How to Actually Repent
Having drawn the basic line, in the previous gate, between confession under the doctrinal teaching and confession under the Vinaya's own regulatory procedure, this gate goes deep into the doctrinal side alone, opening it into two full chapters. The first sets confession through insight against confession through ritual practice, works out just how heavy or light a given karma actually is, and lays out the five conditions a valid ritual confession requires — while sounding a sharp warning against anyone who treats emptiness itself as an excuse to stop bowing, chanting, and keeping the precepts at all. The second turns to confession through insight alone and pushes it to its philosophical floor: three successive levels of contemplation — Emptiness-of-nature, Emptiness-of-characteristics, and Consciousness-only — each seeing further into the offense's own unreality than the last, each suited to a different depth of actual capacity, and each carrying its own caution against claiming a depth of insight one has not truly reached.
1. Milestone: The Basic Split — Confession Through Insight, Confession Through Ritual Practice
This gate opens by announcing its own shape — two chapters, the first contrasting the two modes of confession under the doctrinal teaching, the second returning to unpack confession through insight in much greater depth — and then states the split itself: confession through insight belongs to those sharp enough to see the offense's own nature directly, while confession through ritual practice exists for everyone else.
第二門
別時化教二懺
別明化教二懺中分為二章┬一對顯二懺
└二重廣理懺
第一章
對顯二懺
▲事鈔云『若據通懺、理事二別。』
Gate Two
Fully Explaining the Two Confessions Under the Doctrinal Teaching
This gate, fully explaining the two confessions under the doctrinal teaching, divides into two chapters: first, Contrasting the Two Confessions; second, Elaborating Confession Through Insight.
Chapter One
Contrasting the Two Confessions
[Fresh citation] The Procedural Commentary says: "Speaking of confession in general, there is a distinction between the two — confession through insight and confession through ritual practice."
資持釋云『標云通懺者如上五對、通義可知。』
△事鈔續云『理據智利。 觀彼罪性。 由妄覆心便結妄業、還須識妄本性無生。念念分心、業隨迷遣。』
The Zichi Commentary explains: "In marking this as 'confession in general,' [the text points back to] the five pairs set out above; the sense of 'in general' can be understood accordingly."
[Continuation] The Procedural Commentary continues: "Confession through insight belongs to the wise and sharp-minded. One contemplates the very nature of the offense: because delusion has covered the mind, a deluded karma has thereby been bound together; one must, in turn, recognize that the true nature of this delusion is itself unarisen. Thought by thought one discerns, and thought by thought the karma is dispelled, following upon the dispelling of delusion."
資持釋云『理懺者。此約觀慧推窮業性明見真理、罪得伏滅、故云懺也。文中初標根性。且望修事通明利根、若對三觀智用淺深自分利鈍如後可見。 觀下二示觀行、初句示所觀境。 由下明能觀智。上四句明達妄見理、下二句明行成罪滅。分謂分辨、即觀照也。此中通示理觀、無生之言總下大小三種之理。』
The Zichi Commentary explains: "'Confession through insight' means using the wisdom of contemplation to trace the karma's own nature back to its root, thereby clearly seeing the true principle, so that the offense is subdued and extinguished — this, too, is why it is called 'confession.' The text first marks out the capacity involved: set against ritual confession in general, this belongs to those of sharp faculties; but measured against the three contemplations [taken up later in this gate], the depth of wisdom actually applied further divides into sharp and dull, as will become clear below. 'One contemplates' and what follows show the practice itself: the first clause shows the object contemplated, and 'because' and what follows show the contemplating wisdom. The four clauses above show how delusion is penetrated and the principle seen; the two clauses below show how, once the practice is accomplished, the offense is dispelled. 'Discerns' means to distinguish — that is, to observe and illuminate. This passage points generally to confession through insight as a whole; the word 'unarisen' comprehensively covers, in outline, all three levels of this principle taken up further on."
