Bodhi RepentanceYutang Lin
Comment: To repent for past karmas a practitioner may adopt the repentanceritual of the Eighty-eight Buddhas or that of the Thirty-five Buddhas. Tantric rituals of repentance usually center on Sakyamuni Buddha, Vajrasattva or White Chenrezi as the holy beingto receive our repentance and then grant forgiveness in terms of renewed purity. The key point of repentance practices is the admission and regret for misdeeds in the past and the resolve not to recommit such mistakes again. Making prostration to Buddhas isa speedy and effective practice for dissipating karmic hindrances. The intention of this article lies in pointing out the following: When restricted to dissipation of personal karmic hindrances repentance practices could hardly escape from the sphere of self-centered grasping. Therefore, sincere repentance practices had better be conducted in the light of Bodhicitta. Thus, misdeeds committed in the past and improvements attempted from now on are all regarded as trials and learning lessons on the path of cultivating Bodhicitta until full enlightenment. In this way confinement to entanglements in one's own mind could be avoided, while entrance into open and wide processes of purification wouldbe eased.
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