Repentance is the only essential to ending suffering (Issue 307)

I will give you one example. We once had a parent at City of Dharma Realm. One day, Dharma Master Shr came back and told me about her. She was very diligent and really emphasized the education of the Eight Virtues. She took the initiative to study the teachings of the sages with other parents. These include, for example, the Classic of Filial Piety and texts on the Eight Virtues – filial piety, fraternal respect, loyalty, trustworthiness, propriety, righteousness, integrity and sense of shame. She also practiced diligently and recited Buddha’s name. Although she was a layperson, she was remarkably diligent. She received and upheld Bodhisattva precepts. Her house rule was that once you came home, you shouldn’t gossip or talk about others’ rights or wrongs. She recited Buddha’s name while walking, standing, sitting and lying down. When I heard about this laity, I felt truly humbled.

This laity also told Dharma Master Shr that her daughter had a strong temper. She said that, at home, her daughter slapped her younger brother across the face. At a parent meeting in the principal’s office, when Dharma Master Shr talked to her, that laity kept reciting Buddha’s name. I asked, “Dharma Master Shr, was she silently reciting in her heart?” Dharma Master Shr said, “No, she was reciting ‘Amitofo’ aloud.” She truly never departed from Buddha’s name while walking, standing, sitting and lying down. However, I want to ask everyone, was that kind of practice right or wrong? That was a real-life example.

Reciting Buddha’s name is quite simple, as I have seen from many Buddhist disciples, both monastics and laity, including the novice nun who gave a dharma talk yesterday. Before the novice nun came to the City of Dharma Realm, while she was still a layperson, she was diligent in reciting Buddha’s name and single-minded in her wish to be reborn in the Land of Ultimate Bliss. However, when I saw her, I doused her with cold water by saying, “This is how you recite the Buddha’s name? That is not how you recite it.” Seven or eight years later, I am glad she finally realized the way she used to recite was not right.” Although everyone knows how to recite the Buddha’s name, the example that the Venerable Master set for us taught me how to do it properly. The Venerable Master said, “Cultivation is not one-dimensional. It encompasses all aspects.” What if our mind is not purified through repentance while reciting the Buddha’s name?