【修持轨理 The Meditation Session】第三支悔罪 The Third Branch of Worship, Confession of Sins P6

【修持轨理】

第三支悔罪

所以你真的要忏悔，一定要晓得我什么东西不对，然后呢懊悔这个。请问大家，忏悔的时候，你有懊悔的心情吗？就是有懊悔，你懂得懊悔些什么吗？假定你不懂得，请问你忏些什么呀？同时你忏悔不对的，一定有好的、对的标准摆在那里，那时候你衡量得出来，才比出来: 哦！这个对的，这个是不对的。就像比那假钞票一样，一比，两张钞票，很明白。所以你真正地忏悔，必然是把对的行相清清楚楚，错的行相明明白白。
然后那个时候，你晓得：啊！做对了有多大功德，做不对有多大的害处。啊！你那个时候，就是心里面哪好难受喔、好痛苦，这样叫忏悔。不是说，我现在每天拜八十八佛，拜多少遍喏，喔唷！然后呢我拜什么经，一字一拜喔! 是有功德的。始终记得这个话，我这个话绝对不是说贬他，但这条路——远路。所以为什么常常说，我们修很多功德是杂染的；你做对的话，为什么他能够一生取办？概念都在这个地方。

来源 SOURCE：

日常师父法语 23B 02’46”手抄稿第三册 P236LL6

23B 02’46” Vol 3 of Master Jih-Chang’s Discourse P236LL6
English Lamrim Volume 1, P95

【The Meditation Session】

Preparation (5) - Third branch of offering is confession of sins.

So if we truly want to confess, we must know what we have done wrong and regret that. So may I ask all of you, when you confess, do you have that kind of feeling of remorse? Even if you have the feeling of remorse, do you know what you are regretting for? If you do not know, then what kind of confession are you making? At the time you confess for your sins, there must be a standard which tells you what is right and correct. That is when you can weigh your actions against it to make a comparison and realize, "Oh! This is right. This is wrong." It is just like comparing genuine versus fraudulent dollar notes. When you compare with the fraudulent dollar notes, as soon as you compare, it is very obvious. So when you truly confess, you know clearly the correct mental/physical behavior, and distinctly the wrong mental/physical behavior.

Then at that time, you would know, "Ah, if I do it right, there will be so much merit. If I do it wrong, there will be so much harm." Ah! At this time, in your mind, you will feel really miserable and very painful. That is called confession. It is not just about doing the eighty-eight Buddhas Confession and prostrating so many times in a day, and say “Oh-yo! I would prostrate with a certain sutra, prostrating once after every word!” Yes, there is merit in doing [those practices]. You must always remember this - I am not saying this to belittle those [kind of practices]. However, this path is a "roundabout" path. So this is why we will frequently say, many of the merits we obtain from our practice are defiled. When you can do it [i.e. the practice] right, it is why a person can attain Buddhahood in one lifetime. The concepts for that are all here.