How Deep the Habit Runs
This page continues Ru-Yi's translation of the Sūtra on the Divination of the Effects of Good and Evil Karma. It carries the second wheel-mark — which measures not whether a karmic seed exists, but how long ago it was planted and how forceful it has grown — and the sūtra's own ten-part rite of repentance, prescribed for anyone whose karma proves too heavy to take up meditation directly, together with the sign that the rite has actually worked.
The Second Wheel
「善男子！若欲占察過去往昔集業久近，所作強弱、大小差別者，當復刻木為三輪，以身、口、意各主一輪，書字記之。又於輪正中，一面書一畫，令麁長使徹畔。次第二面書一畫，令細短使不至畔。次第三面作一傍刻如畫，令其麁深。次第四面亦作傍刻，令使細淺。
「當知善業莊嚴猶如畫飾，惡業衰害猶如損刻。其畫長大者，顯示積善來久，行業猛利，所作增上。其畫細短者，顯示積善來近，始習基鈍，所作微薄。其刻麁深者，顯示習惡來久，所作增上，餘殃亦厚。其刻細淺者，顯示退善來近，始習惡法，所作之業，未至增上。或雖起重惡，已曾改悔，此謂小惡。
「善男子！若占初輪相者，但知宿世所造之業善惡差別，而不能知積習久近、所作之業強弱大小，是故須占第二輪相。若占第二輪相者，當依初輪相中所現之業。若屬身者，擲身輪相；若屬口者，擲口輪相；若屬意者，擲意輪相。不得以此三輪之相一擲通占。應當隨業主念，一一善惡，依所屬輪，別擲占之。
「復次，若占初輪相中，唯得身之善，於此第二輪相中得身惡者，謂無至心，不得相應，名虛謬也。又復不相應者，謂占初輪相中，得不殺業，及得偷盜業，意先主觀不殺業，而於第二輪相中得身惡者，名不相應。復次，若觀現在從生以來，不樂殺業、無造殺罪，但意主觀欲殺業，而於此第二輪相中得身大惡者，謂名不相應。自餘口、意中業不相應義，亦如是應知。」
"Good son! If you wish to divine the distinctions of how long ago, in ages past, karma was accumulated, and the differences of whether what was done was strong or weak, great or small, you should further carve three wheels of wood, with body, speech, and mind each governing one wheel, and inscribe characters upon them. On the middle of each wheel, on the first face inscribe one stroke, made coarse and long, reaching all the way to the edge; on the second face inscribe one stroke, made fine and short, not reaching the edge; on the third face make one incised mark like the first stroke, made coarse and deep; on the fourth face likewise make an incised mark, made fine and shallow.
"Know that the adornment of good karma is like a drawn ornament, and the harm of evil karma is like a cut incision. Where the drawn mark is long and large, it shows that the accumulation of good has gone on for a long time, that the deed was forceful, and that what was done has grown strong. Where the drawn mark is fine and short, it shows that the accumulation of good is recent, that the practice is still dull at its beginning, and that what was done is still slight. Where the cut is coarse and deep, it shows that the habit of evil has gone on for a long time, that what was done has grown strong, and that the resulting misfortune will also be substantial. Where the cut is fine and shallow, it shows that the retreat from good is recent, that the practice of evil has only just begun, and that what was done has not yet grown strong — or that though a grave evil was once committed, it has already been repented and reformed; this is called a minor evil.
"Good son! If one divines only the first wheel-mark, one knows only the distinctions of good and evil in the karma made in past lives, but cannot know how long ago it was accumulated, nor whether what was done is strong or weak, great or small — this is why one must further divine the second wheel-mark. If one divines the second wheel-mark, one should proceed according to whatever karma has appeared in the first wheel-mark. If it belongs to the body, cast the body-wheel; if to speech, cast the speech-wheel; if to mind, cast the mind-wheel. One must not cast all three wheel-marks together in a single throw to divine them all at once. Rather, one should, according to whichever karma governs the matter, take up each good or evil deed one by one, and cast the wheel to which it belongs, divining it separately.
