金光明經文句 3.7

3.7

四明懺悔位者，若作一種解者，謂鄙濁凡夫應須懺悔，離垢清淨者何用懺悔？此不如是，故新本〈業障滅品〉中說：人從父母稟身，十月懷抱、三年鞠養，撫念惟惟，始能升頭戴髮。教方教數，始解作人。那忽違恩背義而行殺逆？天雖大，不覆此人；地雖厚，不載此人。此人命終直入地獄。如是逆罪應須懺悔，滅除業障。佛為人天師，師嚴道尊，凡有所說若有違犯罪莫大焉。初篇後聚那可違負？爾則欺佛負心，復負三師七僧。此則佛海死屍、華園爛肉。此四重人，應須懺悔滅除業障。多瞋墮蛇虺、多欲墮鳩鴿、多癡墮蝨蟻、多慢墮飛鳥、多諂墮修羅、外慳墮餓鬼，餓鬼常飢渴，畜生相殘害，修羅多怖畏。是四惡道，聞名尚不可，況復當之？應須懺悔滅除業障。人中八苦，一苦尚不可忍，況八苦交橫？應當懺悔滅除業障。天上有五衰地獄等苦，色界天不得速入定、求不得苦，無色界天有四心苦，三界籠樊生死窟宅，應須懺悔滅除業障。若出家人雖欲修道，為五煩惱所障心不得停，心為四顛倒所惑，不得入四念處，亦須懺悔除滅業障。念處治彼四倒，二惡不勤斷、二善不勤生，不得入如意足，煖法不發，亦須懺悔。五根不生，喜有退墮。根生未有力，雖有力未隣真如。是四善根中，應須懺悔滅除業障。苦忍明發雖不墮三途，欲界七生次第應受。一生尚苦，何況七生？雖斷欲界五下分六品，餘三品在，亦應懺悔。雖斷五下八品，盡餘一品在，雖斷色盡，餘無色分在，亦須懺悔。雖入有餘涅槃，猶有果身在，身子風熱、畢陵伽眼痛，欲棄有餘入無餘，亦須懺悔。雖斷三界正使盡，習氣尚存，亦須懺悔。支佛亦爾，亦須懺悔。若乾慧地，未得理水霑心，故言乾慧；性地未能見理；八人見地猶有愛惑；薄地神通未能，還生欲界；離欲地猶有上界惑；已辦地不能除習；辟支佛地但作神通，不能達文字；菩薩地未窮至極，如是等位皆須懺悔滅除業障。十信但信，未能稱理；十住但入偏理；十行但事，未能入中；十迴向但修中，未能證中；十地雖證中，地地皆有障，未窮於學，不得無學，應須懺悔滅除業障。又十信雖三智圓修，但是方便陀羅尼；十住已去乃至等覺已來，秖如十四日月，非十五日月，匡郭未圓，光未頓足、闇未頓盡，應須懺悔滅除業障。齊此已來，當知懺悔位長，其義極廣，云何而言止齊凡夫？是故《五十校計經》齊至等覺皆令懺悔，即其義也。若人得聞如此懺悔，功德不少。故文云「非於一佛五佛十佛修諸功德聞是懺悔，乃於無量百千佛所修諸功德聞是懺悔。語其華報，在在處處常為國王輔相大臣之所恭敬。語其果報，常為十方諸佛互相恭敬。」直聞此懺悔，尚得如此功德，況復如法修行。已聞懺悔義，此法從經出，此經從佛說，是故當報恩歸命禮諸佛（云云）。懺悔品依字訓釋，懺者鑑也，披陳發舒己之三業，不敢隱諱令他委鑑，顏恧而口蹙、心摧而意伏，身被鑑故而顏恧、口被鑑故而脣蹙、心被鑑故而意伏，故懺名鑑也。悔者廢也。內懷鄙恥，悔造眾非。悔身故則三廢、悔口故則四廢、悔心故則十廢，故悔名廢也。又法門釋者，懺悔名慚愧，慚愧是白法。又自不作惡，不教他作惡，如是等種種說。懺悔有三：一作法、二取相、三無生，此三種通大小。小乘作法者，如毘尼中發露與學二十僧行摩那埵、或半月作法、或對首作法、或責心，但令作法成就、不障僧事，即清淨也。《阿含》中亦作相懺，犯欲人作毒蛇口想，此觀成時婬罪即滅。亦有觀空懺，秖是真空。大乘中亦有作法，或八百日，虛空藏塗廁是也；或九十日，《般舟》是也；或四十九日，大悲懺是也；或二十一日，《法華》是也；或七日，方等是也。灰湯澡豆淨身、辛酒禁口、慚愧勤心、旋誦各有遍數等、皆作法懺攝也。取相懺者，如方等求十二夢王，菩薩戒見華光摩頂，虛空藏中唱聲印臂，相起罪滅。雖不正明作法，兼得事用也。無生懺者，如《普賢觀》云「端坐念實相，如日照霜露。」觀空緣理無相最上，雖不正作事相，兼上兩懺也。作法懺成，違無作罪滅，而性罪不除。如犯殺生，作法懺成，違無作罪去，而償命猶在，即其義也。取相懺能滅性罪，性罪去，違無作罪亦去。如伐樹枝葉萎，根本未去，續生如故也。觀無生懺能滅無明，如覆大地根枝葉等悉盡無餘。又作法滅違戒上罪，取相滅犯定上罪，無生滅犯慧上罪。又作法滅三惡道報障，取相滅人道報障，無生滅三界有漏報障。又作法滅三惡道業障，取相滅人道業障，無生滅三界有漏業障。又作法滅怖畏憂愁之煩惱，亦是破煩惱；取相滅四住之煩惱，無生滅無明之煩惱。又三種懺共除報障，取相除業障，無生除煩惱障。又作法懺如服薑桂，差病而已，不能肥身，譬罪滅不能生善；取相懺如服五石，病差身充，不能得道；無生懺如服五芝，病除身飛，升仙得道。如是等種種分別，行者須知。今文具有大乘三懺，著淨潔衣，專聽是經，又七日七夜朝暮淨心等，即作法也。於其坐處得見彌勒、文殊、普賢，即取相也。五陰舍宅觀悉空寂，本無有生亦無和合，即無生也。三意宛然，故能滅諸惡、蕩五障，顯經力用也。

Fourth, explaining the stages of confession. If one takes a single interpretation, one might claim: 'Base and defiled ordinary mortals ought to confess; why would those who have abandoned defilement and attained purity need to confess?' This is not so. Thus, the newly translated Chapter on the Eradication of Karmic Obstacles states: Human beings receive their bodies from parents, are carried in the womb for ten months, and are nurtured for three years, watched over and cared for with utter devotion, only after which they can raise their heads and grow hair. Taught directions and taught numbers, they only then understand how to be human. How could they suddenly violate kindness and turn their backs on righteousness to commit patricide or matricide? Though heaven is vast, it will not cover such a person; though earth is thick, it will not support such a person. When their life ends, they fall straight into hell. Heinous crimes such as these must be confessed to eradicate karmic obstacles. The Buddha is the teacher of gods and humans; the master is dignified and the path is venerated. If one violates whatever he has spoken, there is no greater fault. How can the primary rules and subsequent categories [of Vinaya] be transgressed and abandoned? In doing so, one cheats the Buddha and betrays one's conscience, and also betrays the three masters and seven monks. Such a one is a corpse in the ocean of the Buddha, rotten flesh in a garden of blossoms. Persons of the four grave prohibitions must confess to eradicate karmic obstacles. Excessive anger leads to rebirth among snakes and vipers; excessive desire leads to rebirth among doves and pigeons; excessive delusion leads to rebirth among lice and ants; excessive arrogance leads to rebirth among flying birds; excessive flattery leads to rebirth among asuras; external greed leads to rebirth among hungry ghosts. Hungry ghosts suffer perpetual hunger and thirst; animals harm one another; asuras