金光明經文句 3.7

3.7

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.