懺悔的真誠 林鈺堂 簡繁轉換 - 繁體
「人孰無過？知過能改，善莫大焉！」這是大家熟悉的箴言。在佛法裡，為了消弭宿業，減少修途障礙，也有修懺的法門。 修法若非發乎真誠，只淪為表演，是沒有意義的。因此，在修懺的儀軌裡，為了顯示真誠，也有講求需要行者當眾「發露」（告白）的。但是，為了防止誤解及誤傳的後果，行者的發露應該可以只在佛、菩薩及所信仰、皈依的師傅前佈陳。 修懺者是否發乎真誠，只有本人及佛、菩薩明白。然而，古代的廉頗大將軍，在醒悟自己的過失後，裸背負荊去向藺相如請罪，而流傳下來「負荊請罪」的成語。那種完全不顧顏面、後果的請罪行為，當然是發乎真誠的。 若有人表示懺悔，一般而言，做為師傅者當然應該歡喜接受。但是，在覺察只是一種表演，而有利用表演以博加持的存心時，則無需與其繼續表面的應付——做為修行人，真誠應對纔是本份，而加持大眾是不帶任何分別的。 順帶一提，有些學佛者，老是擔心自己是否有罪、犯戒、有業障，老在求完美，以至於不能專心修法；這樣子，其實也是「我執」的表現。修行佛法，最根本是在菩提心——為一切眾生修法，求一切有情成佛；老是在想自己如何，就是忘失菩提心！
二○二○年五月十二日
Sincerity in Repentance Yutang Lin
″Who made no mistakes? Making amendments after realizing mistakes, there is no greater good than that!″ This is a well-known proverb in Chinese literature. In Dharma, in order to eliminate karmic hindrances on the path to enlightenment, there are also Dharma practices for repentance. Engaging in Dharma practices, if not born of sincerity, would deteriorate into mere performance, and lose any significance. Hence, among repentance rituals, to display sincerity in repentance, some would require the repenter to reveal the mistakes in public. However, to prevent consequences born of misunderstanding and miscommunication, the repenter should be allowed to make revelation only to Buddhas, Bodhisattvas and the Dharma teacher whom the repenter has taken refuge from and has faith in. Whether a repenter is sincere or not, is obvious only to the repenter, Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. However, in ancient Chinese history there was a great general Lian Po, who, after realizing his own mistakes, carried thorny sticks on his naked back, and knelt to Lian Xiang Ru, whom he had misunderstood, to ask for forgiveness; consequently, there is a Chinese proverb, ″carrying thorns to ask for forgiveness″, passed down to these days. That kind of action in asking for forgiveness, totally in disregard to personal image and consequences, surely was born of sincerity. In case some expressed repentance, generally speaking, whoever serving as a spiritual teacher should, of course, take delight in it and accept it. However, when noticed that it was a kind of performance, with the intention to obtain blessing through such an act, then there is no need to continue engaging in superficial dealings—as a Dharma practitioner, only responding in sincerity is proper, while providing blessings to all contains no differentiation of any kind. By the way, some Buddhists always worry about whether they have sinned, violated rules of conducts, have karmic hindrances, and are demanding perfection, to the extent that they cannot concentrate on Dharma practices; such behaviors are, indeed, displays of ″grasping to self″. To engage in Dharma practices, fundamentally it should be born of Bodhicitta—practicing for all sentient beings and aiming at enlightenment of all sentient beings; constantly worrying about how one is performing simply amounts to Bodhicitta forgotten!
Written in Chinese and translated into English on May 12, 2020 [Home][Back to list] |