Explanation of the Repentance Text

Repentance Text: 从于无始，以至今生，毁破三宝，作一阐提。

谤大乘经，断学般若，杀害父母，出佛身血。

污僧伽蓝，破他梵行，焚毁塔寺，盗用僧物。

起诸邪见，拨无因果，狎近恶友，违背良师。

自作教他，见闻随喜，如是等罪，无量无边。

故于今日，生大惭愧，克诚披露，求哀忏悔。

惟愿三宝，慈悲摄受，放净光明，照触我身。

诸恶消灭，三障蠲除，复本心源，究竟清净。

往昔所造诸恶业，皆由无始贪嗔痴，从身语意之所生，今对佛前求忏悔。

Explanation: If we were to list the contents of this repentance text item by item and each of us checked ourselves against them, how many of them have we each committed? Or have we committed all of them? Some karmic offenses have already received their evil retribution, but how many offenses still exist within the tathāgatagarbha in the form of karmic seeds, not yet manifesting to receive evil retribution, or whose retribution is not yet complete?

Destroying the Three Jewels and becoming an icchantika refers to the offense of slandering the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Saṅgha, and destroying the Three Jewels of Buddha, Dharma, and Saṅgha, causing sentient beings to lose their faith in and reliance upon the Three Jewels, and thereby to retreat from bodhicitta. Such a person has severed their wholesome roots and cut off the Buddha-lineage; they can never attain liberation and do not enter nirvāṇa—such a person is called an icchantika.

Slandering the Mahāyāna sūtras and cutting off the study of prajñā: what conduct constitutes slandering the Mahāyāna sūtras? Saying that the Mahāyāna sūtras were not spoken by the Buddha but were fabricated by later people—this slanders the Mahāyāna sūtras, causing sentient beings to no longer trust, accept, and study the Mahāyāna sūtras, thereby also cutting off learners' prajñā wisdom; the offense is extremely grave.

Killing one's parents and shedding the Buddha's blood: one who kills his parents commits an extremely grave offense—not knowing the kindness of parents, repaying kindness with enmity—and in retribution falls into the Avīci hell. What conduct constitutes shedding the Buddha's blood? The Buddha has three bodies: the Dharmakāya, the Saṃbhogakāya, and the Nirmāṇakāya. Whoever damages or insults these three bodies sheds the Buddha's blood. The Buddha came to this Sahā world in a Nirmāṇakāya of the five aggregates; harming the Buddha's manifested flesh body, or damaging statues of the Buddha, is shedding the blood of the Buddha's manifested body (Nirmāṇakāya). Ordinary beings generally cannot come into contact with the Sambhogakāya Buddha and thus cannot shed the blood of the Sambhogakāya; post-bhūmi bodhisattvas, who can contact the Sambhogakāya, would absolutely never shed the Buddha's blood. Due to ignorance and lack of knowledge, sentient beings more often slander and damage the formless Dharmakāya Buddha: some deny that a Dharmakāya Buddha exists, and some wantonly attack and distort the Dharmakāya Buddha—all of these constitute shedding the blood of the Dharmakāya Buddha and committing one of the five heinous crimes.

Defiling monasteries and destroying others' pure conduct: committing defiled deeds within temple buildings—drinking alcohol, eating meat, killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, and committing all manner of evil deeds of greed, hatred, and delusion—all of these defile the Saṅgha's monasteries. Destroying the pure precept-conduct and precept-substance of monks and nuns, and engaging in sexual acts with monks or nuns. These offenses generally cannot be purified through repentance, and one will also fall into hell to undergo retribution.

Burning temples and stealing Saṅgha property: burning and destroying temples, monasteries, and the property within them, and stealing the belongings of the present Saṅgha community—these evil deeds carry immeasurable offense, and the retribution is likewise in hell, with hardly any prospect of release.

Harboring wrong views and denying cause and effect: holding all manner of wrong views in one's mind, claiming that all actions have no cause and effect and no retribution. Due to such wrong views, one falls into the three evil destinies and endures the suffering of offenses for long kalpas.

Keeping close to evil friends and turning against good teachers: intimately associating with evil friends and wallowing in the mire together with them, defying the venerable teachings of good teachers, falling into ruin because of the evil deeds one commits, and being unable to escape the suffering of birth and death.

Committing evil oneself and teaching others, rejoicing upon seeing or hearing it: not only committing evil deeds oneself, but also teaching others to commit all kinds of evil; seeing others commit evil deeds and feeling joy in one's heart, thereby encouraging others' evil habits. For example, when a wrong-viewed ordinary person says that the Mahāyāna is not the Buddha's teaching, there are those who, upon seeing and hearing this, rejoice and praise him for speaking well, and thereby take a share, through rejoicing, in the gravest and most enormous evil karma—the retribution will be as large as it can be; having fallen into the Avīci hell, it is very hard to come out again. One should rejoice in what deserves rejoicing, yet instead wantonly rejoices in what should not be rejoiced in—ignorant and foolish.

From beginningless time down to the present life, [beings] have continuously committed these heaviest evil deeds. Now that they have studied consciousness-only doctrine and learned to this very point, they still commit such serious evil deeds—how severe is the defilement of sentient beings, how evil are their minds! When will they begin to put an end to evil karma and never commit it again? When will evil karma finally come to an end?

Such offenses as these are immeasurable and boundless: offenses and evil retributions like those above exist in immeasurable and boundless quantities. The evil is so great that it blocks the way ahead like a mountain, making it impossible to move a single step—how then can one eliminate self-view and awaken to the true mind, and attain liberation? Sentient beings truly have offenses piled up like mountains, evil karma heaped upon heaped!