The companion guide frames this opening split as a matter of fit, not rank: confession through insight suits those sharp enough to trace an offense, through contemplation, back to the fact that its "wrongdoing self" was never fixed in the first place — it quotes Dao Xuan's own line that the offense arose because delusion covered the mind, and dissolves once that delusion's own nature is recognized as unarisen. Confession through ritual practice, by contrast, is what remains open to everyone else. The guide is careful to note that Yuan Zhao's gloss treats these as suited to different people, not as a hierarchy where one is simply superior to the other — a distinction the rest of this chapter, and the warning near its end, both take pains to protect.
2. Milestone: Confession Through Ritual Practice, and Its Five Conditions
The Procedural Commentary turns next to confession through ritual practice — not as a lesser path, but as the necessary provision for anyone not yet able to bear the direct contemplation of insight. Its description folds in, almost in passing, the very idea that karma itself comes in degrees: heavy or light, fixed or not fixed, sometimes averted outright and sometimes merely lightened.
△事鈔續云『若論事懺屬彼愚鈍。 由未見理、我倒常行、妄業翳心隨境纏附、動必起行行纏三有。為說真觀、心昏智迷。 止得嚴淨道場稱歎虔仰或因禮拜或假誦持旋繞竭誠心緣勝境。 則業有輕重、定不定別。或有轉報、或有輕受。 並如佛名方等諸經所明。』
[Continuation] The Procedural Commentary continues: "As for confession through ritual practice — this belongs to those who are dull and not yet awakened. Because they have not yet seen the principle, the inverted view of self operates in them constantly; deluded karma obscures the mind and, following after objects, entangles itself to them, so that whatever stirs inevitably gives rise to action, and that action entangles them within the three realms of existence. Were the true contemplation [of insight] expounded to such a person, their mind would only grow more confused and their wisdom more deluded. All that can be done is to have them solemnly adorn and purify the site of practice, chanting praise and looking up in reverence; whether through prostration, or through the provisional means of reciting and upholding [scripture and mantra], or through circumambulation, they exert their sincerity to the utmost and fix the mind upon a supremely worthy object. In this way karma comes to have its distinctions of heavy and light, fixed and not fixed; some karma is thereby transformed in its retribution, and some is thereby lightened in what it receives. All this is explained, just as it is, in such scriptures as the Buddha-Names Sūtra and the Vaipulya sūtras."
資持釋云『次事懺中、初標機宜。 由下二示懺法又二、初敘不堪理觀。 止下二正明事懺二、初明事行。 則下明成益、上二句示先業。言輕重者就過為言、五逆謗法用僧物等為重、餘則為輕。又凡造罪、具足三時俱起猛心為重、或二時一時為輕。定不定者復簡重業、定業極重縱不亡、不定猶輕或容轉易。下二句彰益。轉報謂易奪不受、對上輕及不定業也。輕受謂轉重為輕、即上重中定業也。 並下指廣。虛空藏經占察經等並明悔法。若準業疏須具五緣、一請佛菩薩為證即奉請眾聖也二誦經咒即誦諷咒三說己罪名即說懺悔四立誓言即今發願五如教明證。即今求相簡擇邪正』已上皆見事鈔記卷二十八
The Zichi Commentary explains: "Next, within confession through ritual practice, the opening marks out the capacity to which it is suited. From 'because' onward, [the text] gives a further twofold showing of this method of confession: first it explains why such persons cannot bear the contemplation of insight. From 'all that can be done' onward is, second, the direct explanation of confession through ritual practice, itself in two parts: first it explains the actual conduct involved. From 'in this way' onward it explains the benefit accomplished — the two clauses just above indicate the prior karma. As for 'heavy and light': speaking in terms of the offense itself, the Five Heinous Offenses, slandering the Dharma, misappropriating property belonging to the Saṅgha, and the like, count as heavy, while all else counts as light. Further, whenever an offense is actually committed, if a fierce mind arises through all three time-phases at once, it counts as heavy; if a fierce mind arises through only two phases, or only one, it counts as light. 'Fixed' and 'not fixed' further distinguish among heavy karma itself: a fixed karma is extremely heavy and does not disappear even after confession; an unfixed karma, though still heavy, remains comparatively light and may yet be transformed. The two clauses below make the benefit clear: 'transformed in retribution' means the karma is entirely averted and not received at all — this corresponds to the light karma and the unfixed karma spoken of above; 'lightened in what it receives' means a heavy karma is converted into a light one — this corresponds to the fixed karma within the heavy category spoken of above. From 'all this' onward, [the text] points to a broader source: the Ākāśagarbha Sūtra, the Sūtra on the Divination of the Effect of Good and Evil Actions, and others, likewise explain methods of confession. According to the Commentary on Karman Procedures, [confession through ritual practice] must be furnished with five conditions: first, requesting the Buddhas and bodhisattvas to serve as witnesses — that is, respectfully inviting the assembly of sages; second, reciting scriptures and mantras — that is, chanting and upholding them; third, stating the name of one's own offense — that is, what is now called disclosing one's transgression; fourth, establishing a vow — that is, what is now called making a vow; and fifth, according with the teaching to obtain clear confirmation — that is, what is now called seeking an auspicious sign, so as to distinguish the genuine from the false." [All of the above is found in the Zichi Commentary, fascicle 28.]