"Furthermore, if in divining the first wheel-mark one obtains only good of the body, but in this second wheel-mark obtains evil of the body, this means one lacked utmost sincerity, and no correspondence is obtained — this is called a false and mistaken casting. Again, as for non-correspondence: if in divining the first wheel-mark one obtains the karma of not killing, and also obtains the karma of stealing, and one's intention was first fixed on observing the karma of not killing, but in the second wheel-mark one obtains evil of the body, this is called non-correspondence. Furthermore, if, observing one's present life since birth, one has taken no pleasure in the karma of killing and has committed no offense of killing, but one's intention was fixed on the karma of killing, and in this second wheel-mark one obtains a great evil of the body, this too is called non-correspondence. The meaning of non-correspondence in the remaining karma of speech and mind should be understood in just the same way."
Zhixu is precise about what "past lives" (宿世) means technically here: not necessarily a former incarnation, but any karma already sown as a seed in store-consciousness before the present moment of casting — "現行剎那即滅，所熏種子在藏識中不失不壞" ("the actual deed vanishes the instant it occurs, but the seed it leaves behind, stored in the ālayavijñāna, is neither lost nor destroyed"). The first wheel can only show whether such a seed exists at all; only this second wheel can show its age and force, which is exactly why the sūtra insists the two must be cast in sequence, never combined.
He also draws out a structural point easy to miss: the sūtra explicitly forbids casting all three body-speech-mind wheels in one throw, requiring instead a separate cast for each individual good or evil deed the first wheel turned up. A single session, on this reading, is not one roll of the dice but a disciplined, deed-by-deed investigation — which is also why the sūtra spends as much space defining what counts as a false casting (不相應) as it does defining the marks themselves. A caster who lets their attention drift from the specific deed under examination to some other deed entirely gets a meaningless result, not because the method is unreliable, but because they were no longer asking the question the wheel was answering.
Why Repent Before You Meditate
「善男子！若未來世諸眾生等，欲求度脫生、老、病、死，始學發心修習禪定、無相智慧者，應當先觀宿世所作惡業多少及以輕重。若惡業多厚者，不得即學禪定、智慧，應當先修懺悔之法。所以者何？此人宿習惡心猛利故，於今現在必多造惡，毀犯重禁。以犯重禁故，若不懺悔令其清淨，而修禪定、智慧者，則多有障礙，不能剋獲。或失心錯亂，或外邪所惱，或納受邪法，增長惡見，是故當先修懺悔法。若戒根清淨，及宿世重罪得微薄者，則離諸障。」
"Good son! If sentient beings of the ages to come wish to seek liberation from birth, old age, sickness, and death, and are only beginning to set their minds on cultivating meditative concentration and the wisdom free of marks, they should first observe how much and how heavy the evil karma is that they made in past lives. If their evil karma is abundant and heavy, they must not immediately take up meditative concentration and wisdom — they should first cultivate the method of repentance. Why is this? Because such a person's habitual evil mind, being forceful from past lives, will in the present certainly have committed much evil, violating the grave precepts. Because the grave precepts have been violated, if one does not repent and make oneself pure before cultivating meditative concentration and wisdom, one will meet with many hindrances and will not succeed — one may lose one's mind and fall into confusion, or be troubled by external demons, or take in wrong teachings and let evil views grow. This is why one should first cultivate the method of repentance; if the root of one's precepts becomes pure, and the grave sins of past lives grow faint, one will be free of every hindrance."
Zhixu's comment here is characteristically blunt about the underlying mechanism: karmic nature is empty, but the retribution it draws is not thereby cancelled — "業性雖空，果報不失" ("though the nature of karma is empty, its fruit of retribution is not lost"). Repentance does not argue karma out of existence by pointing at its emptiness; it works by actually weakening the accumulated seed through sustained practice, "令彼惡種展轉微弱，更不增長" ("causing that evil seed to grow weaker and weaker in turn, no longer growing"), so that meditation undertaken afterward has firm enough ground to stand on. Skip this step, in his reading, and the very energy a heavy, unrepented seed carries is what surfaces as the confusion, external interference, or wrong views the sūtra warns of — not as punishment, but as what an unstable foundation actually does under the pressure of concentrated practice.
