法苑珠林 86.65

86.65

The Buddha told Śāriputra: 'If there are good men and good women whose minds do not wish to enter the three bad paths, all offenses committed must be repented and must not be concealed. Those who do not wish to be born in borderlands where there are no Three Jewels must all repent and must not conceal them. Even those who wish to attain the fruits of the paths of the three vehicles must all repent and must not conceal them.' The Buddha told Śāriputra: 'If all the men and women under heaven were to become arhats and pratyekabuddhas, and if someone were to make offerings to a full thousand of all the arhats and pratyekabuddhas under heaven, it would not compare to upholding the Repentance Sūtra, reading it three times each during the day and three times during the night for one day: the merit obtained thereby surpasses making offerings to all the arhats and pratyekabuddhas under heaven by a hundred times, a thousand times, ten thousand times, a hundred million times.' Furthermore, according to the Sūtra on the Contemplation of Samantabhadra, the primary meaning of repenting the six sense faculties is that due to karmic hindrances, the six sense faculties are impure, fully committing the ten unwholesome deeds, attached to greed everywhere throughout the six cognitive faculties. The branches, flowers, and leaves of the karma of these six faculties completely fill all places of birth across the tridhātu, increasing ignorance. Now, wishing to repent, one extensively invites the Buddhas and bodhisattvas, recites the Mahāyāna with utter sincerity, and makes vows seeking to destroy all evil karma of body and mind, so that in thought-moment after thought-moment one may behold Samantabhadra and the Buddhas of the ten directions. Therefore, the verse says: