Blog » Symposiums And Lectures » Repentance » When the mind is extinguished, offenses are eradicated

When the mind is extinguished, offenses are eradicated2014-02-25

 

♦  Spoken by Dharma Master Heng Shen
     English Translation by Sandy Lee

The Avatamsaka Sutra says: From beginningless kalpas ago, due to greed, anger, and delusion, I have used my body, mouth, and mind to create various kinds of negative karma. If this negative karma had a physical appearance, not even empty space could contain it. As we can see, a person’s offenses can fill up all of empty space. It may be easy for us to see what we did in this life, but as for our previous lives, we know nothing about them.

How can we find out about the karma we created in our past lives? This is how we find out: if we still hear and see killing, stealing, lying, and sexual misconduct occurring around us, we can conclude that our past offenses of killing, stealing, lying, and sexual misconduct still remain, and have not been purified. Otherwise, we would not see or hear of them. People in the Pure Land do not hear or see bad things due to their pure karma. On the other hand, since we still hear and see of these affairs, it means that the sources of our offenses have not been eradicated.

When we bow to the Buddha, we should do so on behalf of all beings who have also committed offenses, and visualize all living beings in the ten directions bowing with us. As we bow and repent of our wrongdoings, we should also repent on behalf of all beings and their negative karma of killing, stealing, lying and sexual misconduct, in the hopes that they will purify their karma, do good deeds, and seek to be reborn in the Pure Land. If we can transfer merit in this way, we can change the turbid world into a pure and clean world.

Every morning when we begin our repentance, we always go through this verse: “A Bodhisattva is named Samantabhadra. With a pure white jade body, he emits fifty kinds of light of fifty different colors.” This verse is from The Buddha speaks of the Method of Contemplating Samantabhadra Bodhisattva Sutra. The sutra also has this verse: “The ocean of karmic obstacles is created from our false thoughts. One who wishes to repent and reform should sit quietly and contemplate dharmata [the true characteristic of all dharmas].”

All of our negative karma comes from false thoughts. The biggest false thought is the notion of the self, which expands into the notion of others, of us and them, and of men and women. I don’t remember which sutra this came from, but it said that the number of people who have killed each other over wealth is as many as the grains of sand in the Ganges River. The number of people who have killed each other over beauty and lust is even more than that. We can see that the source of the problem is the notion of the self. Because of attachment to the self, the notions of men and women arise, and various kinds of negative karma are created. The sutra says that if we wish to truly repent and reform, we should contemplate dharmata, because this repentance and reform is without characteristic. The true characteristic is devoid of notions of us and them; it is the dharma of equality and the true characteristic of all dharmas.

Regarding the principle that all dharmas are equal, here is a story. It is very hard for us to regard all beings as equal, because from beginningless kalpas ago, we have been reborn as men in one life and as women in other lives. As men, we love women, and as women, we love men. We have all kinds of attachments. People with children love and are attached to their children. Once, there was a mother who was very afflicted on account of her child, who had an unhappy marriage. This mother went to see the Venerable Master, and the Master said: “You should regard all children in the world as your own children. Then, your suffering will be eradicated.” Because of our attachments, we suffer. Since we cannot regard all beings equally, we create various kinds of karmic offenses. Learning the true characteristic of all dharmas starts from the mind of equality. When you have cultivated to a certain level, you will gradually see the true characteristic of dharmas.

Here is the second half of the verse I mentioned above: “Our myriad offenses are like dew and frost, which are eradicated with wisdom that is as bright as the sun. Therefore, we should sincerely repent and reform of the six faculties that form the emotions.” All of our offenses come from false attributes and phenomena. If we practice the Buddhadharma and study the sutras, then we will be replete with the Buddha’s wisdom. When we use this mind of wisdom to contemplate everything in the world, it will be impossible for us to create unwholesome karma, and we would not suffer any bad consequences.

Now that we know this, we should refrain from creating negative karma in the future, but what about karma created in the past? We should diligently repent and reform according to the dharma. The verse says: “That is why we should sincerely repent and reform of the six faculties that form the emotions.” The six faculties are the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind. The eyes like to see favorable sights, otherwise we become afflicted. The ears like to hear favorable speech; when others say things that irritate us, we get angry and may even insult them. The mouth and the body create negative karma as well, with the body drawing near to things that it likes, and distancing itself from whatever it dislikes. Because we follow the emotions generated from the six faculties, it is easy for us to create negative karma, especially with the mouth. The mouth can create four kinds of negative karma: lying, flowery speech, evil speech, and divisive speech. We have no idea how much bad karma we create in our daily life. Therefore, when we bow to the Buddhas, as we touch our foreheads to the ground, we should make the dedication that the six faculties of all beings will be pure and undefiled, and that all beings will quickly attain Buddhahood. Every time we practice repentance and bowing to the Buddhas and make dedications in this way, we are helping ourselves and helping others accomplish the Way at the same time.

Now let us go back to the verse about Samantabhadra Bodhisattva. If you are interested in that section of the sutra text, you can read The Buddha speaks of the Method of Contemplating Samantabhadra Bodhisattva Sutra. This part says that a cultivator who is going to cultivate the Dharma Door of repentance must first visualize Samantabhadra Bodhisattva, who made the vow that if a person sincerely practices repentance and reform he will appear in front of that person, rubbing the crown of his/her head, and praising and blessing this cultivator. This part of the sutra text is where the cultivator is visualizing Samantabhadra Bodhisattva, with a pure white jade body, emitting fifty kinds of light with fifty different colors. Every pore on his body emits golden light, which contains many transformation Buddhas that speak the Dharma. However, this visualization practice begins from visualizing Samantabhadra Bodhisattva’s white elephant.

