Repentance and Reflection is the Way
April 7, 2023
By Ryugan Mark White Lotus
The Longer Discourse with Saccaka - Middle Discourses 36:
“Suppose there was a green, sappy log, and it was lying in water. Then a person comes along with a drill-stick, thinking to light a fire and produce heat. What do you think, Aggivessana? By drilling the stick against that green, sappy log lying in the water, could they light a fire and produce heat?”
“No, Master Gotama. Why not? Because it’s a green, sappy log, and it’s lying in the water. That person will eventually get weary and frustrated.”
When my mind had immersed in samādhi like this—purified, bright, flawless, rid of corruptions, pliable, workable, steady, and imperturbable—I extended it toward knowledge of the ending of defilements. I truly understood: ‘This is suffering’ … ‘This is the origin of suffering’ … ‘This is the cessation of suffering’ … ‘This is the practice that leads to the cessation of suffering.’ I truly understood: ‘These are defilements’ … ‘This is the origin of defilements’ … ‘This is the cessation of defilements’ … ‘This is the practice that leads to the cessation of defilements.’
“… Ignorance was destroyed and knowledge arose; darkness was…”
“Whoever has not given up the defilements that are corrupting, leading to future lives, hurtful, resulting in suffering and future rebirth, old age, and death is deluded, I say… Whoever has given up the defilements that are corrupting, leading to future lives, hurtful, resulting in suffering and future rebirth, old age, and death—is not deluded, I say. For it’s giving up the defilements that makes you not deluded.
The Method Contemplation of Bodhisattva Universal Virtue Sutra:
“If you want to perform acknowledgment and remorse, You must sit correctly and contemplate ultimate reality. All wrongs are just as frost and dew, So the sun of wisdom can melt them away. Therefore, with utmost sincerity, Perform acknowledgment and remorse for the six sense faculties.”
“The Buddha addressed Ananda, saying, “To practice in this manner is called acknowledgment and remorse. This acknowledgment and remorse is the same method of acknowledgment and remorse practiced by the buddhas and great bodhisattvas in the ten directions.”
“At that time, if practitioners want to be perfect in the precepts of bodhisattvas, they should place their palms together somewhere in a secluded and deserted place, make a sign of respect to the buddhas everywhere in the ten directions, acknowledge and express remorse for their wrongs, and themselves speak forth their faults. Then in a tranquil place, they should address the buddhas in the ten directions, saying, “the buddhas the world-honored ones are always abiding in this world. Although we believe in the expansive sutras, our karmic impediments prevent us from clearly seeing the buddhas. Now we take refuge in the Buddha. Please Shakyamuni Buddha, Universally Wise and World-Honored One, be our preceptor. Manjusri, possessor of great compassion, please allow us, by means of your wisdom to receive the bodhisattvas’ pure Dharma. Maitreya Bodhisattva sun radiating supreme and great benevolence, out of heartfelt compassion for us, please allow us to receive the teachings of the bodhisattvas. Buddhas in the ten directions, please manifest yourselves and bear witness for us. Great bodhisattvas, we have called each of you by name, so please, supreme great leaders who protect all living beings, assist and watch over us. Today we receive and keep the expansive sutras. Even if, when our lives are over, we fall into hells and receive innumerable sufferings, we would never slander or defame the buddha's true Dharma. Therefore, by the power of our merits, please, Shakyamuni Buddha now be our preceptor, and Manjushri be our instructor. Maitreya who is to come, please bestow upon us the teachings. Buddhas of the ten directions, please bear witness for us. Bodhisattvas of great virtue, please be our companions. Now, through the extremely profound and wondrous meaning of the Great Vehicle sutras we take refuge in the Buddha, we take refuge in the Dharma and we take refuge in the Sangha. The practitioners will repeat this three times.”
Reflecting and taking responsibility for our past thoughts, words and actions, “repentance,” is the first step in cultivating a new life. Like the adage says, “the first step in changing anything is recognizing there is a problem.”
There are two kinds of reflection and repentance: repentance of our past thoughts, words and actions and ultimate reflection by acknowledging our wrong views.
Unwholesome karma is produced by ignorance (avidya) of the three poisons of greed, anger, and delusions. The light of wisdom (prajna) extinguishes them. A Buddhist treatise says, “the discriminative mind producing unwholesomeness is like clouds covering the sun, and the clear, wise mind is like the bright light dispelling the darkness.”
If one perseveres in their practice doing their best to live a wholesome life by reflecting on their actions and taking accountability for them, over time unwholesome karma fades away.
However, no amount of repentance for past provisional actions will work unless one also clears and quiets the mind through practice. Because transgressions originate in our mind from our intentions, they also disappear when our mental functions and processes become calm, clear and equanimous. Ultimate repentance is done by awakening to the True Nature of Reality (Shoho Jisso) thereby eliminating the defilements and delusions at their source: one’s discriminative mind.
As both the above passages from the Longer Discourse with Saccaka, Middle Discourses #36, and the Method Contemplation of Bodhisattva Universal Virtue Sutra, from the Lotus Sutra, shares with us, we can’t change ourselves if we don’t remove ourselves from source of our suffering. Unwholesome karma continues accumulating as long as the three poisons of greed, anger, and delusions remain. This is like attempting to cool hot water boiling in a pot by adding a little bit of cold water, leaving the fire burning hot under the pot or making fore from a soggy log laying the water.
To liberate ourselves once and for all from suffering, we practice both forms of repentance and reflection, our day-to-day provisional actions and our false views.
Our practice is like pouring huge amounts of cold water into the boiling water and extinguishing the burning fire underneath, or like pulling the wet soggy log out of the water, and allowing it dry.
Namu Myoho Renge Kyo