The Merits and Benefits of True Repentance

Wings Hanging from the Sky recounts his experience of repenting verbal karma: After creating verbal karma, the disciple felt restless and uneasy. Whether reciting sutras, performing repentance before Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, or chanting the Great Compassion Mantra, his mind lacked its usual clarity. So he sat in meditation to calm himself, but after an hour, the state persisted. He then inwardly repented to the Triple Gem over and over again. He felt like the impoverished child who lost his parents, as described by Venerable Ananda—overwhelmed with immense sorrow and pain, as if a balloon were pressing on his head, his heart aching. Considering that the master might also be in meditation at that time and not to be disturbed, he wiped his tears and continued sitting.

After a few minutes, vitality suddenly surged from the tendons of his feet to the back of his head. In an instant, his whole body broke out in sweat, and the dizziness and heartache vanished. He hurriedly grabbed his phone to send you a message—that was at 11:10—then continued sitting until midnight before falling asleep. In the dream, the disciple carried a bundle wrapped in cloth, going door to door to repay debts. He said: "Master, carrying so many things is exhausting me. How about I call them all out to repay together?" You replied: "No, debts must be repaid one by one." He pondered all morning: "Who uses cloth bundles nowadays? Could these be karmic debts from past lives? Can repaying debts in a dream eliminate karma?"

The above recounts the disciple’s repentance experience. He had never undergone repentance before. After repenting, his body and mind attained purity, his mind clear, reaching a deeper level of clarity than before. He requests the master’s guidance and instruction.

Reply to the question: After creating unwholesome verbal karma, being able to promptly reflect, recognize the right and wrong of verbal karma, and repent in time—this is embarking on the path of cultivating the Four Right Efforts among the Thirty-seven Aids to Enlightenment. Only after perfecting the Four Right Efforts—eliminating evil and giving rise to good—can one practice smoothly, and good roots begin to grow. This is the foundation of Buddhist practice. Without this foundation, one cannot speak of true practice; enlightenment remains distant. This is sincere repentance from the depths of the heart—genuine repentance at the level of the mental faculty (manas), not superficial, formal repentance at the conscious level. Therefore, after repentance, the unwholesome karma was eliminated. During sitting, energy channels surged, the whole body sweated, and illness and pain vanished. Subsequently, in sleep, the mental faculty began to repay karmic debts from past lives, settling them one by one. This is the principle of repentance eliminating karma. Dreaming of repaying debts signifies the mental faculty using the dream to reveal that karmic obstacles have been cleared and part of the karmic debt repaid. When the elimination of karma and repayment of debts reach a certain level, practice encounters no obstacles: meditative concentration arises, wisdom increases, progress accelerates, and realization draws near.

Therefore, at the outset of Buddhist practice, one should sincerely repent karmic obstacles from past, present, and future lives. When karma is eliminated, there will always be various signs. The elimination of afflictions also manifests through various signs, often in dreams or meditative states. Some people, whose actions of body, speech, and mind are impure, create unwholesome karma yet remain unaware, never reflecting, never recognizing, never repenting. They will repeat unwholesome actions. Clearly, such individuals have not cultivated the Four Right Efforts and have not ceased evil to cultivate good. Ironically, it is precisely these people in Buddhism who often claim to have attained fruition or realized the mind. Those who practice well never overestimate themselves; they are realistic, using wisdom to discern according to principle.

The absence of such experiences in the practice process clearly indicates one has not yet entered the stage of proper cultivation. How then can realization occur? One should regularly examine whether one’s practice has entered the stage of proper cultivation, what level and state one currently occupies. If there are no signs at all, and afflictions and karmic obstacles remain heavy, one should stop claiming attainment of fruition, realization of the mind, or considering oneself a sage. Where is the holiness? Can it be seen? The more one does this, the heavier one’s self-attachment and arrogance become.

Before realization, many methods need cultivation. Throughout the process, various experiences must occur. Depending on which stage one undergoes, what level of practice one reaches, there will be signs, hints, and manifestations—these are the evidence. If there are no experiences at all, merely talking this way and that, no one can believe it. Most importantly, the ālaya-vijñāna (storehouse consciousness) holds no record; whatever anyone says is useless.

If one wishes to be a sage, and truly has no other option, then plead more with the Tathāgatagarbha (Buddha-nature). Ask it to make an exception, raise your hand high, and swiftly manifest the sublime state and fruition of a sage. If the Tathāgatagarbha remains iron-faced and impartial, handling matters justly, then there’s nothing to be done. One remains what one is; even a Buddha’s verification would be useless.