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Great Vehicle [Ritual of] Repentance for Indulgence in the Six Faculties (Daeseung yukjeong chamhoe), by Wonhyo 大乘六情懺悔

Translated by A. Charles Muller

March 28, 2016

[Updated: 2016-04-08T17:20:17.346+09:00]


[842]



釋元曉撰

By the Bhikṣu Wonhyo 1


若依法界始遊行者、
於四威儀無一唐遊。
念諸佛不思議德、
常思實相朽銷業障。
普爲六道無邊衆生、
歸命十方無量諸佛。

If you start your journey relying on the Dharmadhātu,

You will not take a single false step in any of the four bodily postures

Mindful of the inconceivable virtues of the buddhas,

Always contemplating things as they really are, you erase your karmic hindrances.

For the purpose of limitless sentient beings in the six courses of rebirth,

I take refuge in the countless buddhas of the ten directions.


諸佛不異而亦非一。
一卽一切一 切卽一。
雖無所住而無不住。
雖無所爲而無不爲。
一一相好、一一毛孔
遍無邊界盡未來際、
無障無礙。無有差別
教化衆生無有休息。

The buddhas are not different [from each other] and yet are not the same.

One is all, all are one.

Though there is no place to abide, there is no non-abiding.

Though one does nothing, there is nothing not done.

Each and every major and minor mark, each and every pore [of the buddhas' bodies]

Pervades limitless realms and extends throughout all future time,

With neither hindrance nor obstruction. Making no distinctions,

They edify sentient beings without a moment's rest.


所以者何。
十方三世 一塵一念
生死涅槃 無二無別。
大悲般若不取不捨。
以得不共法相應故。

How is this so?

The ten directions and the three times—one atom, a single moment,

Saṃsāra and nirvāṇa are not two things—they are not distinguished.

Great compassion and prajñā are neither grasped nor relinquished.

This is because one gains association with the distinctive characteristics [of the Buddha]. 2


今於此處蓮花藏界、
盧舍那佛坐蓮花臺
放無邊光。集無量衆生
轉無所轉大乘法輪。
菩薩大衆遍滿虛空
受無所受大乘法樂。

Now, in this place—the World of the Lotus Store, 3

Vairocana Buddha sits on his lotus throne,

Emitting limitless illumination, and gathering countless sentient beings,

He turns the unturnable wheel of the Great Vehicle Dharma.

A great multitude of bodhisattvas extending throughout space

Experience the unexperienciable joy of the Great Vehicle Dharma.


而今我等 同在於此
一實三寶 無過之處、
不見不聞如聾如盲。
無有佛性 何爲如是。
無明顚倒 妄作外塵、
執我我所 造種種業。
自以覆弊 不得見聞、
猶如餓鬼臨河見火。
故今佛前深生慚愧
發菩提心 誠心懺悔。

Yet while we reside in this

Faultless place of the three treasures of the one reality,

We neither see nor hear, as if deaf and blind.

Have we no Buddha-nature? How did it come to this?

Through nescience and cognitive distortion we deludedly construct external objects,

Attaching to “I” and “mine,” creating all kinds of karma.

Because of these veils, we can neither see nor hear [properly],

Just like hungry ghosts who approaching a river, see fire.

Therefore now, before the Buddha, with profound shame,

We arouse the mind of enlightenment, sincerely repenting.


我及衆生、 無始以來、
無明所醉、 作罪無量。
五逆十惡、 無所不造。
自作教他、 見作隨喜。
如是衆罪、 不可稱數
諸佛賢聖、 之所證知。
已作之罪、 深生慚愧、
所未作者、 更不敢作。

I and other sentient beings, since time immemorial,

Having been drugged by nescience, committed countless crimes.

Including the five heinous crimes and the ten evil behaviors, there is nothing we haven't done.

Whether doing it oneself, getting someone else to do it, or taking joy in someone else doing it, 4

Myriad crimes such as these, though beyond counting,

Are fully known by all the holy ones.

Deeply ashamed of our past sins,

We dare not repeat them in the future.


5 此諸罪、實無所有。
衆緣和合假名爲業。
卽緣無業、離緣亦無。
非內非外、不在中間。
過去已滅、未來未生、現在無住。
故所作以其無住、故亦無生。
先有非生、先無誰生。

Yet these crimes do not truly exist.

[They are nothing other than] clusters of conditions that come together and are provisionally called “karma.”

Engaged in conditions there is no karma, and apart from conditions there is also no karma.