The Rite of Repentance
「善男子！欲修懺悔法者，當住靜處，隨力所能，莊嚴一室。內置佛事及安經法，懸繒幡蓋，求集香華，以修供養。澡沐身體，及洗衣服，勿令臭穢。於晝日分，在此室內，三時稱名。一心敬禮過去七佛及五十三佛。次隨十方面，一一總歸，擬心遍禮一切諸佛所有色身、舍利、形像、浮圖、廟塔、一切佛事。次復總禮十方三世所有諸佛。又當擬心遍禮十方一切法藏，次當擬心遍禮十方一切賢聖，然後更別稱名禮我地藏菩薩摩訶薩。
「如是禮已，應當說所作罪，一心仰告：『唯願十方諸大慈尊，證知護念，我今懺悔，不復更造。願我及一切眾生，速得除滅無量劫來十惡、四重、五逆、顛倒、謗毀三寶、一闡提罪。』復應思惟：如是罪性，但從虛妄顛倒心起，無有定實而可得者，本唯空寂。願我及一切眾生速達心本，永滅罪根。次應復發勸請之願：『願令十方一切菩薩，未成正覺者，願速成正覺。若已成正覺者，願常住在世，轉正法輪，不入涅槃。』次當復發隨喜之願：『願我及一切眾生，畢竟永捨嫉妬之心，於三世中一切剎土，所有修學一切功德及成就者，悉皆隨喜。』次當復發迴向之願：『願我所修一切功德，資益一切諸眾生等，同趣佛智，至涅槃城。』如是發迴向願已，復往餘靜室，端坐一心，若稱誦，若默念我之名號。當減省睡眠，若惛蓋多者，應於道場室中旋遶誦念。
「次至夜分時，若有燈燭光明事者，亦應三時恭敬供養，悔過發願。若不能辦光明事者，應當直在餘靜室中，一心誦念。日日如是行懺悔法，勿令懈廢。」
"Good son! One who wishes to cultivate the method of repentance should dwell in a quiet place, and, according to whatever one is able, adorn a single room. Within it, set up an image of the Buddha and place the sūtra text there, hang silk banners and canopies, and gather incense and flowers to make offerings. Bathe the body and wash one's clothes, so that nothing is left unclean. In the daytime, within this room, call the name three times each period. With a single mind, bow reverently to the seven buddhas of the past and to the fifty-three buddhas. Next, facing each of the ten directions in turn, altogether bow, in thought reaching out to bow reverently to the Dharma-body, relics, images, stūpas, and shrines of all buddhas, and to every work of a buddha. Next, altogether bow again to all buddhas of the ten directions and three times. Also, in thought, bow reverently to the entire treasury of the Dharma of the ten directions; next, in thought, bow reverently to all the sages and worthies of the ten directions; and afterward, separately call the name and bow to me, Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva-Mahāsattva.
"Having bowed thus, one should declare the offenses one has committed, and with a single mind, reverently proclaim: 'I beg only that the great compassionate honored ones of the ten directions bear witness and hold me in mind. I now repent, and will not offend again. May I and all sentient beings swiftly come to extinguish the ten evils, the four grave offenses, the five heinous crimes, perversions, and the slandering and vilifying of the Three Jewels, and the offenses of an icchantika, accumulated over measureless kalpas.' One should further reflect: 'The nature of such offenses arises only from a false and inverted mind; there is no fixed reality that can be found in it — it is, at root, empty and still. May I and all sentient beings swiftly reach the very root of the mind, and forever extinguish the root of offense.' Next one should further make the vow of exhortation: 'May all bodhisattvas of the ten directions who have not yet accomplished true awakening swiftly accomplish true awakening; and may those who have already accomplished true awakening dwell forever in the world, turn the wheel of the true Dharma, and not enter nirvāṇa.' Next one should further make the vow of rejoicing: 'May I and all sentient beings forever cast aside envy and jealousy, and rejoice altogether in every merit cultivated and accomplished by anyone, in any land, across the three times.' Next one should further make the vow of dedication: 'May all the merit I have cultivated benefit all sentient beings equally, so that together we advance toward buddha-wisdom, and reach the city of nirvāṇa.' Having made this vow of dedication, one should go to another quiet room, sit upright with a single mind, and either chant aloud or silently recite my name. One should sleep less; and if one is heavy with drowsiness and mental clouding, one should circumambulate and recite within the practice hall itself.
