法苑珠林 86.5

86.5

敬惟。佛日潛暉正像𥧲訛。人情嶮異世序澆漓。仰別大師千有七百。眾生頑瞽善根羸薄。正法既衰邪見增長。內無勝解。常為五蓋自縈。外失良緣。致使四魔得便。故放縱三毒馳騁六塵。日夜攀緣無非搆禍。招釁之咎積罪尤多。今既覺寤盡誠懺悔。然懺悔之儀。須憑聖教。教有大小。罪有輕重。通塞不同。開遮有異。是故第一廣引聖教明懺成不。如七眾之人。曾經受得五八十具三聚等戒。若犯小乘初四重戒不覆藏者。依律開許。盡形學悔。不限時節。若覆藏者。縱有懺悔依律不許。第二篇已下隨犯輕重。覆與不覆。但識名種。依律得除。具存大教。非此所明。若犯大乘三聚等戒。除謗方等邪見重緣業思極重戒體不全。縱有好心懺犯大難。必須懇意用心徹到。犯餘輕者。懺悔可通。令依方等佛名經等。無問在家出家。大小乘戒若有犯者。不牒名種。所以開懺。惟此懺悔為除罪障。冀免業非。欣慕清昇。遠求大聖。思極大事。不可容易。自非具閑聖教。無宜得滅。知罪真妄。染淨虛融。心境開合。常須作意不起攀緣。罪方伏除也。

Respectfully reflecting: The sun of the Buddha has hidden its brilliance, and the true and semblance [Dharma] have declined and degenerated. Human sentiments are treacherous and strange, and the times are depraved and shallow. Looking back, we are separated from the Great Master by one thousand seven hundred [years]. Sentient beings are stubborn and blind; their roots of goodness are frail and weak. As the saddharma has decayed, wrong views have proliferated. Internally devoid of superior understanding, they are constantly entangled in the five hindrances; externally deprived of salutary conditions, the four Māras easily find their opportunity. Thus, giving rein to the three poisons, they gallop after the six dusts. Day and night forming attachments, there is nothing that does not stir up calamity; in incurring blame and offense, their accumulated sins are exceedingly manifold. Now that one has awakened, one should confess with utmost sincerity. Yet the rites of confession must rely upon the sacred teachings. The teachings have Mahāyāna and Hīnayāna; sins have light and heavy; unobstructed and obstructed differ; permission and prohibition are distinct. Therefore, the first section broadly cites the sacred teachings to clarify whether confession is successful or not. For instance, among persons of the seven assemblies, those who have received the five, eight, ten, or full precepts, or the three clusters of precepts: if one commits the initial four gravest offenses of the Hīnayāna without concealing them, the Vinaya permits one to train in repentance for the rest of one’s life, without temporal limit. If one conceals them, even if one confesses, the Vinaya does not permit it. From the second category downward, depending on the lightness or gravity of the offense, whether concealed or not, as long as one recognizes its name and class, it can be eradicated according to the Vinaya; these are fully preserved in the great teachings and are not what is explained here. If one violates the Mahāyāna precepts of the three clusters and the like, except for slandering the Vaipulya scriptures, holding wrong views, or having exceedingly heavy mental volitions and conditions of karma where the precept-body is incomplete—where even if one has a good mind it is extremely difficult to repent of the transgression, requiring that one apply one’s mind with the utmost sincerity and thoroughness—for the remaining lighter offenses, confession is permissible. Now, relying on the Vaipulya and the Names of the Buddhas scriptures and the like, without distinguishing between householders and renunciants, or Mahāyāna and Hīnayāna precepts, if there are violators, their names and classes are not individually enumerated, and thus confession is opened to them. This confession is solely for eradicating sinful hindrances, hoping to avoid karmic faults, longing for pure ascent, and seeking the Great Sage from afar. Pondering such an ultimate, grand matter, it cannot be treated lightly. Unless one is thoroughly versed in the sacred teachings, sins will not be extinguished. Knowing sins to be both real and unreal, defilement and purity to be empty and fused, the mind and its objects to be opening and closing, one must constantly apply attention and not give rise to attachments; only then will sins be subdued and eliminated.