| Condition (事懺五緣) | What it means in practice |
|---|---|
| 1. Requesting witnesses | Respectfully inviting the Buddhas, bodhisattvas, and the assembly of sages to serve as witnesses to the confession |
| 2. Reciting scripture and mantra | Chanting and upholding the relevant sūtra passages or dhāraṇīs |
| 3. Naming the offense | Explicitly disclosing what one has actually done wrong |
| 4. Making a vow | Formally resolving not to repeat the offense |
| 5. Confirming according to the teaching | Discerning, by the standards the teaching itself provides, a genuine auspicious sign from a false one |
The guide reads confession through ritual practice as a genuinely compassionate provision rather than a consolation prize: for someone whose mind is still "dull and confused," being handed the direct contemplation of insight would only deepen the confusion, so the tradition instead gives concrete things to do — adorning a place of practice, prostrating, chanting, circling a shrine — that channel sincerity toward "a supremely worthy object" without requiring the philosophical penetration insight-confession demands.
It also stresses that the five conditions are meant as a checklist a person can actually verify against their own practice: witnesses genuinely invited, the relevant text or mantra genuinely recited, the offense genuinely named rather than left vague, a vow genuinely made, and some form of confirming sign genuinely sought — each one a concrete marker of whether a ritual confession has actually been carried through, rather than merely gestured at.
3. Milestone: How Heavy Is a Karma, Really? — The Fourfold Analysis
Having stated in outline that karma differs in weight, and that some of it can be averted while some can only be lightened, the compendium now works this out in full — first as a branching outline combining the Zichi Commentary's own gloss with material drawn in from the Commentary on Karman Procedures, and then as a second, cleaner fourfold table the Karman Commentary itself sets out, cross-referencing whether the timing of a wrongdoing and its eventual retribution are each fixed or not.
今據上段資持釋業有輕重定不定別或有轉報或有輕受鈔文之義、併會通業疏四句、列表如下。其中依業疏增入者、上下用（）記號
業有輕重┬就過輕重言┬五逆謗法用僧物等為重┬重業有定不定別┬定業極重縱懺不亡─或有輕受謂轉重為輕 │ └餘則為輕──────┼───┐ │（具足三時俱起猛心） │ │ │ └不定猶輕或容轉易───┐ └就初中後┬具足三時俱起猛心為重─┘ │ （具足三時非俱起猛心） ├或有轉報謂易奪不受 心輕重言│（具足三時非俱起猛心亦為重業）├───────────────┘ └或二時一時俱起猛心為輕────┘ （二時一時非俱起猛心愈輕）
初中後心三時者、謂方便時、根本時、成已時。猛重心相者、謂方便舉尤害心、根本起尤快心、成已起隨喜心。 其中輕重有無、列示句數。如前持犯篇、持犯總義、辨犯優劣章、單心辨犯及有心無心辨犯二節廣明。宜檢閱之。
Building on the meaning of the passage above — where the Zichi Commentary explains the distinctions of heavy and light, fixed and not fixed, sometimes transformed in retribution and sometimes lightened in what is received — and combining this with the fourfold analysis found in the Commentary on Karman Procedures, a table is set out below. Wherever material has been supplied on the authority of that Commentary, it is marked above or below with parentheses.
