By Dharma Master Jin Da
English Translation By Peter Wu, Lotus Lee

 

Today is the first day of the lunar year. I remember when I was little, on the lunar New Year, my mother liked to go to the temple to burn incense and pay her respects.  She would insist that I go along and have a bowl of noodles from the temple. I was very scared of those noodles, since they were cooked early in the morning, and after a while, they would become mushy and look kind of yucky. But Mother said, “These noodles will give you peace and safety throughout the year, so you have to eat them.” 

 

At that time I thought, “ Yes, if I eat them, I will be peaceful and safe.” But after I learned the Buddhadharma, I understood that peacefulness comes from our mind. We are responsible for our own actions; peacefulness does not come from external objects. 

 

Most people like to go to temples to ask for peacefulness. However, the Venerable Master said, “If we go to the temples to ask for peacefulness, do the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas immediately give us peacefulness?” If it was like this, then, as the disciples of the Buddha, when we ask for successful careers and good grades, we should receive an even greater benefit. 

 

After learning Buddhism, I understood that when we are bowing to the Buddha, we should contemplate what we have done over the years. Have we done anything wrong? If we have,

 

 then while we are bowing, we should sincerely repent all of the things we have done. Today we are bowing the Water Repentance, which is a wonderful repentance Dharma Door.

 

The Water Repentance is remarkable. Perhaps some people do not know of its story, so I will briefly describe it. Master Wu Da was the Emperor’s teacher (also known as the National Master). He was well respected by everyone in the country. However, when the Emperor gave him a sandalwood chair to sit on, he became arrogant and, therefore, he had to undergo retribution for his past mistakes. In the past, he framed a person and caused that person to be executed by the Emperor. Now this person was able to find him and cause him to develop a sore that looked like a human face. At one time, Master Wu Da had taken care of a sick monk who was the transformation body of Venerable Kanaka. After his illness was cured, he told Master Wu Da that, in the future, if he had any trouble, he could come and find him for help. Therefore, Master Wu Da went to find Venerable Kanaka for help and was instructed to wash his sore with Samadhi Water. Once he washed his sore, he instantly knew this was due to his past deeds. The person he harmed had come to take revenge. With Venerable Kanaka’s help and his sincere repentance, he was able to cure this sore. For this reason, he wrote the Water Repentance. You are responsible for your own actions. If you are sincere in repenting, you can eradicate your offenses.

 

The person who was mistakenly killed by him was called Chau Tswo. He had been seeking to take revenge on him for ten lifetimes, but since Master Wu Da had been a virtuous monk for these ten lifetimes, Chau Tswo had been unable to lay his hands on him. But as soon as Master Wu Da had a thought of arrogance, Chau Tswo was able to take his revenge.

 

Like Master Wu Da, we are all the same. We do not know, whether in past lives or in this life, we have intentionally or unintentionally harmed people or living beings. During the Water Repentance, we should sincerely repent. If we do, then we will have a bright future. From Buddhism’s point of view, every day is New Year’s, just like the Venerable Master said: “If the land of Ultimate Bliss is in your heart, then you are in the land of Ultimate Bliss.”

 

“Everything is made from the mind alone.” Whatever you encounter comes from your mind; it is not from the outside. Since we are not aware of our past deeds, we only see what’s right before our eyes. We complain about this and that. The truth is, whatever we experience now arises from our past deeds. 

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