are full of terror. As for these four evil destinies, even hearing their names is intolerable, how much more so experiencing them? One must confess to eradicate karmic obstacles. Among humans there are the eight sufferings; even one suffering is unbearable, how much more so when the eight sufferings cross and converge? One must confess to eradicate karmic obstacles. In the heavens there are the five signs of decay and sufferings equal to hell; in the heavens of the form realm one cannot quickly enter absorption and suffers the pain of not getting what one seeks; in the heavens of the formless realm there is the suffering of the four mental states. The three realms are a cage and snare, a cavernous dwelling of birth and death; one must confess to eradicate karmic obstacles. Even if renunciants wish to cultivate the Path, if their minds are obstructed by the five defilements and cannot remain still, and their minds are deluded by the four inversions so that they cannot enter the four applications of mindfulness, they must also confess to eliminate karmic obstacles. The applications of mindfulness counteract those four inversions; if the two evils are not diligently severed and the two goods are not diligently produced, one cannot enter the bases of spiritual power, and the stage of warmth does not arise—one must also confess. If the five faculties do not arise, one is prone to retrogression. When the faculties have arisen but lack strength, or though possessing strength are not yet adjacent to true thusness: within these four wholesome roots, one must confess to eradicate karmic obstacles. When the clarity of the patience regarding suffering arises, though one does not fall into the three miserable destinies, one must successively undergo seven rebirths in the desire realm. A single lifetime is already painful, how much more so seven rebirths? Though six grades of the five lower fetters of the desire realm are severed, with the remaining three grades present, one should also confess. Though eight grades of the five lower [fetters] are severed, with the remaining one grade present; though the form [fetters] are entirely severed, with the formless portion remaining: one must also confess. Though one enters nirvāṇa with remainder, the karmically resultant body still exists: Śāriputra had wind and heat ailments, and Pilindavatsa had eye pain; if one wishes to discard [nirvāṇa] with remainder and enter [nirvāṇa] without remainder, one must also confess. Though the direct afflictions of the three realms are completely severed, habitual propensities still remain; one must also confess. Pratyekabuddhas are likewise; they must also confess. As for the stage of dry wisdom, because it has not yet attained the water of the principle to moisten the mind, it is called 'dry wisdom'; the stage of nature cannot yet see the principle; the eight people on the stage of seeing still have the delusion of affection; on the stage of thinning, spiritual powers are not yet achieved and one is reborn back into the desire realm; on the stage of freedom from desire, there is still delusion of the upper realms; on the stage of having completed [the task], one cannot remove habitual propensities; on the stage of the pratyekabuddha, one merely produces spiritual powers and cannot penetrate words; on the stage of the bodhisattva, one has not yet reached the ultimate. Stages such as these must all confess to eradicate karmic obstacles. The ten faiths have only faith and cannot yet accord with the principle; the ten abodes enter only the partial principle; the ten practices concern only phenomena and cannot yet enter the middle; the ten dedications cultivate only the middle and cannot yet realize the middle; the ten grounds, though realizing the middle, have obstacles at every ground, and not having exhausted learning, have not attained non-learning: they must confess to eradicate karmic