"Then, when night falls, if lamps and candles are available, one should likewise make reverent offerings three times, repenting one's offenses and making vows. If one cannot arrange for light, one should remain simply in the quiet room, reciting with a single mind. Day after day, practice the method of repentance in this way, and do not let it lapse."
Zhixu notes something almost unique about this liturgy among the many repentance rites of Chinese Buddhism: the Lotus, Vaipulya, Invoking-Avalokiteśvara, Golden Light, Great Compassion, and Pure Land repentance rites were all pieced together by later "reliance" masters (四依) working from scattered scriptural hints, requiring editorial judgment to assemble into a usable ten-part structure. This sūtra, uniquely, hands down its own ten-part rite already complete and explicit in its own words — the only piece Zhixu had to supply himself was the initial invitation to the Three Jewels (啟請), which the sūtra's text does not include; he added it only after burning incense and casting lots to confirm the addition was fitting, and states plainly that everywhere else he did not dare "one word chisel in" (不敢一字穿鑿) beyond the sūtra's own language.
On the confession's inner logic, Zhixu maps its five moves — deep belief in cause and effect, shame, fear, disclosure, and the vow never to repeat the offense — onto the classical ten contrary-flow minds (逆生死流十心) that turn a being back against the current of birth-and-death, and identifies the reflection on the emptiness of guilt ("罪性本空") as already the two contemplations of Parts 4 and 5 in miniature: "即是唯心識觀、真如實觀，不可不知" ("this is already the Mind-Only Contemplation and the Suchness Contemplation — one must not fail to recognize this"). On the vow of rejoicing, he quotes the Śūraṅgama Sūtra directly against envy: "十方如來所有功德，悉與此人常與諸佛同生一處" ("all the merit of every tathāgata of the ten directions is, for one who rejoices in it, forever shared with the buddhas, born in the very same place") — another's accomplishment, on this reading, was never actually separate from one's own to begin with, so envy of it is simply a failure to notice a merit already held in common.
How Long Until Purity
「若人宿世遠有善基，暫時遇惡因緣而造惡法，罪障輕微，其心猛利，意力強者，經七日後，即得清淨，除諸障礙。如是眾生等，業有厚薄，諸根利鈍，差別無量。或經二七日後而得清淨；或經三七日，乃至或經七七日後而得清淨。若過去、現在俱有增上種種重罪者，或經百日而得清淨；或經二百日，乃至或經千日而得清淨。若極鈍根，罪障最重者，但當能發勇猛之心，不顧惜身命想，常勤稱念，晝夜旋遶，減省睡眠，禮懺發願，樂修供養，不懈不廢，乃至失命，要不休退。如是精進，於千日中必獲清淨。」
"If a person has long had a good foundation from the distant past, and only met with an evil circumstance for a time and so committed some evil, their offense and hindrance will be light, their mind forceful, and their will strong — after seven days they will attain purity, and every hindrance will be removed. Sentient beings such as these differ measurelessly in whether their karma is thick or thin, and their faculties sharp or dull; some attain purity after two weeks, some after three, and so on, some only after seven weeks. If one has, both in the past and the present, accumulated grave and manifold offenses, one may attain purity only after a hundred days, or two hundred, or even a thousand days. If one's faculties are extremely dull, and one's offense and hindrance are the very heaviest, one should simply be able to raise up a courageous mind, giving no thought to one's own body or life, constantly and diligently calling the name, circumambulating day and night, sleeping little, bowing in repentance and making vows, delighting in making offerings, never growing lax or letting it lapse, even to the point of losing one's life, resolved never to retreat. Advancing in this way, within a thousand days one is certain to attain purity."
