Repent of past offenses; Reform to prevent future transgressions

When we encounter situations, we must utilize the practice of kindness, compassion, giving, and apply the principles of Buddhadharma to cope with the situations. Do not react with our emotions because doing so would make our emotions more confused and run deeper and become heavier. For example, if our children do not listen to us, or our spouses do not cooperate with us, the only thing we can do is ascertain that we are doing our part correctly and not to drag on the issue. Since we have failed in our past lives to mutually understand and support each other, we should now take a step back and patiently yield. The merit and virtue of patience is very huge.

If we react with our temper and emotions, we will make our emotions more muddled and our karmic load heavier. This is a very important point and we must constantly remind ourselves of this. Encountering situations presents challenges and tests to determine whether we have put into practice all that we have heard and learned in Buddhism. If we practice accordingly, we will have a certain strength and power. It is useless if we only talk but not ‘walk the talk’.

The power of Buddhadharma is tremendous. Nonetheless, we must remember that our karmic forces are tremendous as well. We must bring forth our most sincere mind to reflect upon ourselves and truly own up to our errors. We must repent of our past offenses and reform ourselves to refrain from repeating the same transgressions in the future. Repent of all the mistakes that I have made in the past, perhaps because I had not learned Buddhadharma, or because I had not cultivated sincerely and honestly. We must admit to all of our past transgressions; not only do we have to own up to our mistakes, we must rectify and reform completely. Only then, will we have reformed to refrain from repeating the same transgressions. If we repent of our past offenses but do not reform ourselves, then we remain the same, and be our old self. Therefore, we must sincerely and honestly repent and reform, recognize where our errors lie, and truly rectify.

I remember a recent conversation I had with a upasika. She was very ill, yet she kept talking about others’ faults. I reminded her, “One’s essence, energy, and spirit are precious. We should apply them appropriately to nourish our life force. Do not talk so much.” Then this upasika said, “In this life, the one thing I dislike most is talking.” Hearing this, I did not continue with what I wanted to say. This is a true story, not a joke.

Therefore, I felt deeply in my heart how difficult it is to truly recognize one’s own faults. This is other people speaking the dharma for us. This reminds me of how Venerable Master frequently admonished us that we habitually acted as our own defense lawyer. In the past, I didn’t understand what this meant. Now, having seen individuals manifesting to speak dharma as such, I realize how we living beings are so good at protecting ourselves and at covering up ourselves. But, who ultimately gets hurt? A person with wisdom would know that this would bring harm upon ourselves — wasting away one’s time, one’s life, one’s essence, energy, and spirit.

Earlier, I said that I am very happy to come and bow the repentance every year. This is true. Why do I say this? Every time I read the repentance text, it’s as if there is a huge force reminding us. Think about it. In this Thanksgiving holiday, many people go travel and have fun. Instead, we have chosen to come to the monastery to learn to bow in repentance, to learn to repent and reform, to learn to recognize our own faults. This way, our karma would be very different. Hence, everything that we do is the origin of our karma.