[Translator's note: the diagram at left is a branching outline in the original, whose two-dimensional layout did not survive plain-text extraction from the source and reproduces here only as a sequence of disconnected fragments. Its logical content, reconstructed and cross-checked against the Ru-Yi Study Group's companion guide, runs as follows.]
| How karma is judged heavy or light | Division | Result |
|---|---|---|
| By the offense itself | The Five Heinous Offenses, slandering the Dharma, misusing Saṅgha property, etc. — heavy | Heavy karma further divides into fixed and unfixed |
| Fixed: all three time-phases arise together with a fierce mind — extremely heavy, does not disappear even after confession | ||
| Unfixed: less than all three phases arise with a fierce mind — still heavy but comparatively light, may be transformed or lightened | ||
| Everything else | Light | |
| By the mind across the three time-phases (preparation, execution, completion) | All three phases arise together with a fierce mind | Heavy |
| Only two phases, or only one, arise with a fierce mind | Light — lighter still if even that single phase lacks a truly fierce mind | |
The "three time-phases of the mind" — preparation, execution, and completion — mean, respectively, the phase of forethought, the phase of the actual deed, and the phase once it is done. The "mark of a fierce, heavy mind" means: in the preparatory phase, raising a mind bent specifically on harm; in the phase of the deed itself, giving rise to a mind that takes especial pleasure in it; and in the completed phase, giving rise to a mind of satisfaction and delight in what was done. The presence or absence of these, and their weight, is set out in detail, by way of specific formulas, in the earlier Part on Upholding and Violating, in its chapter on Judging the Relative Gravity of an Offense, under the two sections on judging an offense by a single state of mind and on judging it by the presence or absence of intent — the reader is directed there for a fuller treatment.
業疏釋懺六聚法篇、引他解中、分列四句、至為明晰。今準其義、附列表如下以資參考。 文見業疏記卷二十二。
┌時報俱定 三時俱有心并俱重心─────────不可不受、則轉重令輕。 ├時定 三時俱有心 報不定 雖俱有心容有重輕──懺悔可轉、則有相除。 ├時不定 非三時俱有心 報定 有心者俱重心─┐ └時報俱不定 非三時俱有心有心者非俱重心──┴─此造業輕、易懺伏也。
In its chapter on confessing the six categories of offense, the Commentary on Karman Procedures, citing another exegete's explanation, sets out a fourfold analysis with great clarity. In accordance with its meaning, a table is appended below for reference. [Text found in the Commentary on Karman Procedures, fascicle 22.]
| Case | Condition | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Both timing and retribution fixed | A deliberate mind operates across all three time-phases together, and is a heavy mind throughout | Such karma cannot fail to be received; confession can only convert the heavy into the light |
| Timing fixed, retribution not fixed | A deliberate mind operates across all three phases, but though present throughout, is not uniformly heavy | Confession is able to transform it, so that good and bad karma offset one another |
| Timing not fixed, retribution fixed | A deliberate mind does not operate across all three phases, but wherever present, is a heavy mind | Such karma, in either case, is light, and is easily subdued through confession |
| Neither timing nor retribution fixed | A deliberate mind does not operate across all three phases, and even where present, is not uniformly heavy |
The guide reads these two overlapping analyses as answering a single practical question a repentant person actually has: can this specific wrong of mine actually be worked off? Its answer runs on two axes at once. Along one axis, the offense's own gravity matters — the Five Heinous Offenses and the like sit in a category of their own, heavier than ordinary wrongdoing. Along the other, what actually happened inside the offender's mind matters just as much: whether a genuinely fierce, committed intention was present at the planning stage, the moment of the act, and afterward in satisfaction — all three together, or only some.
