True Repentance: Teachings from Teacher Practitioner Xia Lianju

The Endless Cycle of Karma

The life of the spirit is as long as the karma it creates. Because the life of the spirit is beginningless and endless, if we do not cease the negative actions of our Body, Speech, and Mind, the karma we create will also be beginningless and endless. We are burdened by immeasurable and boundless karmic creditors. When these countless karmic creditors appear before us to seek balance, how could we possibly bear the weight of their suffering?

Many practitioners do not yet understand the true nature of suffering and karma. It is only when the realities of aging, sickness, and various other forms of suffering manifest that one finally realises that the appearance of karma is a manifestation of impermanence. When you study the Buddha’s teachings and truly understand their meaning, you will realise that sincere repenting is the only way to save yourself.

The Path of True Repentance

Your personality is a manifestation of your past karma; do not continue to feed it. To change your personality is to save yourself. True repenting requires you to reflect deeply upon your past transgressions and resolve to change your heart, ensuring you never repeat these mistakes again. You must repent for the following:

• The Five Poisons: Greed, Anger, Ignorance, Arrogance, and Doubt.
• The Five Desires: wealth, lust, fame, food, and sleep.
• The Ten Evils: Such as killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, lying, and the consumption of intoxicants.
• Speech Transgressions: Such as double-tongued speech and flowery, deceptive language.

Having committed countless sins and errors, you must now resolve from the depths of your heart to change and never commit them again.

Cultivating Humility and Selflessness

A true repenter is one who sincerely changes their ways and does not repeat the same mistakes. They remain humble and modest, never daring to be arrogant. They constantly look within to reflect upon themselves, understanding that if others seem to have faults, it is actually a reflection of their own shortcomings. They do not give rise to anger; instead, they remain free of anger, filled only with compassion and tolerance.

When you let others go first while you take the last place, you will find that there is no longer any sense of gain or loss, nor any need for comparison. You will not fight for fame, you will not seek profit, and you will not strive to stand out from the crowd. You will not speak before you have acted; instead, you will remain silent and simply do the work that needs to be done.

Diligent Practice and Awakening

True repenting requires few words. It is found in silence, in speaking less, and in the quietude of the heart. You must move forward directly and without pause, engaging in diligent practice to seek the state of an awakened being. You must chant Buddha's name, and then chant again, and continue to chant without stopping.

You should reach a state of chanting without the thought of chanting, and chanting while in the state of no-thought. When you chant until you are free from selfishness and free from the concept of a no-self, you will eventually reach the point of becoming an awakened being and see your original nature. This is the ultimate form of true repenting: to sacrifice oneself for others. Namo Amituofo.