Sutra of Hui-neng, Grand Master of Zen (eBook)

Chapter6: Repentance Atthattime, seeing the gentry and peasantry of the regions of Kuang, Shao, and thefour quarters gathered on the mountain to listen to the teaching, the GreatMaster took the high seat and said to the crowd, Welcome,good friends. This thing must come from your own essential nature. At alltimes, moment to moment, purify your own mind. Cultivate yourself, work on yourown, see your own reality body, see the buddha in your own mind, liberateyourself, regulate yourself—,only then will you attain realization. Youhave not come here for no reason. Since you have come from far away to gatherhere as one, all of you have affinity together. Now let each of you kneel:first I will transmit the perfumes of the five-part reality body in our ownessential nature, then I will pass on formless repentance. Thecrowd kneeled, and the Master said, Firstis the perfume of morality: when there is no error in one's own mind, no evil,no envy or jealousy, no greed or hatred, no robbery or injury, this is calledthe perfume of morality. Secondis the perfume of stability: seeing the good and bad characteristics of objectswithout disturbance in one's own mind is called the perfume of stability. Thirdis the perfume of wisdom. When one's own mind has no obstruction, and alwaysobserves one's own nature with insight, one does not do anything bad. Even whenone does good, the mind does not cling to it. Respectful of elders whileconsiderate of the young, one is sympathetic and compassionate to the orphanedand the impoverished. This is called the perfume of wisdom. Fourthis the perfume of liberation. When one's own mind does not fixate on objects,does not think of good, does not think of bad, is free and unobstructed, thatis called the perfume of liberation. Fifthis the perfume of liberated knowledge and vision. Once one's own mind is notfixated on anything, good or bad, it will not do to sink into vacuity and keepto quiescence, one should study broadly and learn a lot, recognize one's ownoriginal mind and master the principles of the buddhas, harmonize enlightenmentto deal with people, free from egotistic personality, unchanging right up tothe attainment of the true nature of enlightenment. This is called the perfumeof liberated vision and knowledge. Goodfriends, these perfumes are inner effects within each individual—,do not seekthem externally. Now I will transmit formless repentance to you, to annihilatethe sins of past, present, and future, enabling you to attain purity ofthought, word, and deed. Goodfriends, let each of you repeat after me, in unison: 'Fromthe preceding moment of thought, the present moment of thought, and thefollowing moment of thought, from moment of thought to moment of thought I willnot be affected by folly or delusion, I repent of all previous folly anddelusion, and other faults due to them, and pray that they disappear all atonce and never occur again. 'Fromthe preceding moment of thought, the present moment of thought, and thefollowing moment of thought, from moment of thought to moment of thought I willnot be affected by any conceit or deceit. I repent of all previous misdeedsassociated with malignant conceit and deceit, and pray that they disappear allat once, never to occur again. 'Fromthe preceding moment of thought, the present moment of thought, and thefollowing moment of thought, moment of thought to moment of thought I will notbe affected by jealousy and envy. I repent of all previous misdeeds associatedwith malignant jealousy and envy, and pray that they disappear at once andnever occur...