Originally posted by An Eternal Now:
Yes, one must truly repent for his misdeed. That will clear
our karmic obstacles and yes, 'lighten our sins'. Repentance must
come with shame and rejection of your past deed, thinking it should
never have been done by you. It must also come with sincerity. My
Master used to say, He who
recognizes his mistakes is truly intelligent.
He who repents his mistakes is wise indeed.
and of course.. the ignorant still continues his old ways.
My dharma teacher practises this daily: Prostration to Buddha and
chanting Repentance verses 108 times everyday. That takes about 45
minutes. If 45 minutes too long you can shorten it.. but if you
done something very grave then you should practise even more.
http://www.jenchen.org.sg/vol6no2c.htm
Volume 6 no 2
[b]The Voice of Bliss
The Repent Method is an important
method of cultivation in Buddhism. Repentance lessens the effects
of our negative karma. The Buddha advises people to repent for all
their unwholesome actions, speech and thoughts. The following
articles explain the Repent Method of cultivation and why repenting
for the negative karma committed in this life is as important as
repenting for those committed in our many past lives, and
regardless of whether or not we know what those negative karma
are...
Repentance is a demonstration of
wisdom
Repentance is a
demonstration of wisdom
To repent means to confess to our wrong doings committed by way of
our body, speech and mind, and not to repeat such negative actions
from this day on. If we say that we are repentant about what we
have done, said or thought, and yet repeat those actions, then that
is not repentance.
When we repent, it has to be done sincerely. It is not done by a
simple recital of the Repentant Verse:
All the evil karma that I have committed in the past,
Arising from my aeons of greed, anger and ignorance,
Committed by my body, speech and mind,
Now I repent before the Buddha.
More importantly we must have a remorseful mind, a sense of shame
and sincerely repent.
The Humanity Vehicle Buddhism advocates the Repent Method as an
important method of cultivation. In this world it is only the
clever people who know and admit their mistakes, but only the wise
who know and repent their wrong doings.
The Repent Method that the Humanity Vehicle Buddhism advocates is
that the moment people realise that they have committed a
wrongdoing, they should repent spontaneously. It is not necessary
that people repent only before the image of the Buddha, for it is
not always convenient or possible to find one when a person
realises his wrong doings and wishes to repent. While sitting here,
you can also repent as long as you feel the Buddha in you. When
people repent sincerely or even to the extent of bursting into
tears, then that is true repentance. It is of course a good thing
if the repentance is carried out according to a religious ritual.
However, genuine repentance does not need to subscribe to any fix
form or time. The best thing to do is to repent spontaneously.
Moreover, when we are promoting the Repent Method across the world,
it would not be practical if people can only repent in a fixed form
or a fixed venue. The Dharma-nature is everywhere in space and the
Buddha is omnipresent. When we understand this truth, we can then
repent spontaneously at anytime and at any place, and be
spontaneously pure and be with Buddha.
People generally feel that they can repent for those wrong doings
that they can remember having committed in this life. They have no
idea about those that were committed in their past lives and
therefore they don't know what to do. When Buddhism speaks of
repentance, it means repenting for all the wrongs committed in the
aeons of our many past lives.
Each and every one of us has eight consciousness'. In addition to
the six sense-consciousness', namely, eyes, ears, nose, tongue,
body and mind, there is the seventh and eighth (alaya-vijnana)
consciousness. (The sixth, seventh and eighth consciousness' are
also called mind-consciousness'). The eighth mind-consciousness is
the planting field of the mind. The seeds of all affairs, virtuous
and evil, of our aeons of many past lives are planted here. When
the virtuous seeds encounter virtuous conditions, they sprout,
grow, flower and bear virtuous fruits. Similarly, when the evil
seeds encounter evil conditions, for example, gambling, drinking
alcohol, bad company, etc., they sprout and grow, causing people to
commit evil deeds that result in evil consequences and
suffering.
Since the field of the eighth sense-consciousness contains
countless virtuous and evil seeds, it is necessary that people are
repentant about their evil karma. There is also no need to be
attached to the virtuous karma. We will be able to become pure and
liberated when we distance ourselves from both the virtuous and
evil karma that we have committed.
It may appear odd that while people should repent their misdeeds,
yet they should not be attached to the good things that they have
done.
If we continue to hold at heart the good things that we have done,
that is not being liberated. At the very most, because of the
immense blessings one may be reborn in heaven in the next life.
However, as soon as those blessings are exhausted they will be
caused to be reborn in a lower realm. A Chinese proverb says, "It
is not necessary to make known the good things one has done." In
this regard, Buddhism advocates that when performing an act of
giving, one should not bear any notion of who is the giver, who is
the receiver and what is the gift. One simply maintains a pure
mind.
If people are not repentant for the evil seeds that they have
planted, and do not seek liberation, then in future, when the seeds
sprout they may be enough to cause them to fall into the realm of
hell. Thus we learn and practise the Buddha's teachings, to surpass
heaven and hell, or even to be free from transmigration in the six
realms of existence (human, heaven, asura, animal, hungry ghost and
hell). First and foremost we must repent with deep regret, be pure
and liberated. Only then is it the ultimate.
The proper way to
repent
The proper way to repent is to recite the Repentance Verse, and at
the same time sincerely repent according to the meaning of the
words contained therein until your mind is completely pure and you
manifest the nature of that purity. However, this may become a mere
formality if one is not genuine in one's heart and does not commit
wholeheartedly to turning over a new leaf. Some people repent with
thoughts of greed for blessings or of lessening the effects of
their negative karma. Once such thoughts arise, then the repentance
will have no effect. Thus the purpose of repentance is defeated.
The most appropriate way is to repent at the very moment you
realise that a wrongdoing has been committed, and then resolve not
to repeat that. This is true repentance. People must have awareness
and correct their wrongdoings at all times.
The attitude in
repenting
People must genuinely feel repentant when they repent and this
would be most effective. If a person is casual in his attitude
towards repentance, then there is no effect. For example, if a
person has done another wrong and he sincerely apologises, then the
offended party would have no problem at all in accepting his
apology. On the other hand if he says 'sorry' casually and walks
away, then nobody will heed his apology. Thus, with what frame of
mind should one repent? With sincerity and with true repentance,
and one can be sure that the repentance will be accepted. [/b]
Interesting... 
