Chapter 6: Repentance

At that time, seeing the gentry and peasantry of the regions of Kuang, Shao, and the four quarters gathered on the mountain to listen to the teaching, the Great Master took the high seat and said to the crowd,

Welcome, good friends. This thing must come from your own essential nature. At all times, moment to moment, purify your own mind. Cultivate yourself, work on your own, see your own reality body, see the buddha in your own mind, liberate yourself, regulate yourself—only then will you attain realization.

You have not come here for no reason. Since you have come from far away to gather here as one, all of you have affinity together. Now let each of you kneel: first I will transmit the perfumes of the five-part reality body in our own essential nature; then I will pass on formless repentance.

The crowd kneeled, and the Master said,

First is the perfume of morality: when there is no error in one's own mind, no evil, no envy or jealousy, no greed or hatred, no robbery or injury, this is called the perfume of morality.

Second is the perfume of stability: seeing the good and bad characteristics of objects without disturbance in one's own mind is called the perfume of stability.

Third is the perfume of wisdom. When one's own mind has no obstruction, and always observes one's own nature with insight, one does not do anything bad. Even when one does good, the mind does not cling to it. Respectful of elders while considerate of the young, one is sympathetic and compassionate to the orphaned and the impoverished. This is called the perfume of wisdom.

Fourth is the perfume of liberation. When one's own mind does not fixate on objects, does not think of good, does not think of bad, is free and unobstructed, that is called the perfume of liberation.

Fifth is the perfume of liberated knowledge and vision. Once one's own mind is not fixated on anything, good or bad, it will not do to sink into vacuity and keep to quiescence; one should study broadly and learn a lot, recognize one's own original mind and master the principles of the buddhas, harmonize enlightenment to deal with people, free from egotistic personality, unchanging right up to the attainment of the true nature of enlightenment. This is called the perfume of liberated vision and knowledge.

Good friends, these perfumes are inner effects within each individual—do not seek them externally. Now I will transmit formless repentance to you, to annihilate the sins of past, present, and future, enabling you to attain purity of thought, word, and deed.

Good friends, let each of you repeat after me, in unison:

"From the preceding moment of thought, the present moment of thought, and the following moment of thought, from moment of thought to moment of thought I will not be affected by folly or delusion; I repent of all previous folly and delusion, and other faults due to them, and pray that they disappear all at once and never occur again.

"From the preceding moment of thought, the present moment of thought, and the following moment of thought, from moment of thought to moment of thought I will not be affected by any conceit or deceit. I repent of all previous misdeeds associated with malignant conceit and deceit, and pray that they disappear all at once, never to occur again.

"From the preceding moment of thought, the present moment of thought, and the following moment of thought, moment of thought to moment of thought I will not be affected by jealousy and envy. I repent of all previous misdeeds associated with malignant jealousy and envy, and pray that they disappear at once and never occur again."

Good friends, the foregoing constitutes formless repentance. Why is it called repentance? Repentance means repenting of former errors, previous bad actions, faults like stupidity, delusion, conceit, deceit, jealousy, and envy, repenting of them all so they don't ever recur. That is being penitent. Repentance further means regretting later mistakes, from now on being aware of bad behaviors and faults like stupidity and delusion, conceit and deceit, jealousy and envy, and stopping them forever, not acting them out any more. This is called repentance.

Ordinary people who are ignorant and confused only know to repent of their former errors and do not know to repent of future faults. Because they do not repent of future faults, their past errors do not disappear, and later faults also arise; if the former errors do not disappear and later faults also arise, how could this be called repentance?

Good friends, once you have repented, I will make the four universal vows for you. Each of you should be careful to listen accurately.

"The beings in my own mind are infinite; I vow to liberate them.

"The afflictions in my own mind are infinite; I vow to end them.

"The teachings in my own nature are inexhaustible; I vow to study them.

"The buddhahood in my own nature is supreme; I vow to attain it."

Good friends, doesn't everyone say, "Beings are infinite; I vow to liberate them"? Speaking this way doesn't mean I am going to do the liberating. Good friends, the beings in the mind are delusion, deception, immorality, jealousy, malice—states of mind like this are all beings. Each of you must liberate yourselves through your own essential nature; that is called true liberation.

