慈悲水懺法 1.2

1.2

Now, as for the Samādhi Water Repentance: because National Preceptor Wuda Zhixuan of the Tang encountered the Venerable Kanaka, who washed away his accumulated grievances of past lives with samādhi water, Zhixuan thereupon expounded the import of the Great Awakened One and composed this text of repentance. His mind was exceedingly intent on benefiting future generations everywhere, and its merit and virtue cannot be bounded. That which is called 'samādhi' is the name for correct reception (samāpatti). Not receiving any feelings is indeed correct reception; in the calm tranquility of true emptiness, this mind does not move. Its essential point is merely to cause people to seek it within themselves. For humans born into the world, unless they are endowed with the highest wisdom, how could they be free from the faults of deliberate actions or mistaken deeds, or from the entanglement of hostile karma from past lives? The Tathāgata broadened his thoughts of compassion and opened the gate of repentance. If one can sincerely and with a single mind repent and do good, then one's accumulated sinful karma will instantly dissolve like ice. It is like water: when the body is troubled with heat and is bathed, there is none that is not refreshed; when clothing is soiled and washed, there is none that is not cleansed; when a vessel is dirty and rinsed, there is none that is not purified. Its crucial turning point does not exceed the square inch [of the mind]. Therefore it is said: the mind is the spiritual brightness of the body; what is done that is good receives a good response, and what is done that is evil receives an evil response, like a shadow following a form or an echo answering a sound, the swiftness of its verification not erring by a single hair. This composition of the Samādhi Water Repentance—the reason it benefits people—how vast its efficacy is! I constantly reflect that Zhixuan, as an eminent monk of ten lifetimes, still bore past retributions; how much more so ordinary people! Formerly, Sun Hao defiled and violated a golden statue and secretly incurred condemnation and punishment; when he repented and stated his faults, the calamity was immediately dissolved. Fazuo discussed his master in a carriage and was not cautious in private; his master rebuked him severely, but through repentance he obtained pardon. Cases such as these are truly numerous. When ordinary people reflect upon this in their minds, how could they be without shame? If not through repentance, how can it be cleansed? If one can truly advance along the path of goodness, so that not a single thread of evil thought sprouts in the mind, then disasters and calamities will secretly vanish, and blessings and virtue will increase and grow, just as rain moistens the various plants, so that they generate and flourish. Although the eye does not see it, those who secretly receive its nourishment are many. Thus, samādhi lies solely in the human mind, and one need not seek it elsewhere. I have therefore written this to head the work, and also had it carved on woodblocks to bring expedient benefit, which is to draw upon the samādhi of the great ocean to bathe the dusty kalpas throughout the worlds [numerous as the] sands. May those who look upon this be circumspect in what they pursue!