obstacles. Furthermore, though the ten faiths cultivate the three wisdoms completely, this is merely expedient dhāraṇī; from the ten abodes onward up to equal enlightenment, they are merely like the moon on the fourteenth day, not the moon on the fifteenth day—the disk is not yet round, the light is not yet suddenly complete, and the darkness is not yet suddenly exhausted: they must confess to eradicate karmic obstacles. Up to this point, one should know that the stages of confession are long and their scope is extremely broad; how could one say they are limited to ordinary mortals? Therefore, the Fifty Reckonings Sūtra requires confession all the way up to equal enlightenment, which conveys this very meaning. If a person gets to hear of such confession, their merit is not small. Thus the text states: 'It is not under one Buddha, five Buddhas, or ten Buddhas that one has cultivated virtues to hear this confession; rather, it is under immeasurable hundreds of thousands of Buddhas that one has cultivated virtues to hear this confession. In terms of flower-retribution, in every place one will constantly be revered by kings, prime ministers, and great ministers. In terms of fruit-retribution, one will constantly be revered by the Buddhas of the ten directions in mutual respect.' If merely hearing of this confession already yields such merit, how much more so practicing in accordance with the Dharma! Having heard the meaning of confession—since this teaching comes from the sūtra, and this sūtra was spoken by the Buddha—one should therefore repay the kindness, take refuge, and pay homage to all Buddhas (and so forth). Explaining the term 'confession' (chanhui) according to the characters: Chan means 'to inspect' (jian). It is to lay out and unfold the three modes of action of oneself, not daring to conceal or hide them, causing another to inspect them thoroughly—with a bashful face and a pursed mouth, a broken mind and a submissive intention. Because the body is inspected, the face is bashful; because the mouth is inspected, the lips are pursed; because the mind is inspected, the intention is submissive; hence chan is called 'inspecting'. Hui means 'to discard' (fei). Harboring inner shame and disgrace, one repents of committing manifold errors. Because one repents with the body, the three [bodily unwholesome deeds] are discarded; because one repents with the mouth, the four [vocal unwholesome deeds] are discarded; because one repents with the mind, the ten [unwholesome deeds] are discarded; hence hui is called 'discarding'. Furthermore, explaining in terms of the Dharma methods: confession is called shame and conscience (hrī and apatrāpya); shame and conscience are wholesome dharmas. Again, not doing evil oneself and not teaching others to do evil, and various explanations such as these. Confession has three kinds: first, ritual action; second, taking signs; third, unarisen. These three kinds apply to both the Hīnayāna and the Mahāyāna. Ritual action in the Hīnayāna is as in the Vinaya: disclosing [offenses], granting training, practicing mānatva with twenty monks, or performing the ritual half-monthly, or face-to-face, or through self-reproach; so long as the ritual action is accomplished and does not obstruct the business of the Saṅgha, it is pure. In the Āgamas there is also sign-taking confession: a person who has committed lust visualizes the mouth of a venomous snake; when this contemplation is perfected, the offense of lust is eradicated. There is also confession by contemplating emptiness, which is simply true emptiness. In the Mahāyāna there is also ritual action: either eight hundred days, as with the smeared-latrine rite of Ākāśagarbha; or ninety days, as with the Pratyutpanna; or forty-nine days, as with the Great Compassion Confession; or twenty-one days, as with the Lotus; or seven days, as with the Vaipulya. Cleansing the body with ash-water and