Zhixu treats this sliding scale — seven days at the shortest, a thousand at the longest — not as an arbitrary tariff but as a plain acknowledgment that karmic weight varies by orders of magnitude between one person and another, so that a single fixed retreat length would misdescribe almost everyone. He notes practically that a solitary practitioner should simply take the appearance of the clean sign itself as the retreat's natural end, while a group of ten practicing together on a fixed liturgical calendar may instead set the length in advance — a week, three weeks, seven weeks — leaving the choice, in either case, to whoever is guiding the practice.
The Sign That It Worked
「善男子！若欲知得清淨相者，從始修行過七日後，應當日日於晨、朝、旦，以第二輪相具安手中，頻三擲之。若身、口、意皆純善者，名得清淨。如是未來諸眾生等，能修行懺悔者，從先過去久遠以來，於佛法中各曾習善，隨其所修何等功德，業有厚薄種種別異，是故彼等得清淨時相亦不同。或有眾生得三業純善時，不即更得諸餘好相。或有眾生得三業善相時，於一日一夜中，復見光明遍滿其室，或聞殊特異好香氣，身意快然。或作善夢，夢中見佛色身來為作證，手摩其頭，歎言：『善哉！汝今清淨，我來證汝。』或夢見菩薩身來為作證，或夢見佛形像放光而為作證。若人未得三業善相，但先見聞如此諸事者，則為虛妄誑惑詐偽，非善相也。若人曾有出世善基，攝心猛利者，我於爾時，隨所應度而為現身，放大慈光，令彼安隱，離諸疑怖。或示神通種種變化，或復令彼自憶宿命所逕之事、所作善惡，或復隨其所樂，為說種種深要之法。彼人即時於所向乘，得決定信，或漸證獲沙門道果。
「復次，彼諸眾生若雖未能見我化身轉變說法，但當學至心，使身口意得清淨相已，我亦護念，令彼眾生速得消滅種種障礙。天魔波旬不來破壞，乃至九十五種外道邪師、一切鬼神，亦不來亂。所有五蓋展轉輕微，堪能修習諸禪智慧。
「復次，若未來世諸眾生等，雖不為求禪定、智慧、出要之道，但遭種種眾厄、貧窮困苦、憂惱逼迫者，亦應恭敬、禮拜、供養，悔所作惡，恒常發願，於一切時、一切處，勤心稱誦我之名號，令其至誠。亦當速脫種種衰惱，捨此命已，生於善處。」
"Good son! If you wish to know the sign of having attained purity, then from the beginning of your practice, after seven days have passed, you should each day, at dawn, at first light, and at daybreak, take the second wheel-mark whole in hand, and cast it three times in succession. If body, speech, and mind are all purely good, this is called attaining purity. As for sentient beings of the ages to come who are able to practice repentance in this way — since they have, from the distant past, each already practiced some good within the Buddha's teaching, and the merit they have cultivated differs in being thick or thin and in every other kind of way, the sign, when they attain purity, will likewise differ. Some sentient beings, on attaining purity of the three karmas, obtain no further good sign at all. Some, on attaining the good sign of the three karmas, within a single day and night also see light filling their room entirely, or smell an especially fine and wonderful fragrance, and body and mind become pleasantly at ease. Or they have a good dream, in which they see the Buddha's own form-body come to bear witness, stroking their head and praising them, saying: 'Excellent! You are now pure, and I have come to bear you witness.' Or they dream a bodhisattva's body comes to bear witness, or they dream a buddha's image emits light and thereby bears witness. If a person has not yet attained the good sign of the three karmas, but sees or hears such things beforehand, this is a false, deceptive, and fraudulent thing, and not a good sign. If a person has long had a foundation of transcendent good, and holds their mind with forceful intensity, then at that very time I will manifest a body for them, according to whatever will deliver them, emitting a great light of compassion, so that they become at ease and leave behind every doubt and fear. I may show spiritual powers and every kind of transformation, or cause them to recall for themselves the events of their past lives and the good and evil they have done, or, according to their own wish, expound for them every kind of profound and essential teaching. That person will then, in the vehicle toward which they are inclined, attain decisive faith, and may gradually come to realize the fruit of the śramaṇa path.
