Kinh Sám Hối - Chuyển nghiệp

The Meaning and Benefits of Repentance

In Buddhism, repentance is not a "baptism" like some other religions' conceptions, but an act of boldly recognizing mistakes in order to correct oneself. Buddhism never believes that there is a god who can pardon or accuse, but Repentance is a method of self-reflection.

The concept of repentance

The Buddha often praised "In the world there are two types of people worthy of praise: the first class is the person who has no fault, the second class is the person who has repented and repented." He affirms decisively: "If a person descends and ascends in the three realms, and rolls around in the six paths, there is not a single species that is completely pure, and there is not a single person without sin". All sentient beings in daily life are not without mistakes created by accident or purpose. A Buddhist is someone who dares to admit the mistakes he has made.

In Buddhism, repentance is not a "baptism" or an absolution like some other religions' conceptions do, but it is an act of boldly recognizing mistakes and then correcting them yourself. Buddhism never believes that there is a god who can pardon or accuse, but Repentance is a method of self-reflection, in order to sublimate oneself for each Buddhist child on the path of monasticism and Buddhist study. This can be seen as the way to transform the three karmas in the process of perfecting a person's personality from the status of an ordinary person to Buddhahood.

What is repentance?

Definition: It's called Samma in Sanskrit, and it translates as "remorse over" in Chinese. In the sutra it says: "Confess false, repent in advance, repent in time, repent in the past" (repent first, let go of later).

Thus, repentance is self-repentance, ashamed of the mistakes that have been made before, vowing to change and not dare to make those mistakes again. In other words Repentance is "repent and forsake", this is the heart of repentance. But if you regularly commit a crime, then often repent, then sin again and repent, then it has no meaning and is not the method of repentance taught by the Buddha. Repentance can be seen as the boldness of repenting and admitting mistakes of the world, when we make someone sad and angry, come and apologize. In Buddhism, too, due to wrong actions of the body, unskillful speech, and negligent thoughts of evil, now realizing that they have revealed their own mistakes, they earnestly repent and are determined not to repeat them.

Methods of repentance: They know that mistakes are made by the mind, so they must also be repented of by the heart, that's why the patriarchs have selected a number of methods of repentance in both matters and physical. The penitential essay that Buddhists most often read when writing a penitential dharma:

I have created many evil deeds in the past,

All because of beginningless greed

Born from body, mouth, and mind

All, I now repent.

On repentance:

The method of repentance: Setting up a forum to ask the monks to prove, the penitent presents his mistakes sincerely, repenting and not repeating them.

Prime Minister repents: The penitent should come to the altar of Buddha and Bodhisattva sincerely to worship from 1 day, 7 days to 49 days, only when they see the good appearance of Buddha and Bodhisattva or lotus flower.

Red name repentance: This is a method of repentance, compiled by Real Estate, a shaman of the Song dynasty, taken from 53 Buddha titles in the Five Thirteen Buddhas Sutra and 35 titles in the Quan Duoc Vuong and Duoc Thuong Sutras.

This is the most common penitential ritual used by Vietnamese pagodas during the days of repentance.

Regarding the reason of repentance:

Unborn repentance: the reason for repentance is for those with high faculties, so here we only know through this one dharma with two ways of contemplation:

Contemplation of mind without birth: This is the principle drawn from the Vajrayana Sutra: "The mind of the past cannot be, the mind of the present cannot be, and the mind of the future cannot be either". Use the method of contemplation to see clearly: "Sin from the mind is also born from the mind that dies".

Contemplation of non-birth: Observe the true generals of not birth and death "in the saints, not increasing in the ordinary, not decreasing"; This is only for the true mind, the Buddha's knowledge, the Dharma body... Because when the true mind is received, the generals of birth and death will no longer exist.