慈悲水懺法 2.5

2.5

Having paid homage to the Buddhas, next we repent once more. We, so-and-so and the others, have briefly repented of the afflictive obscurations; now we must systematically repent of karmic obscurations. Karma adorns worldly destinies, so that in every place one no longer contemplates seeking deliverance and liberation from the world. Thus the retributions in the six destinies are varied and their physical types diverse; one must know that all are produced by the power of karma. Among the Buddha's ten powers, the power of karma is extremely profound, and ordinary persons frequently harbor doubts regarding it. Why is this? In the present world one sees that people who do good encounter hardship and obstruction at every turn, while those who commit evil find success in every endeavor, so that people claim there is no difference between good and evil under heaven. Those who hold such views simply fail to deeply penetrate the principles of karma. Why is this? The sūtras say that there are three kinds of karma. What are the three? The first is karma with immediate retribution; the second is karma with rebirth retribution; the third is karma with subsequent retribution. Immediate retribution karma is committing evil in the present and receiving retribution in this very body. Rebirth retribution karma is doing good or committing evil in this life and receiving retribution in the next life. Subsequent retribution karma is doing good or committing evil in immeasurable past lives and receiving retribution in this life, or receiving its retribution only in immeasurable lives to come. If someone who now acts evilly currently meets with good fortune, this is because good karma of past rebirth retribution or subsequent retribution has ripened, so that in the present they enjoy this happy fruit; how could it be that committing evil deeds now brings about a good retribution? If someone who now does good is currently beset by suffering, this is because evil karma of past rebirth retribution or subsequent retribution has ripened, and because the strength of present wholesome roots is weak and cannot dispel it, they therefore receive this painful retribution; how could it be that doing good now invites an evil retribution? How is this known to be so? One presently sees in the world that those who do good are praised by others and respected by others; therefore one knows that in the future they will inevitably invite happy fruits. Since there has been such evil karma in the past, the Buddhas and bodhisattvas have taught beings to draw near to good friends and practice repentance together. A good spiritual friend constitutes total benefit in attaining the Way; therefore today with utmost sincerity we take refuge in the Buddha. From beginningless time until today, we, so-and-so and the others, have accumulated evils like the sands of the Ganges and committed transgressions filling the great earth; discarding bodies and taking up bodies, we have been neither aware nor conscious of it. Either we have committed the unceasing karmic deeds of the five heinous crimes, with deep, thick, and turbid entanglements; or created the karma of an icchantika cutting off wholesome roots; or lightly disparaged the Buddha's words and slandered the Vaipulya scriptures; or destroyed the Triratna and ruined the true Dharma; or, disbelieving in transgressions and blessings, committed the ten evil deeds; or committed deeds of delusion and confusion that abandon truth and turn to the contrary; or committed unfilial and rebellious deeds against both parents; or committed deeds of slighting and disrespecting teachers and elders without courtesy; or committed faithless and unrighteous deeds toward friends; or committed deeds that transgress the four pārājikas or eight pārājikas, obstructing the noble path; or violated the five precepts and broken the eight purificatory fasts; or frequently breached and transgressed the five skandhas and seven categories [of monastic rules]; or incurred minor and major tainted deeds regarding the upāsaka precepts; or failed to keep the bodhisattva precepts pure and act in accordance with the teachings; or defiled brahmacarya before and after its preparatory practices; or committed deeds of laxity by failing to observe the six monthly fast days; or failed to regularly practice the three annual extended fasts; or acted improperly regarding the three thousand dignified manners; or committed subtle transgressions against the eighty thousand rules of deportment; or committed deeds of not cultivating body, discipline, mind, and wisdom; or committed multitude of crimes on the days of the eight kings of spring and autumn; or practiced the sixteen kinds of evil rules of deportment; or acted without pity toward beings; or were callous, unmindful, and without compassion; or failed to rescue and deliver without offering protection; or harbored jealousy in our hearts and lacked the intent to deliver others; or failed to maintain impartiality toward foes and kin; or indulged in the five desires without revulsion and renunciation; or engaged in reckless dissipation on account of clothing, food, gardens, ponds, and pools; or gave free rein to passions and desires in our prime of youth to commit all manner of crimes; or performed tainted good deeds dedicated to the three realms of existence, thereby obstructing supramundane attainment. Transgressions such as these are immeasurable and boundless; today we confess them all before the Buddhas of the ten directions, the honored Dharma, and the holy assembly, repenting of them all. May we, so-and-so and the others, by virtue of this repentance, see all our transgressions of avidyā and all unwholesome deeds extinguished; and may the blessings and good produced cause us, life after life, to eliminate the five heinous crimes and remove the delusion of an icchantika. From this day forward until reaching the bodhimaṇḍa, we vow never again to commit such minor and major evil karmic deeds; we will constantly practice the supramundane, pure, and wholesome Dharma, strictly uphold the Vinaya practices, and guard our deportment, just as one crossing the ocean treasures a flotation buoy. May the six pāramitās and the four apramāṇas always head our practice; may the categories of discipline, samādhi, and wisdom become increasingly bright; may we quickly achieve the Tathāgata's thirty-two marks, eighty minor characteristics, ten powers, fearlessnesses, great compassion, the three mental states, and the eight autonomous sovereignties of eternal, blissful, and wondrous wisdom. Taking refuge in the Buddhas, we pray they will extend their protective mindfulness upon us. Previously we have repented of all karma in general terms; now we must systematically proceed to repent of each specific