Explore/Chapter 2 - Confession of Negativity: Difference between revisions
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This is the teaching of the Buddha.<ref>Pema Karpo, ''Lamp for the Middle Way'', 19 (e-book). https://dharmacloud.tsadra.org/library/?post_types=book,book_author&search-terms=A+Lamp+for+the+Middle+Way:+A+Commentary+on+the+Bodhisattvacharyavatara&subjects=any&view=list/</ref> | This is the teaching of the Buddha.<ref>Pema Karpo, ''Lamp for the Middle Way'', 19 (e-book). https://dharmacloud.tsadra.org/library/?post_types=book,book_author&search-terms=A+Lamp+for+the+Middle+Way:+A+Commentary+on+the+Bodhisattvacharyavatara&subjects=any&view=list/</ref> | ||
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<h5>4. The Force of Turning Away from Repeating the Fault, or The Force of Restraint</h5> | |||
In verses 60 to 64, Śāntideva mentions the last key feature of confession through the four antidotal forces—the promise never to engage again in the actions which we have confessed. This section of the text explains how to restrain ourselves from committing the same kind of actions again, as we have done in the past. Understanding who the valid objects of refuge are, we reflect on all the negative actions we have done and confess them to those objects of refuge, as we set a course for ourselves moving forward. | |||
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We swear to ourselves that our one course of action must be to break free of all of our negative habitual patterns and actions. Khenpo Kunpal [LINK to text] expands on this point in the following way: | |||
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|quote-text=So we should ask ourselves, how can we make sure to rid ourselves of evil, which alone is the cause of sorrow? This should be our only concern, as the text says—our sole and constant thought. This should be our daytime obsession and something that keeps us awake at night! It is thus that we should strive to confess our evil actions.<ref>Blankleder and Fletcher, ''Nectar of Manjushri's Speech'', 116.</ref> | |||
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In his commentary, Khenpo Kunpal also makes a very important point regarding our negative actions: it is not just that they lead to future suffering in the lower realms, but they also prevent our virtuous actions right now, such as trying to study, contemplate, and meditate on the teachings, from being effective and coming to fruition.<ref> Blankleder and Fletcher, ''Nectar of Manjushri's Speech'', 116.</ref> | |||
To conclude this chapter, Śāntideva implores the buddhas and bodhisattvas to accept him as he is, along with all the negativity he has engaged in. | |||
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He promises never to do those negative actions again, which is a central part of the practice. We do not expect to say some simple words of how sorry we feel and then simply be absolved from any further consequence. Confession in the Buddhist tradition is an active process of recognizing the bad things we have done, admitting honestly to them, and confessing them to the buddhas and our teachers. Through this confession, we mark a line in the sand and commit to not transgressing these boundaries again. | |||
Kunga Wangchuk describes this force of turning away from repeating the fault as the force of amendment. | |||
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|quote-text=We recognize that our previously committed wrong deeds of body, speech, and mind are unwholesome, and that they are the cause and conditions which produce all of the suffering of the lower realms of samsara. We think "From this day on, I will never commit any of these nonvirtuous negative actions, even at the cost of my life." The force of amendment is the promise from now on never to commit unwholesome actions.<ref>Khenpo Kunga Wangchuk, ''A Commentary on the Bodhicaryāvatāra'', ''Theg pa chen poi do'i dgongs don gyi bstan bcos byang chub sems dpa'i spyod pa la 'jug pa zhes bya ba'i 'grel pa'' (Chos kyi blo gros rtsom sgrig khang, 2016), 143.</ref> | |||
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In a very beautiful passage of his commentary, Khenpo Kunpal explains the importance of amending our behavior so that we turn away forever from all forms of unwholesome conduct. | |||
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|quote-text=To engage in evil action is like passing from light into darkness. It produces effects that are difficult to bear. For holy beings, such unwholesome conduct is an object of derision. Therefore, from now on, we must promise never to repeat such actions even at the cost of our lives. And when pronouncing such a resolution, we should consider that rays of many-colored light stream from the bodies of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas and cleanse and purify our every fault and downfall—every negativity and obscuration of ourselves and other beings—like the sun rising in the midst of darkness.<ref>Blankleder and Fletcher, ''Nectar of Manjushri's Speech'', 118.</ref> | |||
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Nāgārjuna provides us with a final word of hope in regard to this whole process of confession. He reminds us of the only redeeming feature of the negative actions, which is that they can be purified by confession. As he says in his ''Letter to a Friend'': | |||
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|quote-text=Those who formerly were careless | |||
But then took heed are beautiful and fair, | |||
As is the moon emerging from the clouds, | |||
Like Nanda, Angulimala, Darshaka, Udayana.<ref>Gethin, Fletcher, and Blankleder, ''Letter to a Friend'', 33.</ref> | |||
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