"Furthermore, even if such sentient beings are not yet able to see my transformation-body appear and expound the Dharma, so long as they learn utmost sincerity, and cause body, speech, and mind to attain the sign of purity, I will likewise hold them in mind and protect them, so that every kind of hindrance is swiftly extinguished for them. Māra the Evil One will not come to destroy their practice; even the ninety-five kinds of heretical teachers and every spirit will not come to disturb them. All five hindrances will grow lighter in turn, and they will become capable of cultivating the meditations and wisdom.
"Furthermore, if sentient beings of the ages to come, though not seeking meditative concentration, wisdom, or the path that leads out of suffering, but simply meet with every kind of calamity, poverty, hardship, and distress, they too should reverently bow and make offerings, repent whatever evil they have done, and constantly make vows, at all times and in all places diligently calling my name with utmost sincerity — they too will swiftly be freed from every kind of misfortune, and, when this life is over, be born in a good place."
Zhixu's simplest and sharpest observation here is a warning against exactly the temptation this passage invites: the clean wheel-sign, cast three times each morning, is the actual criterion of purity — lights, fragrances, and dream-visions are never proof by themselves, and the sūtra explicitly calls a good dream unaccompanied by the clean cast "false, deceptive, and fraudulent." Whether such signs arrive at all is itself a matter of degree, not a switch that flips uniformly for everyone: some who genuinely attain purity get no further sign whatsoever, while those with a long-standing transcendent foundation and forceful concentration may additionally receive a manifest response from Kṣitigarbha himself. Zhixu treats both outcomes as equally valid instances of the same underlying purity — the sign is a bonus attached to certain karmic backgrounds, never a precondition for the purity itself, which the sūtra locates in the wheel alone.
Ordination Without a Teacher
「復次，未來之世，若在家、若出家諸眾生等，欲求受清淨妙戒，而先已作增上重罪，不得受者，亦當如上修懺悔法，令其至心，得身口意善相已，即應可受。若彼眾生欲習摩訶衍道，求受菩薩根本重戒，及願總受在家、出家一切禁戒——所謂：攝律儀戒、攝善法戒、攝化眾生戒——而不能得善好戒師，廣解菩薩法藏。先修行者，應當至心於道場內，恭敬供養，仰告十方諸佛菩薩，請為師證。一心立願，稱辯戒相，先說十根本重戒，次當總舉三種戒聚，自誓而受，此亦得戒。
「復次，未來世諸眾生等，欲求出家，及已出家，若不能得善好戒師，及清淨僧眾，其心疑惑，不得如法受於禁戒者，但能學發無上道心，亦令身口意得清淨已。其未出家者，應當剃髮，被服法衣，如上立願，自誓而受菩薩律儀三種戒聚，則名具獲波羅提木叉出家之戒，名為比丘、比丘尼。即應推求聲聞律藏，及菩薩所習摩德勒伽藏，受持讀誦，觀察修行。若雖出家，而其年未滿二十者，應當先誓願受十根本戒，及受沙彌、沙彌尼所有別戒。既受戒已，亦名沙彌、沙彌尼。即應親近供養給侍先舊出家，學大乘心，具受戒者，求為依止之師，請問教戒，修行威儀，如沙彌、沙彌尼法。若不能值如是之人，唯當親近菩薩所修摩德勒伽藏，讀誦思惟，觀察修行，慇懃供養佛法僧寶。若沙彌尼年已十八者，亦當自誓受毘尼藏中式叉摩那六戒之法，及遍學比丘尼一切戒聚。其年若滿二十時，乃可如上總受菩薩三種戒聚。然後得名比丘尼。若彼眾生，雖學懺悔，不能至心，不獲善相者，設作受相，不名得戒。」
"Furthermore, in the ages to come, whether lay or ordained, sentient beings who wish to receive the pure and wondrous precepts, but who have already committed a grave offense beforehand and so cannot receive them, should likewise cultivate the method of repentance as above, and once they have, with utmost sincerity, attained the good sign of body, speech, and mind, they may then receive the precepts. If such beings wish to practice the Mahāyāna path, and seek to receive the bodhisattva's fundamental grave precepts, and wish to receive together every precept for both lay and ordained — namely the precepts of upholding the moral code, of gathering wholesome dharmas, and of benefiting sentient beings — but cannot find a good precept-master fully versed in the bodhisattva's Dharma treasury, then let one who has already practiced as above go, with utmost sincerity, into the practice hall, reverently make offerings, and declare before all buddhas and bodhisattvas of the ten directions, requesting them to serve as master and witness. With a single mind make the vow, and recite the marks of the precepts — first speaking the ten fundamental grave precepts, then altogether raising the three groups of precepts — and vow of oneself to receive them; this too constitutes receiving the precepts.