The visualization of Samantabhadra Bodhisattva is the Dharma Door that the Buddha taught for living beings who wish to practice the repentance Dharma Door in the Dharma Ending Age, after the Buddha entered Nirvana. You begin by visualizing the white elephant with your eyes closed. The elephant is four hundred yojanas long and four hundred yojanas high. Four hundred yojanas is very big; if that is hard for you to picture, you can try more manageable dimensions first. The elephant has six tusks, and on the tip of each tusk there is a pond, which contains fourteen lotus flowers. The verse says: “Jade maidens from the ponds appear on his tusks, playing magical music and singing beautiful songs. Their wonderful and subtle voices praise the Mahayana.” On each lotus flower there is a beautiful maiden whose appearance is even more radiant than that of the devas. Their hands hold five harps, each of which further transforms into five hundred kinds of musical instruments that play simultaneously in wonderful harmony. Using these musical instruments, they sing and praise the Buddhas and the Mahayana vehicle. The reason these beautiful maidens are able to use these instruments to praise the Mahayana in this way is because they delighted in praising the Buddha and the Mahayana in the past.

After you have made the visualization in this way, you should continue and visualize the elephant emitting light. In its curled trunk, the elephant holds a lotus flower, atop which sits a transformation Buddha. The transformation Buddha emits light, which shines on the elephant. The light comes back out from the elephant and illuminates a saddle on the elephant’s back. On the saddle is a seat, and on the seat is a jeweled platform with a lotus flower on top. The last stage of the process is to visualize Samantabhadra Bodhisattva sitting on top of the lotus. Throughout the visualization, one must bow to the Buddhas of the ten directions and recite Mahayana sutras every day in order to repent of past offenses. If one is sincere in this repentance, people who have more minor karmic obstacles will be able to see Samantabhadra Bodhisattva in one to seven days. Those with heavier karmic obstacles will see Samantabhadra Bodhisattva after forty-nine days. Those with even heavier karmic obstacles may have to practice repentance throughout their entire lives before seeing Samantabhadra Bodhisattva. In any case, after one sees Samantabhadra Bodhisattva, one will have to repent to him, because at this time, you are only able to see Samantabhadra Bodhisattva with eyes closed, not with open eyes. Then, Samantabhadra will guide you and speak the Dharma for you.

Due to time restrictions, I will share some portions of the sutra text with everyone. When the practitioner is making vows, what kind of vows should be made? The practitioner regards all people in the world as his/her own parents. He/she also vows to make offerings to the Three Jewels and respect people who cultivate the Mahayana. The practitioner regards all sentient beings as his/her siblings. He should also bow to the Buddhas of the ten directions, practice repentance, and read Mahayana sutras every day. In this way, the practitioner will see Samantabhadra Bodhisattva appear in front of him, emitting light from between his brows and speaking the Dharma. As you go further, you will continue to make progress until you attain the Dharani by the name of Revolution, which is Dharma Flower Samadhi, and on to attain hundreds of thousands of millions of dharanis. This is the visualization method described in Contemplation of Samantabhadra Bodhisattva Sutra. The sutra says that cultivation of vipaśyana can eradicate obstructions. The three bodies of all Buddhas are attained through cultivation of this Dharma and of Mahayana sutras. If you are interested, you can read this sutra. By cultivating diligently, even if you did not see Samantabhadra Bodhisattva, nevertheless, you will definitely eliminate negative karma that you have accumulated in opast kalpas.

The sutra mentioned that when the practitioner is cultivating this method, he should regard all beings as his father (or mother). As a consequence of greed, anger, and delusion, we commit offenses and give rise to anger with regards to sentient beings. If we can see all beings as the Buddhas and as our parents, we will give rise to respect and compassion, and we would not commit offenses toward them. This is the foundation of the Dharma Door of the visualization of Samantabhadra Bodhisattva, and it is also the basic attitude for being a good person. When you practice in this way, your cultivation will be in accord with the dharma. You should also distance yourself from the three evils of the body and the four evils of the mouth.

I would like to conclude with a section of text from the Contemplation of Samantabhadra Bodhisattva Sutra. The Buddha said: After the Buddha has entered Nirvana, if a person wishes to repent of negative karma, he should recite Mahayana and vaipulya sutras. The vaipulya sutras are the eyes of all Buddhas. All Buddhas attain the five eyes because of the vaipulya sutras; the three bodies of the Buddha come from vaipulya sutras. They are the seal of the great Dharma that imprints on the sea of Nirvana. This ocean is the source of the three kinds of pure bodies of the Buddha, which are the most supreme field of blessings for humans and devas. (Humans and devas should make offerings to one who possesses the three bodies.) You should know that one who recites the vaipulya sutras is replete with the Buddha’s merit and virtue, has forever cut off all evil, and is born from the wisdom of the Buddha. Therefore, if we can recite Mahayana sutras, we will be replete with the Buddha’s wisdom, and we will gradually leave the ocean of karmic obstacles behind. Furthermore, we will be able to transcend the three realms and seek rebirth in the Pure Land. This is the most essential and most ultimate form of repentance. This repentance method is one where offenses have no inherent characteristics. If you can attain the state of equality, or the state of no characteristics, then all offenses will cease to exist, for when the mind is extinguished, offenses are also eradicated. Your process of cultivation will be smooth and you will be reborn in any Buddhaland you wish.

I hope that all of you will quickly attain Buddhahood. Amitabha!