What is meant by liberating yourself through your own essential nature? That means the beings in false views, afflictions, and ignorance are liberated by accurate insight. Once you have accurate insight, you get the wisdom of prajna to break through the beings in folly and delusion, so each one is self-liberated. When falsehood occurs, truth liberates; when delusion occurs, enlightenment liberates. When folly occurs, wisdom liberates; when evil occurs, good liberates. Liberation like this is called true liberation.

What is more, "Afflictions are infinite; I vow to end them" means using the prajna wisdom in your own essential nature to get rid of false ideas. And "Teachings are inexhaustible; I vow to study them" requires you to see your own essential nature and always act on right principle; this is called true learning.

As for "I vow to attain supreme buddhahood," once you are able to humble your mind and practice straightforwardness at all times, you always produce prajna, beyond delusion and awakening; setting aside both reality and falsehood, you see buddha-nature. Then you attain buddhahood at a word. Always thinking of practical application is the principle of the power of vowing.

Good friends, having made the four universal vows, now I will transmit to you the precepts of the formless three refuges.

Good friends, we take refuge in the most honorable of two-legged beings, the awakened one. We take refuge in the honorable one correctly detached from desire. We take refuge in the pure honorable one in the midst of the crowd. From this day forth we call awakening our teacher, relying no more on demonic cults, always witnessing ourselves through the Three Treasures in our own essential nature.

Good friends, I urge you to take refuge in the Three Treasures in your own essential nature. "Buddha" is awareness, "Dharma" is truth, "Sangha" is purity.

When your own mind takes refuge in awareness, error and confusion do not occur. One who has few desires, is content, and able to be aloof from materialism and sensuality, is called the most honorable of two-legged beings.

When your own mind takes refuge in truth, you have no false views from moment of thought to moment of thought. Because you have no false views, you have no personal selfish pride, craving, or clinging. This is called the honorable one detached from desire.

When your own mind takes refuge in purity, your own essential nature is not affected by all mundane toils and objects of desire. This is called the honorable one in the midst of the crowd.

This is taking refuge in oneself. Ordinary people who do not understand this take the Three Refuge Precepts from morning to night. If you say you take refuge in Buddha, where is Buddha? If you do not see Buddha, where can you take refuge? The words would then be falsehood.

Good people, let each of you examine yourself. Do not use your mind mistakenly. Scripture clearly says to take refuge in the buddha in oneself, not to take refuge in another buddha. If you do not resort to your own inherent buddha, you have nothing to rely on.

Now that you are self-realized, each of you should take refuge in the Three Treasures in your own mind. Inwardly tame the nature of mind, outwardly respect other people: this is called self-refuge.

Good friends, once you have taken refuge in the Three Treasures in yourself, let each of you focus your mind, and I will explain to you the buddha of our own nature as three embodiments of one substance, to enable you to see the three embodiments and clearly realize your own essential nature by yourself.

Let everyone follow me in saying:

"I take refuge in the Buddha as the pure body of reality in my own physical body.

"I take refuge in the Buddha as the fulfilled body of reward in my own physicalbody.

"I take refuge in the Buddha as thousands of hundreds of hundreds of millions of projected bodies in my own physical body."

Good friends, the physical body is a house; it cannot be called a resort or a refuge. The aforementioned Buddha in three embodiments is in our own essential nature; everyone in the world has it, but because of confusion in their own minds they do not see their inner nature, and so they seek a three-bodied Tathagata externally, not seeing that they have buddha in three embodiments within their own bodies.

You have heard an explanation that will enable you to see, in your own body, that in your own essential nature is a buddha with three embodiments. This buddha with three embodiments comes from your own essential nature, and is not attained from outside.

What is the buddha as the pure body of reality? The essential nature of human beings is originally pure. All things come from essential nature; when you think about all evil things, it produces bad behaviors; when you think about all good things, it produces good behaviors. Thus all things are in your own essential nature. It is like the sky, which is always clear, and the sun, which is always shining: when they are covered by drifting clouds, there is light above but darkness below. Suddenly a wind blows away the clouds, so above and below are both light, then myriad forms are visible.