"Furthermore, sentient beings of the ages to come who wish to leave home, or who have already left home, if they cannot find a good precept-master or a pure community of monks, and their mind is full of doubt, so that they cannot receive the precepts as the Dharma prescribes, they need only learn to give rise to the unsurpassed mind of the path, and likewise cause body, speech, and mind to attain purity. Those who have not yet left home should shave their heads, don the Dharma robe, make the vow as above, and vow of themselves to receive the bodhisattva's monastic code of three groups of precepts; this then constitutes fully obtaining the prātimokṣa precepts of leaving home, and they are named bhikṣu or bhikṣuṇī. They should then seek out the Vinaya treasury of the śrāvakas, as well as the bodhisattva's Mātṛkā treasury, and uphold, recite, observe, and practice them. But if, though they have left home, their age has not yet reached twenty, they should first vow to receive the bodhisattva's ten fundamental precepts, and receive the special precepts belonging to a śrāmaṇera or śrāmaṇerī. Having received these precepts, they too are named śrāmaṇera or śrāmaṇerī. They should then draw near to, make offerings to, and attend upon a senior monastic already trained in the Great Vehicle mind who has fully received the precepts, seeking them as a teacher on whom to depend, asking about the precepts and the teaching, and practicing the proper deportment, in the manner of a śrāmaṇera or śrāmaṇerī. If they cannot meet with such a person, they should simply draw near to the bodhisattva's Mātṛkā treasury, reciting, reflecting on, observing, and practicing it, and diligently make offerings to the Three Jewels. If a śrāmaṇerī has already reached the age of eighteen, she should likewise vow of herself to receive the six precepts of a śikṣamāṇā found in the Vinaya treasury, and study throughout every group of precepts of a bhikṣuṇī. When her age reaches twenty, she may then, as above, receive altogether the bodhisattva's three groups of precepts, and only then is she named bhikṣuṇī. If such beings, though they have studied repentance, are unable to reach utmost sincerity and do not obtain the good sign, then even if they go through the act of receiving, it is not called truly obtaining the precepts."
Zhixu reads this as an extraordinarily generous provision by the standards of the wider Vinaya tradition — "尤為格外洪慈" ("an extraordinarily generous compassion, beyond the ordinary rule"), his own phrase for it. Most vinaya schools treat certain grave violations, and especially the seven heinous offenses, as disqualifying a person from ever receiving the precepts again; even the more lenient Brahma Net Sūtra requires a confirmed auspicious sign obtained in meditation before allowing re-ordination. This sūtra sets the bar at the clean wheel-sign instead — a criterion, Zhixu notes, this sūtra alone among the major precept-texts makes this explicit and this accessible.
On the self-ordination clause for those who cannot find a qualified preceptor, Zhixu ties it to a crisis he diagnoses directly in his own era: "今既僧輪久廢" ("the wheel of the Saṅgha having now long been in disrepair"), meaning a properly unbroken lineage of preceptors capable of transmitting full ordination validly had, by his own time, become genuinely hard to locate. He reads the sūtra's provision — vow the precepts before the buddhas themselves, with utmost sincerity, when no living teacher can be found — as addressing exactly this gap, on the same footing as the emphasis on bodhicitta over formal lineage found in the Bodhisattvabhūmi and the Ratnamālā, "不同梵網制令見好相也" ("unlike the Brahma Net's own rule requiring a confirmed auspicious sign"). He preserves every age threshold in the passage exactly as written — full ordination withheld until twenty even for someone who has obtained the clean sign, the intermediate śikṣamāṇā precepts required of a woman candidate from eighteen — and closes with an unusually personal lament about vinaya scholars of his own day who, in his account, had simply stopped attending to rules this precise: "後之弘律學者，漠然不知。哀哉！哀哉！" ("those who later propagate the Vinaya are utterly unaware of this. How lamentable! How lamentable!").