bath powder, abstaining from pungent roots and alcohol with the mouth, harboring shame with a diligent mind, circumambulating and reciting each for a set number of repetitions—all are subsumed under the confession of ritual action. Sign-taking confession is, for example, seeking the twelve dream-kings in the Vaipulya, seeing radiant light crowning the head in the Bodhisattva Precepts, or hearing a voice and having the arm sealed in the Ākāśagarbha [rite]: when the signs arise, the offenses are eradicated. Although it does not directly focus on ritual action, it encompasses practical functions. Unarisen confession is as the Samantabhadra Contemplation states: 'Sit upright and contemplate the true mark, like the sun shining upon frost and dew.' Contemplating emptiness, according with the principle, and being without marks is supreme; though it does not directly perform phenomenal rituals, it encompasses both of the above confessions. When the confession of ritual action succeeds, offenses violating non-manifest karma are eradicated, but innate offenses are not removed. For example, if one commits killing: when the confession of ritual action succeeds, the offense violating non-manifest karma is gone, but the debt of repaying life still remains—that is its meaning. Sign-taking confession can eradicate innate offenses; when innate offenses are gone, offenses violating non-manifest karma are also gone. It is like cutting a tree: the branches and leaves wither, but the root is not yet gone, and it sprouts again as before. Contemplating unarisen confession can eradicate fundamental ignorance, like overturning the great earth: roots, branches, leaves, and all are completely eradicated without remainder. Furthermore, ritual action eradicates offenses violating precepts; taking signs eradicates offenses violating concentration; unarisen eradicates offenses violating wisdom. Again, ritual action eradicates retributive obstacles of the three evil destinies; taking signs eradicates retributive obstacles of the human destiny; unarisen eradicates retributive obstacles with outflows in the three realms. Again, ritual action eradicates karmic obstacles of the three evil destinies; taking signs eradicates karmic obstacles of the human destiny; unarisen eradicates karmic obstacles with outflows in the three realms. Again, ritual action eradicates afflictions of fear, grief, and sorrow, and also breaks afflictions; taking signs eradicates afflictions of the four entrenchments; unarisen eradicates the affliction of fundamental ignorance. Again, the three kinds of confession together remove retributive obstacles; taking signs removes karmic obstacles; unarisen removes affliction obstacles. Furthermore, the confession of ritual action is like taking ginger and cinnamon: it merely cures the illness but cannot nourish the body—comparable to offenses being eradicated without being able to produce wholesome qualities; sign-taking confession is like taking the five minerals: the illness is cured and the body is nourished, but one cannot attain the Path; unarisen confession is like taking the five mushrooms: the illness is removed, the body flies, and one ascends as an immortal and attains the Path. Various distinctions such as these must be understood by the practitioner. The present text fully possesses the three Mahāyāna confessions: wearing clean clothes, intently listening to this sūtra, and purifying the mind morning and evening for seven days and seven nights—this is ritual action; seeing Maitreya, Mañjuśrī, and Samantabhadra at one's seat—this is taking signs; contemplating the dwelling-house of the five aggregates as entirely empty and tranquil, fundamentally unarisen and without combination—this is unarisen. The three meanings are distinct and clear; therefore, they can eradicate manifold evils, wash away the five obstacles, and manifest the power and function of the sūtra.