Repentance Begets Peace and Bliss; Repentance Begets Serenity and Clarity (Issue 280)

When Dharma Master Shun first joined the Dharma Realm Buddhist Association, for the first two or three years he did not even have a chance to talk to the Venerable Master. One reason was because he did not speak Chinese, and also, no one can just casually talk to the Venerable Master freely at will. Any communication to the Venerable Master had to go through Dharma Master Heng Guan. It was not until around 1978 when Dharma Master Heng Guan told him that the Venerable Master said he could report directly to him for any matter. Starting then did he have the chance to talk to the Venerable Master. Later on, in 1985, Dharma Master Heng Guan left the Dharma Realm Buddhist Association, and Dharma Master Shun was left alone to shoulder the responsibility of administrative duties at Gold Mountain Monastery.

The City of Ten Thousand Buddhas began holding the Ten Thousand Buddhas Jeweled Repentance Ceremony in 1988. He waited until 1988 to finally have the chance to talk to the Venerable Master. One day the Venerable Master spoke to him. Dharma Master Heng Shun confessed that from 1981 to 1988, made many mistakes. The Venerable Master was very kind and compassionate, and let him repent in front of everyone on April 30, 1988. He confessed everything and held back nothing. It was very difficult and embarrassing to confess one’s own mistakes and foolish conducts in front of several hundred people. He said, “The Venerable Master let me repent to the entire assembly after the evening lecture.” After his repentance, the Venerable Master gave him an unforgettable instructional talk, saying, “Did you know? You had committed a lot of evil karmic offenses and made many mistakes. You should stay and attend the Ten Thousand Buddhas Jeweled Repentance to eradicate your karmic offenses. You stay at the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas. (Dharma Master Shun followed alongside the Venerable Master for fourteen years.) Moreover, the Venerable Master told him to bow the Repentance in its entirety.

This happened in 1988. Dharma Master Shun said, “After a few days of bowing the Ten Thousand Buddhas Jeweled Repentance, one day around the first incense in the afternoon, when I was bowing down, the Venerable Master gestured for me to follow him to the side of the Buddha Hall. He said to me in Chinese, ‘You have to seriously put in effort when bowing and repenting. If you mess it up again, it will be the end.’ After the Venerable Master spoke to me, I went back to the Buddha Hall to continue the bowing session, and I did it with extreme conscientiousness and sincerity. In fact, after my repentance in public, I vigorously applied effort in cultivation. Now the Venerable Master tells me there’s a raksha ghost coming for my life, and if I muck up again I’ll be dead meat! After hearing these words, I made sure I used all my might bowing in repentance. This time I stayed at the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas for eight months, and then the Venerable Master allowed me to go back to Gold Mountain Monastery.

“One thing I have to mention is, although the Venerable Master might appear very stern and serious, in actuality he was a very, very kind person and full of compassion. He said, ‘Being human, there is nothing better than rectifying one’s faults. You have to reform and rectify your mistakes. If you know what you are doing is wrong and still keep doing it, then you will for sure fall into the hells. There will be no pity for you. Especially for monastics, if you keep on having random, idle thoughts, it doesn’t matter whether you feel shameful or not, as long as you still have these types of impure thoughts, you will for sure fall into the hells. It’s not the buddhas or bodhisattvas who send you there. It’s you who put yourself there. However, if you can reform and rectify your mistakes, with one single-minded thought of remorse and repentance, you can eradicate offenses, even huge offenses that expand the entire heaven. Fear not of making mistakes. What one should fear is not rectifying one’s mistakes. The Ten Thousand Buddhas Jeweled Repentance Ceremony has just begun. Since you have accumulated so much karmic offenses, you have to bow in repentance with all your might, and painstakingly reform and rectify the mistakes you have made. Cherish this opportunity to repent in front of the Ten Thousand Buddhas. By no means can you be lazy and lax. If you follow these instructions and are able to reform, then you still have hope. No matter who has committed mistakes, as long as the person can reform and redress, then there is always hope. But you have to truly rectify, otherwise, it won’t count.'”