Practices and Vows of
Samantabhadra Bodhisattva

Chapter Forty, New Edition

 

To Repent of Karmic Obstacles and Reform

 

SUTRA: 

Moreover, Good Man, to repent of karmic obstacles and reform is explained like this. The Bodhisattva reflects to himself, ‘I, from beginningless kalpas in the past, because of greed, hatred, and delusion, have created measureless and boundless evil karma with my body, mouth, and mind. If this evil karma had a substance and form, it could not be contained within the reaches of space.

COMMENTARY: 

After explaining the previous vow, to extensively make offerings, the Bodhisattva says, Moreover, Good Man. Now we want to repent of our karmic obstacles and reform. There is no such thing as practicing making offerings yet failing to repent of and reform your karmic obstacles. So Samantabhadra Bodhisattva says, to repent of karmic obstacles and reform is explained like this. “Repentance” has been explained as repenting of previous mistakes. One is penitent for the karmic offenses that one has created in the past. “Reform” means that one reforms one’s previous transgressions and does not commit these offenses again in the future.

In Buddhism we learn to “bow repentances.” This means that we earnestly bow before the Buddhas while repenting of our mistakes. In doing this, you must be extremely sincere and not be careless or sloppy. Then your repentance will be efficacious. Take a look at the example of the Great Master Zhi Zhe. At the time he was alive (6th century) the Shurangama Sutra had not yet come from India to China. He just went ahead and bowed to the name of the Shurangama Sutra while facing west. He bowed for eighteen years yet still did not get to see or read the Shurangama Sutra. If a person at the present time bowed for eighteen months, not to speak of eighteen years, and did not get any attainment from it, he would think, “What use is there in bowing like this? I’m not going to bow anymore!”

For his entire life the Great Master Zhi Zhe also bowed to the Dharma Flower Sutra. Not only that, he wrote out the Sutras, and he even wrote out the entire Tripitaka (Buddhist Canon) time and time again. The Buddha images he painted and made from wood totaled over 80,000. And from morning to night he bowed repentances.

When the Great Master Zhi Zhe was born, his mother saw an auspicious five-colored light in their home, and so he was named Zhi Zhe, “the Wise One.” When he was in his early teens, he heard a Dharma Master lecture on and recite the Universal Door Chapter of the Dharma Flower Sutra. After hearing it but once he had it memorized. It was just as if he had read it in a previous life. Later when he went to see the Great Master Nan Yao, the Great Master said, “Oh, you’ve come. In the past we were part of the Vulture Peak Assembly and we heard the Dharma Flower Sutra. Do you remember that? Now our conditions have ripened, and we have come together again here.” The Great Master Nan Yao then taught him the Peaceful and Happy Conduct Chapter, and told him to recite and bow to the Dharma Flower Sutra.

Master Zhi Zhe bowed until he reached the Chapter on the Events in the Past Lives of Medicine King Bodhisattva. Then he immediately became enlightened.

After his enlightenment, he told the Great Master Nan Yao about his experience: “I bowed to the Sutra and recited it until I got to the lines, ‘This is called true vigor; this is a true offering of the Dharma.’ Then I saw Shakyamuni Buddha at Vulture Peak still speaking the Dharma Flower Sutra. What does this mean?”

The Great Master Nan Yao acknowledged and approved his experience. He said, “Only you could have this subtle and wonderful experience, and only I could recognize it. Therefore, it had to be you to attain this state, and it had to be me to understand it and confirm it for you. So now you have attained the initial expedient of the Dharma Flower Samadhi, the I-xuan Dharani, ‘the single-turning’ Dharani.”

After the Great Master gave him the seal of approval, Master Zhi Zhe had genuine unobstructed wisdom and eloquence. The Great Master Nan Yao said to him, “With your wisdom you can defeat thousands upon tens of thousands of common Dharma Masters in debate. None of them can equal you.” After this the Great Master Zhi Zhe’s wisdom greatly blossomed. He then applied himself even more vigorously in cultivating the Dharma Flower Sutra.

