Lunchtime Instructional Talk by Dharma Master Heng Gwei on November 18, 2018,
at Gold Wheel Sagely Monastery Emperor Liang’s Jeweled Repentance Dharma Assembly
All fellow cultivators, all good-knowing advisors, Amitabha! Time really flies; it is already time for the Jeweled Repentance of Emperor Liang. This annual dharma assembly is always grand and ceremonious here at Gold Wheel Monastery.
Earlier we heard Venerable Master talk about Master Zhi-Gong and Emperor Liang. It is because of these two individuals that we have this dharma door to cultivate. This dharma door is the Jeweled Repentance of Emperor Liang. Emperor Liang is Emperor Wu of the Liang Dynasty. “Jewel” is something very precious. What is this “Jewel”? What makes it so precious? It is the repentance. This dharma door of repentance is extremely precious; it allows us to have hope, to see the light. People are not sages. How can we not make mistakes? But if we recognize our mistakes and are able to rectify them, then there is no greater goodness than doing so. We are not sages, so there is no way to not have faults. When we are confused, we do things that are against our self-nature and against our conscience. These mistakes then leave a shadow in our minds that is filled with darkness. Even though the resultant karmic forces are without marks, they exist and are just waiting for the right time to manifest. When the causes and conditions are ripe, the wrong deeds we have done in the past will come to fruition and we must face the consequences. But because of the Buddha’s compassion, he spoke of this dharma door of repentance, giving us living beings an opportunity for remediation, allowing us to see the light and have hope even after we have done wrong deeds due to our ignorance and in our state of confusion.
Emperor Liang’s wife – Empress Chi, did many evil deeds. She ravaged the Triple Jewel, slandered the Triple Jewel, and brought on extreme impediments and hindrances to the Triple Jewel. She deliberately undermined and impaired the monastics in their cultivation. Because she did so many evil deeds to such an extreme extent and was so ruthlessly cruel, she passed away at a very young age. Besides dying young, she fell into the animal realm and became a python. Pythons are living beings full of fury and anger. Because she was very malicious, she became this type of being after passing. She suffered gravely, so she implored her husband, Emperor Liang, to save her.
Emperor Liang then pleaded with his teacher Chan Master Zhi-Gong for help. Because Chan Master Zhi-Gong was an enlightened sage, he knew that Empress Chi was indeed suffering greatly. He then gathered many contemporary highly virtuous high Sangha of the time, went through the sutra texts of the entire Tripitaka, and together compiled the ten rolls of the Jeweled Repentance of Emperor Liang, to help Empress Chi seek for repentance and reformation. This is the origin of this dharma door.
(To be continued …)