The nature of worldly people is always drifting, like the clouds in the sky. Good friends, wisdom is like the sun, insight is like the moon: knowledge and insight are always light, but when you fixate on objects outside, you get your own essential nature covered by the drifting clouds of errant thoughts, so you cannot have light and clarity. If you meet a spiritual benefactor and hear truly authentic teaching, you get rid of confusion so that inside and out are thoroughly clear, and myriad things appear within your own essential nature. This is how it is with people who see essential nature. This is called the buddha as the pure body of reality.

Good friends, your own mind taking refuge in your own essential nature is taking refuge in the real Buddha. Self-refuge means getting rid of bad states of mind in your own nature—jealousy, flattery, selfishness, deceptiveness, disregard for others, disrespect for others, false views, conceit, and any bad behavior that might take place at any time. Always seeing your own faults and not discussing others' good or bad is self-refuge. One should always be humble in mind and be respectful toward everyone. This is mastery of seeing essential nature, without any more obstruction. This is self-refuge.

What is the fulfilled body of reward? Just as one lamp can obliterate a thousand years' darkness, one insight can annihilate ten thousand years' ignorance. Don't think about what has already passed, and don't keep thinking about what is yet to come. Perfectly clear moment to moment, see original nature yourself. Though good and bad differ, the original nature is not dual. The nondual nature is called the true nature. When your own nature produces a single thought of good, it can achieve the ending of countless evils, all the way to unsurpassed enlightenment. Seeing yourself in every moment of thought, not losing basic mindfulness, is called the embodiment of reward.

What is the embodiment of thousands of hundreds of hundreds of millions of projections? If you don't think of myriad things, your nature is basically like space. A single moment of thought is called a projection. If you think of bad things, you produce hell. If you think of good things, you produce heaven. Viciousness produces dragons and snakes; compassion produces bodhisattvas. Wisdom produces higher states, folly produces lower states. The projections of our nature are very many; confused people are unable to be alert to them, and so create evil thought after thought, constantly going in bad ways. If they would turn a single thought to good, wisdom would thereupon be born; this is called the Buddha as embodiment of projection of our nature.

Good friends, the body of reality is originally there. Spontaneously seeing your own nature in every moment of thought is the buddha as the embodiment of reward. Thinking from the embodiment of reward is the embodiment of projection.

Self-realization and self-cultivation of the virtues of one's own nature is true refuge. Skin and flesh are the material body; the material body is a house, and cannot be called a resort or refuge. Just realize the three embodiments in your own nature, and you will know the buddha in your own nature.

I have a formless hymn: if you can memorize it, the impact of the words can cause your accumulated eons of confusions and errors to dissolve away all at once.

Confused people cultivate blessings, not the Way;
They simply say blessings are themselves the Way.
The blessings of charity and alms may be boundless,
While in the mind the three poisons are created all along.
If you try to cultivate blessing to annihilate sins,
Though you gain blessings in the coming life, the sin is still there.
Just get rid of conditions of sin within your mind—
That is called true repentance within your own nature.
Suddenly realizing the true repentance of the Great Vehicle,
Getting rid of falsehood, acting on truth, you're then impeccable.
In studying the Way, always observe your own nature,
And you'll be of a kind with all the buddhas.
My spiritual ancestors only transmitted this teaching of immediacy,
Wishing all to be one in seeing nature.
If you want to seek the reality body in the future,
Detach from the appearances of things, and clean the mind.
Strive to see for yourself; don't waste time—
When the following moment is cut off, a whole lifetime's over.
If you understand the Great Vehicle, you'll see essential nature:
Reverently and respectfully, seek with all your heart.

The Master said,

Good friends, everyone should memorize this, cultivate your behavior in accord with it, and see essential nature under the impact of the words. Then even if you are a thousand miles away from me, it is as though you are always with me. If you do not awaken at these words, then you are a thousand miles away even when we are face to face—why bother to come so far?

Take care; go well.

Everyone in the crowd heard the teaching and opened up in understanding. Joyfully they put it into practice.