Śāntideva's Statement about Confession

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Descriptionངོ་སྤྲོད།

Since the very constitution of the Sangha in Buddhism, confession has been an important act to perform as the way of purification for attaining spiritual progress. In the Vinayapitaka we read that every fifteen days the monks have to accomplish the practice of public confession during the ceremony of the uposatha, when the monks recite the list of articles that enumerate all the possible sins (pratimoksa), and obstacles to liberation. On this occasion the sinners have to admit their faults before the whole congregation, and receive a penance proportionate to the committed transgression. Such a penance can go as far as the expulsion of the guilty from the religious order. It is even recorded in the texts of Hinayāna that at times, besides the public confession as a fixed rule, a monk may feel the need for a private confession to one monk. a master, as a step in the discipline of perfection.
Śāntideva's statement about confession puts the accent on the importance of this last type of self-accusation as an urgent need of a person who has entered into the path towards the bodhi. In the presence of all the Buddhas and the Bodhisattvas he acknowledges his misdeeds with a sincere feeling of repentance and strong purpose of never committing them again. This matter is treated in the second chapter of the Bodhicaryāvatāra (w. 27–66), entitled simply "pāpadeśana", and in the Śikṣāsamuccaya, particularly in the eighth chapter named "pāpasódhana". There sins are examined together with their causes. lgnorance (avidyā), wrong appreciation of the value of life, of persons, and of feelings, are the motivations of faults, as well as such causes as thirst (tṛṣṇā) and clinging (upādāna). The sequence of the confession, according to Śāntideva as well as in the tradition, is normally as follows. First of all, it has to be made after the confession of one's offenses against the three jewels (triratna) and after the ones perpetrated against every person who is superior by virtue of culture, age or relation. It has to come after the denunciation of all the contracted vices, and the consideration that all the sins have had origin in the violation of the word of the Buddha. Inevitably they produce sufferings, which means to remain in saṃsāra. After having examined all the types of faults and their sad consequences, the sinners conclude their confession with the promise of avoiding evil for the future and of accomplishing good. (Pezzali, "Śāntideva's Statement about Confession," 134-35)

Citation

Pezzali, Amalia. "Śāntideva's Statement about Confession." In Guilt or Pollution and Rites of Purification. Vol. 2 of Proceedings of the XIth International Congress of the International Association for the History of Religions, Claremont, CA, Sep. 6–11, 1965, edited by Herbert W. Schneider and B. A. van Proosdij, 134–35. Leiden, Neth.: Brill, 1968.

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Bodhicaryāvatāra

An "Introduction to Bodhisattva Practice," the Bodhisattvacaryāvatāra is a poem about the path of a bodhisattva, in ten chapters, written by the Indian Buddhist Śāntideva (fl. c. 685–763). One of the masterpieces of world literature, it is a core text of Mahāyāna Buddhism and continues to be taught, studied, and commented upon in many languages and by many traditions around the world. The main subject of the text is bodhicitta, the altruistic aspiration for enlightenment, and the path and practices of the bodhisattva, the six perfections (pāramitās). The text forms the basis of many contemporary discussions of Buddhist ethics and philosophy.

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