When it was time for him “to perfect the stillness,” he had an attendant recite the Dharma Flower Sutra for him while he listened. After he finished reciting, Great Master Zhi Zhe told the attendant to bring him some mouthwash. After he had rinsed his mouth, he spoke some verses, sat down, and “perfected the stillness.”

When the Great Master was at Tian Tai Mountain, there were many fishermen in the area, and so he bought up all the land there for one hundred miles. Then, within this area, no one fished or killed animals.

Further, all the local people took refuge with him. The Great Master Zhi Zhe was inconceivable, and he specialized in bowing repentances.

The Bodhisattva reflects to himself. Most people who bring forth thoughts of repentance and reform are Bodhisattvas. Ordinary people without the roots of goodness basically do not repent, how much the less reform. This is like those who take refuge with the Three Jewels. Some like to recite Sutras and bow to the Buddhas, and some do not. Some start out with the idea that everyone should recite Sutras, and so everyone begins reciting, and after a while, they themselves stop reciting. This just shows that they have not gotten rid of their karmic obstacles.

“I, from beginningless kalpas in the past. In past lives, during kalpas that have no beginning in time, because of greed, hatred, and delusion, have created measureless and boundless evil karma with my body, mouth, and mind. Due to a mind of greed, hatred, and delusion, I have created all kinds of evil karma with my body, mouth, and thought. This karma is beyond measure and is without limit. If this evil karma had a substance and form, if it had a shape, a substance, or an appearance, it could not be contained within the reaches of space. My karma would fill up all of space until it was overflowing. If these karmic obstacles had an actual shape and appearance, they would fill up all of space so that it would be bursting at the seams. Space itself would become obliterated. There would no longer be any space. Take a look at just how great our karmic obstacles are! They cannot even be contained within all of space.

SUTRA: 

With my three karmas purified, before the assemblies of all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas in kshetra-lands throughout the dharma-realm that are as numerous as the smallest atomic particles, I now sincerely repent of and reform my offenses and will never create them again. I will always dwell in all the merit and virtue of the pure moral precepts.

In this way, when the reaches of space, the realms of living beings, the karma of living beings, and the afflictions of living beings come to an end, my repentance will also end. However, the reaches of space up to and including the afflictions of living beings can never end. 

Therefore, my repenting and reforming is without end. It continues in thought after thought without cease. I never tire of this karma in body, speech, and thought.

COMMENTARY: 

With my three karmas purified, before the assemblies of all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas in kshetra-lands throughout the dharma-realm that are as numerous as the smallest atomic particles, I now sincerely repent of and reform my offenses and will never create them again. The Bodhisattva considers that his own karmic obstacles are extremely numerous. Therefore, he says with his “three karmas purified” which means he does not create any more bad karma with his body, mouth, or mind. His three karmas of body, mouth, and mind are pure. Then in kshetra-lands that are as numerous as the smallest atomic particles, before all the Buddhas and great Bodhisattvas, he brings forth his sincerest and most earnest mind to repent and reform and never create these kinds of karmic offenses again.

I will always dwell in all the merit and virtue of the pure moral precepts. At all times I dwell and maintain the pure moral precepts and all the merit and virtue derived from my practice of upholding them.

In this way, when the reaches of space, when there is no more space, when there are no longer any living beings, even up to the point that the karma of living beings, and the afflictions of living beings come to an end, my repentance will also end. At that time my vow to repent and reform will be finished and then will no longer exist. However, the reaches of space up to and including the afflictions of living beings can never end. It is not possible for the reaches of space, the realm of living beings, the karma of living beings, or the afflictions of living beings to no longer exist. Therefore, my repenting and reforming is without end. The power of my vow to repent and reform can also never end. It continues in thought after thought without cease.

It never ceases for a moment. I never tire of this karma in body, speech, and thought without weariness. One never becomes tired. The more one bows repentances, the better. One would never say, “This bowing is a lot of difficulty and suffering. I’m really tired of it.” One never grows weary. The more one bows, the more energetic one becomes. The more one repents, the happier one becomes. This is true repentance and reform.

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