Text of Repentance:
We disciples, from the time we received the precepts until now, have indulged only in the empty name of having received them and have not advanced in the real work of upholding them. We wear the robe and cap undeservingly; the rules and the alms bowl have been handed down to us in vain. We have not been able to progress diligently in the Precepts of Initial Perfection, and have further fallen into faults against the Precepts of the Central Ultimate. Our minds lack wisdom, so we cannot humbly ask enlightened masters; our natures give rise to ignorance, so we cannot bear insult from our fellows. Our hearts are too narrow to be tolerant; our feelings and perceptions are too biased and perverse to be set right. Not understanding true enlightenment, we take illusion for reality; not examining causes, we mistake a thief for our own son. We take the worthy and good for wicked, confused beyond clarity; we take the noble for the petty, unable to tell right from wrong. Some of us, in soliciting donations, have confused others’ cause and effect, putting all the money and grain into our own pockets; some, in reciting scriptures, have garbled words and phrases, our thoughts not on it at all. Some, when our eyes see beauty, have had lustful roots stirred in our hearts; some, when our ears hear the words of the sages, have harbored doubt and slander within. Some have broken the precepts and ruined robe and bowl, and must quickly turn around and kneel again for the master’s compassion; some have violated the precepts by mistaken deeds and mistaken acts, and must quickly set up a fast and plead for heaven’s pardon.
From now on we will eliminate every evil thought and forever be good people. From today we will rouse every good intention and constantly keep the Precepts of Initial Perfection. Should we again commit the sins of the past, may we suffer heaven’s punishment in life and fall into the courts of the underworld in death; should we again go against the compassion shown us in former days, may we receive the extreme penalty in the world of the living and go to the Unremitting Hell in the world of the dead. We pray only that after this repentance our sins may be extinguished and blessings arise; that, cultivating and examining ourselves hereafter, calamities may vanish and difficulties be resolved; that we disciples be protected, soon leave the path of delusion and swiftly cross the sea of suffering; that the ties of affection be entirely severed and the burdens of enmity be wholly emptied; that the turns of calamity be everywhere dispelled and the primordial wind be greatly proclaimed; that the Tao and its virtue prevail and the people live in peace and joy, and that great peace appear and the years bring abundant harvests; that the court be enlightened and sagely, and the provinces and states be worthy and good; that war cease and there be no fear of flood or fire; that the myriad clans promote the Mysterious and a thousand nations delight in the Tao; and that we, together with all living beings, return alike to clarity and stillness. We humbly beseech the compassion of the sages to condescend to grant salvation.
When reciting the above text of repentance yourself, you must feel shame in your heart, arouse great resolve, and advance with fierce courage and diligence. You must make body and mind firm and take a step upward: a liver and gall of iron, lungs of bronze, a head and neck of gold, a heart of jade. Straighten your spine, raise your eyebrows, let loose your courage, and set down life and death, survival and ruin, all at once. Keep only the precepts and concentration, and a way forward will open of itself.