What Sincerity Actually Means
爾時，堅淨信菩薩摩訶薩問地藏菩薩摩訶薩言：「所說至心者，差別有幾種？何等至心，能獲善相？」地藏菩薩摩訶薩言：「善男子！我所說至心者，略有二種。何等為二？一者，初始學習，求願至心。二者，攝意專精，成就勇猛，相應至心。得此第二至心者，能獲善相。此第二至心，復有下、中、上三種差別，何等為三？一者，一心，所謂係想不亂，心住了了。二者，勇猛心，所謂專求不懈，不顧身命。三者，深心，所謂與法相應，究竟不退。若人修習此懺悔法，乃至不得下至心者，終不能獲清淨善相。是名說占第二輪法。」
Then the bodhisattva-mahāsattva Firm and Pure Faith asked the bodhisattva-mahāsattva Kṣitigarbha: "As for what you have called utmost sincerity — how many kinds of distinction are there? Which kind of utmost sincerity is able to obtain the good sign?" The bodhisattva-mahāsattva Kṣitigarbha said: "Good son! What I call utmost sincerity is, in brief, of two kinds. What are the two? First, the utmost sincerity of one just beginning to learn, seeking and vowing. Second, the utmost sincerity of one who gathers the mind with single-minded attention, and accomplishes courage and correspondence. Only one who attains this second utmost sincerity is able to obtain the good sign. This second utmost sincerity has, in turn, three distinctions — lower, middle, and upper. What are the three? First, one-mindedness, meaning that one's thought is fixed without confusion, the mind abiding in clear awareness. Second, the courageous mind, meaning that one seeks single-mindedly without slackening, giving no thought to body or life. Third, the profound mind, meaning that one corresponds with the Dharma, and to the very end does not turn back. If a person practices this method of repentance, but does not attain even the lower degree of utmost sincerity, they will never be able to obtain the sign of purity. This concludes the explanation of the method of divining the second wheel."
Zhixu maps the three grades of the second utmost sincerity to specific stages of practice: the lower degree to concentration just short of the desire realm's finer stillness, the middle to the later stage of contemplative practice proper, the upper to a degree of correspondence capable of actually drawing forth Kṣitigarbha's manifest response described in the previous section. But his real point in closing this whole discussion of the second wheel is a warning against treating a clean cast as a finish line. Even the first two grades of sincerity, he notes, may well obtain the good sign — but "急須修行禪定智慧，令與二觀相應可矣。不然，故業雖滅，新業還生，亦可懼也" ("one must urgently go on to cultivate meditative concentration and wisdom, bringing oneself into correspondence with the two contemplations — otherwise, though the old karma has been extinguished, new karma will simply grow back in its place, and this is truly something to fear"). A purified wheel-cast clears an existing debt; it does not, by itself, stop a person from accumulating a new one. That further step — the two contemplations built on the one real realm — is where Part 4 of this collection turns next, once Part 3 has finished the sūtra's third and final wheel-mark.
Part 2 Complete
This closes Part 2: the second wheel, which measures the age and force of a karmic seed rather than merely its presence; Kṣitigarbha's own ten-part rite of repentance, prescribed for anyone whose karma is too heavy to take up meditation safely; the sliding scale of seven days to a thousand by which purity is reached; the sign — the clean triple cast, sometimes but not always accompanied by light, fragrance, or a manifest vision — that marks its completion; the sūtra's own unusually generous provision for receiving precepts without an available teacher; and the three graded degrees of sincerity without which no wheel-cast, however often repeated, will ever come clean. Part 3 turns to the sūtra's third and final wheel — one hundred and eighty-nine possible fates spanning past, present, and future — and closes the first fascicle.
Continue to Part 3 — One Hundred and Eighty-Nine Fates →