aspect one by one. Whether general or specific, coarse or fine, light or heavy, spoken or unspoken, may each category be extinguished in turn. Repenting specific aspects: first we repent of the three bodily deeds, next we repent of the four verbal deeds, and for all remaining obscurations we will bow down in turn. Regarding the three bodily karmas, the first is killing. As explained in the sūtras, one may take oneself as an analogy: do not kill, do not use the stick; though there is a difference between humans and beasts, in preserving life and fearing death they are the same. If we trace these beings back, from beginningless time they may have been our parents, siblings, or kinfolk; through karmic causes and conditions they revolve in the six destinies, born and dying, changing forms and altering retributions so that we no longer recognize them; yet now we harm them and eat their flesh, wounding compassion to the extreme. Therefore the Buddha said: 'Even if one obtains other food, one should think of it as eating the flesh of one's own child during a famine; how much more so eating this fish and meat?' He also said: 'Killing living beings for profit and using wealth to purchase meat—both are evil karma; at death one falls into the Raurava Hell.' Thus we know that killing and eating [meat] incurs guilt deep as rivers and seas, and faults heavy as hills and peaks. Yet we, so-and-so and the others, from beginningless time, not meeting good spiritual friends, have all committed such deeds. Therefore the sūtras state: The sin of killing causes beings to fall into the hells and the preta realm to suffer; if reborn among tiryagyoni, they receive bodies such as tigers, leopards, jackals, wolves, falcons, and hawks, or bodies such as pit vipers, adders, and scorpions, constantly harboring evil intentions; or they receive bodies such as roe deer, stags, and bears, constantly harboring terror. If born among humans, they receive two kinds of retribution: first, frequent illness; second, short life. Since killing and eating [meat] bring about such immeasurable and diverse evil retributions, we therefore seek mercy and repent with utmost sincerity. From beginningless time until today, having this consciousness, we have constantly harbored venomous cruelty and lacked a compassionate mind: killing out of greed, killing out of anger, delusion, and arrogance; or devising evil expedients, vowing to kill, wishing to kill, or killing by curses; or breaching lakes and ponds, burning mountains and plains, hunting, and fishing; or setting fires with the wind, releasing hawks and loosing hounds, tormenting and harming all beings. All such transgressions we now repent. Or using snares, traps, pit-falls, spears, halberds, bows, and crossbows to shoot birds and beasts; or using casting-nets, haul-nets, traps, fishing hooks, and ladles to drag and scoop up aquatic creatures—fish, softshell turtles, giant sea turtles, alligators, shrimp, clams, snails, and mussels—and all things that dwell in moisture, leaving those that move through water, land, and sky with no place to hide. Or raising chickens, pigs, cattle, sheep, dogs, swine, geese, and ducks to supply our own kitchens, or selling them for others to slaughter. Leaving their wails unfinished while their feathers are plucked, their scales and shells wounded and ruined, their bodies and heads severed, their bones and flesh pulverized, flayed, butchered, and sliced, baked, roasted, boiled, and broiled with agonizing pain and bitter torment—inflicting this unjustly upon the innocent merely for a moment's pleasure! The taste gained by the palate is exceedingly little, merely passing over a three-inch tongue, yet its karmic retribution entails calamities for eternal kalpas. All such transgressions we today repent with utmost sincerity. Furthermore, from beginningless time until today, we may have raised armies to wage war, contending on the frontiers, two battle lines confronting one another to slaughter mutually. Or we killed with our own hands, instructed others to kill, or rejoiced upon hearing of killing; or engaged in butchery or took hire as executioners, slaughtering other lives and acting without forbearance; or, indulging violent wrath, brandished spears and wielded blades to behead or stab, or pushed victims into pits and moats, or drowned them in water, or blocked burrows and destroyed nests, or crushed them with earth and stone, or crushed and trampled all beings with chariots and horses. Such transgressions are immeasurable and boundless; today we confess and repent them all. Furthermore, from beginningless time until today, we may have aborted fetuses, broken eggs, or harmed and killed beings with poison or sorcery. Plowing the earth, digging the ground, planting fields and gardens, raising silkworms, and boiling cocoons have harmed and killed even more abundantly. Or swatting mosquitoes and gnats, pinching and biting fleas and lice, or burning away refuse, or opening and digging drainage ditches, unjustly harming all things. Or eating fruits, using grains, or using vegetables, casually killing living beings; or burning firewood, or leaving lamps and candles exposed to incinerate various insects; or taking soy sauce and vinegar without first shaking them, or pouring boiling water, scalding and killing insects and ants. In this way, down to the four postures of walking, standing, sitting, and lying down, we have constantly harmed and killed minute creatures flying in the air and clinging to the earth; darkened by ordinary consciousness, we were unaware and unconscious of it. Today we confess and repent all of it. Furthermore, from beginningless time until today, we may have used whips, canes, cangues, locks, stocks, and fetters, crushing, dragging, beating, flaying, striking, and hurling, kicking and trampling with hands and feet, binding, caging, and tying up, cutting off food and water—using such diverse evil expedients to afflict and torment beings. Today with utmost sincerity before the Buddhas of the ten directions, the honored Dharma, and the holy assembly, we repent of all of this. May the merits produced by repenting these sins of killing grant us, life after life, a vajra body with limitless life, forever free from enmity and hatred, without thoughts of killing. Toward all living beings may we attain the stage of regarding them as an only child; if we see those who are in danger, distress, or emergency, without begrudging our bodily lives we will skillfully rescue and deliver them, and then preach the profound, wondrous, true Dharma to them, causing all beings who see our forms or catch our shadows to receive peace and joy, and those who hear our names or listen to our voices to have all terrors removed. We now bow down and take refuge in the Buddha.