Repentance Text Before the Eight Precepts

Original text of the Ekottara Āgama Sūtra, Volume Sixteen, Gaozhuang Chapter: 是时。教授者当教前人作是语。我今奉持如来斋法。至明日清旦。修清净戒。除去恶法。若身恶行。口吐恶语。意生恶念。身三口四意三诸有恶行。已作当作。或能以贪欲故所造。或能以瞋恚所造。或能以愚痴所造。或能以豪族故造。或能因恶知识所造。或能今身后身无数身。或能不识佛不识法。或能斗比丘僧。或能杀害父母诸尊师长。我今自忏悔。不自覆藏。依戒依法成其戒行。受八关如来斋法。

Explanation: At this time, the instructing master who transmits the precepts teaches the precept-seeker to say the following: I now uphold the Tathāgata's precept of fasting, until tomorrow at dawn, cultivating pure precepts and removing evil dharmas. If I have committed evil bodily actions, uttered evil speech, or given rise to evil thoughts in the mind — the three evil bodily actions, the four evil verbal actions, and the three evil mental actions — all evil actions already committed and those yet to be committed, I now fully confess and disclose them all, without concealing them. These evil actions may have been committed out of greed and desire, or out of anger and resentment, or out of ignorance and delusion. They may have been deliberately committed out of reliance on one's noble family and prestigious surname, or committed due to the teachings of evil spiritual friends. They may have been committed with this present body, future bodies, and countless bodies. They may have been committed out of not recognizing the Buddha and the Dharma. They may be evil actions that sowed discord among the bhikṣu Saṅgha, or evil actions of killing one's parents and all venerable teachers and elders. All of these evil actions I now fully confess myself, no longer covering or hiding them; relying on the precepts and relying on the Dharma, I perfect my practice of the precepts and receive the Tathāgata's eight precepts of fasting.

This content is the confession text recited before receiving the precepts. By means of confession and disclosing one's evil actions, one can purify one's own mind and repent away karmic offenses. Only when the karmic offenses have been repented away and there are no more obstructions can one receive the dharma of the eight precepts of fasting, obtain the substance of the precepts, and thereby perfect one's practice of the precepts. Among these, the most serious evil actions are killing one's parents and teachers and elders; next are evil actions that sow discord among the Saṅgha and bring chaos to the Three Jewels — the evil retribution for these evil actions is extremely great. Some evil actions are committed because one does not recognize the Buddha and the Dharma and cannot distinguish wholesome from unwholesome, true and false, good and bad (kuśala-akuśala, satya-mithyā, śubha-aśubha); some evil actions are committed because, although one has encountered the Buddha and the Dharma, one has received the false teachings of evil spiritual friends. Due to ignorance and the inability to distinguish good spiritual friends from evil ones, one takes every word of the evil spiritual friend as an authoritative standard and follows and executes them one by one, thereby committing evil actions, complying with all the afflictions of one's own mind, and moreover, through being influenced by them, giving rise to new afflictions. Serious evil actions require long-term, earnest confession in order to be repented away; only afterward can wisdom arise, enabling one to distinguish wholesome from unwholesome, true and false, right and wrong, to cease evil and cultivate goodness, and to attain purity of mind.