[This karma] is neither inside nor outside, nor does it exist somewhere in between.

The past is already gone, the future has not yet arrived, and the present does not linger.

Hence its creation is due to its not abiding, and therefore it is also unarisen.

Previously existent, it does not arise; previously non-existent, from whence does it come?


若言本無 及與今有、
二義和合 名爲生者。
當本無時 卽無今有、
當今有時 非有本無。
先後不及 有無不合。
二義無合 何處有生。
合義旣壞 散亦不成。
不合不散 非有非無。
無時無有、對何爲無。
有時無無、 待誰爲有。
先後有無、皆不得成。

If you say [karma] was originally non-existent and has now come to be existent

These two implications put together are called “production.”

[This means that] at the time of its original non-existence it is not presently existent,

And at the time of its present existence it is not originally non-existent.

Before and after do not extend into each other, existence and non-existence do not meet.

If the two implications do not match, where can there be production?

Once the meaning of “combining” has been refuted, being disintegrated, it is also not established.

There is neither combination nor disintegration, neither existence nor non-existence.

At the time of non-existence, nothing exists, so in contrast to what would there be non-existence?

At the time of existence, there is no non-existence, so for whom do we say that there is existence?

Neither before nor after, neither existence nor non-existence can be posited.


當知、業性本來無生
從本以來 不得有生。
當於何處 得有無生。
有生無生 倶不可得。
言不可得 亦不可得。
業性如是、諸佛亦爾。

We should know that the essence of karma is originally unproduced,

And thus from the beginning is incapable of production.

In what place can there possibly be non-production?

Neither production nor non-production are possible, and

Saying that they are not possible is also not possible.

The nature of karma is like this, and so are the buddhas.


如經說言。譬如衆生造作諸業。若善若惡 非內非外。如是業性非有非無、
亦復非是。本無、今有、非無因生、無作無受。
時節和合故得果報。

As the [Nirvāṇa] Sūtra says:

It is like sentient beings creating various kinds of karma—it could be good or bad, and [it is not limited to] being either internal or external. This karma-nature being neither existent nor non-existent is also not like this. Originally non-existent, now existent, there is no lack of causal production, no creation and no reception [of experiential rewards]. Karmic fruition is gained [only] the confluence [of various factors] at the appropriate time. 6

行者若能數數思惟如是實相而懺悔者、
四重五逆 無所能爲。
猶如虛空 不爲火燒。
如其放逸 無慚無愧、
不能思惟 業實相者。
雖無罪性 將入泥梨。
猶如幻虎 還吞幻師。
是故當於 十方佛前、
深生慚愧 而作懺悔。

If we can repeatedly contemplate reality like this with a repentant attitude,

There is no way to commit the four grave offenses and five heinous acts.

They are just like thin air, which can't be burnt.

One who lacks a conscience and shame

Cannot accurately contemplate karma.

And even though karma lacks any essence of criminality, one ends up going to hell.

It is like the case of a conjured tiger, which furthermore bites the conjurer.

Therefore, in the presence of the buddhas of the ten directions,

You should feel profound conscience and shame and practice repentance.


作是悔時莫以爲作。
卽應思惟懺悔實相。
所悔之罪旣無所有。
云何得有能懺悔者。
能悔所悔皆不可得、
當於何處得有悔法。

At the time you express this repentance, you should not think you are doing anything special.

Thus you should contemplate the true character of repentance.

If the sins that are repented have never had a place to exist,

Where is the repenter?

[Given the fact that] both repenter and the repented are unobtainable,

Where, exactly is the practice of repentance to be carried out?


於諸業障 作是悔已、
亦應懺悔 六情放逸。
我及衆生、無始已來
不解生。
妄想顚倒、計我我所。
內立六情、依而生識。
外作六塵、執爲實有。
不知皆是自心所作、
如幻如夢冰無所有。

Once you have fully repented of your karmic hindrances,

You should also repent your indulgence in the [objects of] the six sense faculties [saying:].

I, as well as sentient beings from time immemorial,

Have not understood how all phenomena are originally unproduced.

In states of deluded thought and cognitive distortion,

We imagine “I” and “mine.”

Within, we establish the six sense bases, and depending on these give rise to cognition.

Externally, we construct the six data fields and attach to them as if they truly exist

We do not realize that these are all the products of our own mind,

That like a dream, or an illusion, they have never existed.


於中橫計、男女等相、起諸煩惱。
自以纏縛、長沒苦海、不求出要。
靜慮之時甚可怪哉。

Herein we mistakenly perceive characteristics of gender and so forth, giving rise to the afflictions.

