will naturally be exhausted. So if we know to sincerely repent, that means we already know that we were wrong and will thoroughly reform. When karmic retributions manifest, we accept them joyfully.
In this way, we will not be entangled by the meeting of karmic causes and conditions.
Then our bad karma will be eliminated. If we eradicate ignorance, bad karma will diminish and disappear with time. If you are listening carefully, you will understand what I mean. We cannot think, “I am doing good deeds, I have changed, why do bad things still happen to me?” Encountering misfortune is natural. Since we planted these karmic seeds in the past, why would it be strange that they bear fruit now? This is a Law of Nature. So now we know this is the way it is. Once we have cleansed ourselves internally, we can understand this and will not give rise to ignorance again. With clear minds, starting today, we accept our karmic retribution and at the same time seize the moment to do what is good. By doing this, we are accumulating all manner of blessings. Once karma is eliminated, blessings will increase. This is similar to weeding. Once we pull out the weeds, the good seeds we plant will flourish.
Similarly, in the past we didn’t know that our minds were filled with weeds. Now that we know, we will quickly pull them up. When good conditions like sun, air and water surround good seeds, they will help them grow. We cultivate our minds just like a field. Repentance is like washing our heart, liver, stomach and intestines. We need to thoroughly cleanse everything. We need to eliminate ignorance to eradicate karmic obstacles. When we move forward in our practice with truly pure minds, blessings will arise.
“If we do not do this we are either relaxed or indulgent, or our minds are agitated and restless.”
When we do not eliminate our ignorance, we tend to take it easy we do not know impermanence lurks around us. Relaxedly passing our days like this, doing nothing to change, and taking it slowly are all things we mustn’t do. We must not be indulgent and move at a relaxed, leisurely pace. We cannot! “With each passing day, we draw closer to death. Like fish in decreasing water, how is there joy?” How can we pass our lives in this idleness? We must not. It is as if our eyebrows are on fire; we must quickly put them out. So we must quickly self-reflect.
When we walk on this broad and straight path, we must do so with urgency and diligence. If people aren’t relaxing and talking it easy, they are indulgent, or else they are very restless and cannot settle their minds. In our practice, we hope to have time to self-reflect and to calm our minds. Don’t I often speak of the state of tranquility and purity? It is the state to which I most aspire. You see, whenever there are no urgent matters and I am by myself, sometimes I contemplate and sometimes I read I feel we need to take advantage of these moments. If we do not do so, we will always be busy and chasing after something. Then our minds will easily be disturbed by external conditions, people and matters. It is rare for our minds to be still.
Of course, if we can practice calmness in the midst of activity, remain cool and collected in the midst of utter chaos, that is the best frame of mind. However, some people cannot quiet down they have the opportunity. They wish to run around and socialize. This is truly a waste of their life.
I mentioned previously, as practitioners, we must not be attached to either Existence or Emptiness. We must practice the Middle Way. Since we realize that life is full of suffering, Emptiness and Impermanence, transient like dew drops or lightning, we do not need to cling to who is right or wrong. However, ordinary people will cling to those conflicts. They will be agitated by them and cannot calm their minds.
Even though we are not attached to these conflicts we still need to care about society. Sometimes we develop a misguided view in our practice and say, “The impermanence of life is scary. I need to quickly find a tranquil environment away from people, where I will not do anything. Then I can experience complete Emptiness.” This is incorrect. Our minds must be firm. We may be among others, in an active environment, but our minds, emotions and feelings must calm and composed. This is called a state of stillness & clarity. But sometimes we disturb this state ourselves. We become very agitated and cannot calm down. We want to go out and do things our way. This is a state of restlessness that we all need to understand.
The goal of spiritual practice is, while among others or in an active environment, to keep our mind in a state of peace and calmness. If our minds can remain pure and tranquil, without any evil thoughts or afflictions, then we can clearly see and reflect on the chaos in the world.
Walking on the Bodhisattvas-path requires the 4 immeasurables, 6 Perfections, and the 37 Practices to Enlightenment. I have previously described all these methods in great detail.
So everyone, please remember today’s passage. If we do not sincerely repent, if we do not thoroughly cleanse and rinse our insides, then we should be very worried. If we still have bad habits, we will easily be misled by external phenomena. So we cannot take it slowly. We need to practice diligently and precisely. But our minds should be calm, tranquil and clear. If our minds are still, we can see our surroundings clearly. Our minds will be like a mirror that clearly and distinctly reflects external phenomena. Once the phenomena pass, the mirror is still clean and clear. This is what we need to worked on. So we cannot be self-indulgent. Otherwise, our lives will be either “relaxed and indulgent or agitated and restless. Though we look busy, what is the benefit?”
We often speak of spiritual practice, but how exactly do we practice? Some behaviors are not beneficial to us at all. Thus we must be very vigilant. Life is impermanent. Our circumstances can be so complicated. To simplify and purify our minds truly require much mindfulness. Do we have time to take it slowly? So, we really need to be vigilant of life’s impermanence.
Spiritual practice is not about being famous. That is unnecessary. Fulfilling our fundamental responsibilities and leading an unremarkable life is the hardest thing to do. As we learn Buddhism, let us uphold the core duties of practitioners. I hope we all realize the impermanence of life. Everyone, please always be mindful.
(Source: Da Ai TV 靜思晨語 法譬如水).
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