The Diamond Sutra and the Sutra of Hui-neng by A. F. Price

Author:A. F. Price
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Shambhala Publications

6

On Repentance

Once there was a big gathering of scholars and commoners from Kuang-chou, Shao-chou, and other places to wait upon the patriarch to preach to them. Seeing this, the patriarch mounted the pulpit and delivered the following address:

In Buddhism, we should start from our essence of mind. At all times let us purify our own mind from one thought moment to another, treat the path by our own efforts, realize our own dharmakāya, realize the Buddha in our own mind, and deliver ourselves by a personal observance of shīla then your visit will not have been in vain. Since all of you have come from afar, the fact of our meeting here shows that there is a good affinity between us. Now let us sit down in the Indian fashion, and I will give you the five kinds of incense of the dharmakāya.

When they had sat down, the patriarch continued: The first is the shīla incense, which means that our mind is free from taints of misdeeds, evil, jealousy, avarice, anger, spoliation, and hatred.

The second is the samādhi incense, which means that our mind is unperturbed in all circumstances, favorable or unfavorable.

The third is the prajñā incense, which means that our mind is free from all impediments, that we constantly introspect our essence of mind with wisdom, that we refrain from doing all kinds of evil deeds, that although we do all kinds of good acts, yet we do not let our mind become attached to [the fruits of] such actions, and that we are respectful toward our superiors, considerate to our inferiors, and sympathetic to the destitute and the poor.

The fourth is the incense of liberation, which means that our mind is in such an absolutely free state that it clings to nothing and concerns itself neither with good nor evil.

The fifth is the incense of knowledge obtained on the attainment of liberation. When our mind clings to neither good nor evil we should take care not to let it dwell upon vacuity, or remain in a state of inertia. Rather should we enlarge our study and broaden our knowledge, so that we can know our own mind, understand thoroughly the principles of Buddhism, be congenial to others in our dealings with them, get rid of the idea of self and that of being, and realize that up to the time when we attain bodhi the true nature [essence of mind] is always immutable. Such, then, is the incense of knowledge obtained on the attainment of liberation.

This fivefold incense fumigates us from within, and we should not look for it from without.

Now I will give you the “formless” repentance, which will expiate our sins committed in our present, past, and future lives, and purify our karmas of thought, word, and deed.

Learned Audience, please follow me and repeat together what I say.

May we, disciples so and so, be always free from the taints of ignorance and delusion. We repent of all our sins and evil deeds committed under delusion or in ignorance.

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