From being bound to these afflictions, we are long submerged in the ocean of suffering, and do not strive to get out.

If we calmly contemplate on this, is it not amazing?


猶如眠時 睡蓋覆心。
妄見己身、大水所漂、
不知但是 夢心所作。
謂實流溺、生大怖懅。
未覺之時、更作異夢。
謂我所見 是夢非實。
心性聰故、夢內知夢
卽於其溺 不生其懅。
而未能知身臥床上
動頭搖手 勤求永覺。
永覺之時 追緣前夢
水與流身 皆無所有。
唯見本來 靜臥於床。

It is like the drowsiness that fogs the mind when one is going to sleep.

[In the dream] we [might] deludedly see ourselves as being carried away in a great river,

Without realizing that it is actually a dream.

Feeling like we are really drowning, we are scared to death.

Then, not yet awake, we have another dream,

And [in this state] say “what I saw was a dream, which was not real.”

Because of the mind's intelligence, one is aware of the dream within a dream,

And thus, not be afraid of drowning.

Yet we are still unable to be aware that we are lying on the bed.

Head shaking and hands trembling, we struggle to really wake up.

When we are finally awake and reflect back on the prior dream,

Neither the river nor our drowning selves had a place of existence.

We see nothing but ourselves quietly lying on the bed.


長夢亦爾。
無明覆心、妄作六道、流轉八苦。
內因諸佛不思議熏、
外依諸佛大悲願力、髣髴信解。
我及衆生、唯寢長夢、妄計爲實。
違順六塵、男女二相
竝是我夢、永無實事
何所憂喜。何所貪瞋。

It is the same with the long dream [of cyclic existence].

Nescience obscures the mind, such that one deludedly creates the six destinies, and continues to experience the eight kinds of suffering.

Inwardly, from the inconceivable perfuming of all buddhas,

Outwardly, with the power of the great compassionate vow of the buddhas, we gain a trace of belief and understanding.

I and other sentient beings are merely asleep, in a long dream, which we deludedly imagine to be real.

The agreeable and disagreeable objects in the six sense fields and the two characteristics of male and female

Are nothing but the content of our dream, and have never been real.

So what is there to be unhappy and happy about? What is there to desire and hate?


數數思惟 如是夢觀、
漸漸修得 如夢三昧。
由此三昧 得無生忍。
從於長夢 豁然而覺、
卽知本來 永無流轉。
但是一心 臥一如床。

If we repeatedly engage in this kind of contemplation of our existence being like a dream,

We can gradually cultivate and attain the samādhi that maintains awareness of the dreamlike nature of our cognitive existence.

Based on this samādhi one attains the level of patient acceptance based on awareness of the non-arising of phenomena.

From this one suddenly and clearly awakens from the long dream,

And thus knows that this continuous flow has originally never existed.

There is only this one mind, sleeping in this same bed.


若離能如是、數數思惟、
雖緣六塵 不以爲實、
煩惱羞愧 不能自逸。
是名大乘 六情懺悔。

If you are able to free yourself like this, and repeatedly contemplate,

Even though the objects in the six fields that are cognized are not to be regarded as real,

With shame for your afflictions, you cannot be self-indulgent.

This is called the great vehicle repentance of the [indulgence in] the objects of the six senses.


Notes

1. This text is translated from the version contained in HBJ 842a-844a. The note in the colophon of the HBJ version indicates that this is a recension of the text contained in the Taishō shinshū daizōkyō, no. 1908.

2. These are the special characteristics of the Buddha that are not shared by sentient beings, arhats, pratyekabuddhas, etc. (Skt. āveṇika-buddha-dharma). Most commonly referred to in this context are the eighteen special characteristic. For a list of these, see the term 十八不共法 in the DDB.

3. According to the Avataṃsaka-sūtra 華嚴經, the world created through the vows and practices of Vairocana Buddha 盧遮那佛. It rests on a great lotus-flower (Skt. kusuma-tala-garbha-vyūhalaṃkāra-lokadhātu-samudra). Abbreviated as 華藏界.

4. These are aspect of sinful behavior analyzed in Vinaya texts. See, for example, the Dasheng sanjū chanhui jing 大乘三聚懺悔經, T 1493.24.1091c-92a.

5. Commentators have suggested 然 for this lacuna. 而 would also be a reasonable candidate.

6. Abridgment of T 374.12.555b27-c1