Observing Precepts and Repenting Karmic Offenses: Essential for Cultivating Meditative Concentration

All attainments of the Dharma must truly be realized within profound meditative concentration. Without meditative concentration, what is learned remains mere knowledge, not genuine wisdom. Therefore, it is essential to value meditative concentration and contemplative practice.

The reason for insufficient meditative concentration is a scattered mind. The cause of a scattered mind is excessive grasping and craving. When the mind is gathered and restrained, meditative concentration must arise. Restraining body and mind requires upholding precepts; upholding precepts necessitates first receiving the precepts; before receiving the precepts, one must repent all sinful karma. When sinful karma is eliminated, obstructions are removed, and the mind becomes pure.

Repentance primarily requires transforming the seeds [of karma], repenting for newly created karmic actions, and counteracting old sinful karma, with the key being refraining from repeating them thereafter. When consciousness and the mental faculty become pure, this is the true result of repentance. With this result, two things occur: first, karma is eliminated; second, it is not created again. If this effect is absent, the repentant mind is insincere, constituting false repentance.

To determine whether sinful karma is eliminated after repentance, one must first consider the nature of the sin—whether it is light or heavy. Heavy sins must be thoroughly repented; afterward, the mind should feel significantly purer than before, certain hindrances should disappear, and the pace of practice should accelerate. After repenting for lighter sins, the mind also becomes pure.