The guide draws out the practical stakes bluntly: a "fixed" karma — full intent sustained through all three phases — does not disappear through confession no matter how sincerely performed, only converts from heavy to comparatively light; an "unfixed" karma, missing that full three-phase intensity somewhere, can genuinely be averted or offset. It also flags that this three-phase framework — preparation, execution, completion, each with its own "mark of a fierce mind" — is not invented fresh here, but is the same apparatus already laid out in detail in the compendium's earlier Part on Upholding and Violating, so a reader who wants the full mechanics is pointed back there rather than having it repeated.
4. Milestone: A Warning Against Weaponizing Emptiness
Chapter One closes with a question a practical-minded reader might well ask: if confession through insight really does work by seeing the offense's own nature as empty, does a person who has grasped that principle still need to bow and chant at all? The Jiyuan Commentary answers with a fourfold analysis of its own, and the Zichi Commentary follows it with one of the sharpest polemics in the whole compendium, aimed squarely at people who use "everything is empty" as cover for abandoning practice altogether.
▲濟緣云『問、修理懺人須禮誦否。 答。愚智兩分、事理無二。上智達理不礙修行、中下昧空故存漸誘。應為四句、總攝群機。一得理失事、一心禪觀、外闕莊嚴、如有目無足不能前進。二逐事迷理、計功分課、不了緣生、如有足無目不知所從。三事理雙運、目足相資、萬行圓修、必至彼岸。四理事俱昧、盲而無足、愚癡惰慢、終無出期。是知理事各立未免偏邪、空有一如是真修習。故曰、實際理地不受一塵、佛事門中不捨一法。諸佛菩薩歷劫熏修、華竺祖師終身苦行。此理深密、何可盡言。略示大途、粗分緇素耳。』見業疏記卷二十二
[Fresh citation] The Jiyuan Commentary says: "Question: Must a person who practices confession through insight still perform prostrations and recitation? Answer: The foolish and the wise are two distinct groups, but insight and ritual practice are, in the end, not really two different things. One of superior wisdom, having penetrated the principle, finds nothing in it that hinders continued practice; one of middling or lesser capacity, still confused about emptiness, therefore still needs this gradual guidance. This should be set out as four propositions, together comprehending every capacity. First, one who grasps the principle but loses the practice — single-minded in meditative contemplation, yet lacking any outward adornment of practice — is like someone with eyes but no feet, unable to go forward. Second, one who chases after practice but is confused about the principle — reckoning up merit and counting off tasks, without understanding that all things arise through conditions — is like someone with feet but no eyes, not knowing which way to go. Third, one in whom principle and practice operate together — eyes and feet mutually supporting one another, the myriad practices cultivated in their fullness — is certain to reach the other shore. Fourth, one confused about both principle and practice at once — blind and without feet, foolish, deluded, indolent, and arrogant — never finds a way out at all. From this one knows that setting up principle and practice as separate things inevitably falls into one bias or another; only when emptiness and existence are seen as one and the same is this genuine cultivation. Hence it is said: within the ground of ultimate principle, not a single speck of dust is admitted; yet within the gate of Buddhist practice, not a single dharma is ever abandoned. The Buddhas and bodhisattvas cultivated themselves across many kalpas; the patriarchs of both India and China practiced austerities their whole lives through. This principle runs deep and subtle — how could it ever be exhausted in words? I have only sketched its broad outline here, roughly distinguishing what suits the black-robed [monastic] from what suits the white-robed [layperson]." [Commentary on Karman Procedures, fascicle 22]
資持云『今時愚者、錯解佛乘。皆謂理觀寂爾無思、空然無境。取捨不得、能所俱亡。頑然寂住便是真如、放蕩任情即為妙用。由是不禮聖像、不讀真經。毀戒破齋、嗜酒噉肉。誇為大道、傳化於人。惡業相投、率多承習。此乃虛妄臆度、顛倒論迴。豈知達法皆真何妨泯淨、了真即用豈礙修行。是知悟理則萬行齊修、涉事則一毫不立。自非通鑒、餘復何言。』見事鈔記卷二十八
上來別明化教二懺中第一章對顯二懺竟
The Zichi Commentary says: "Those who are foolish in the present age misunderstand the Buddha-vehicle entirely. They all claim that the contemplation of insight is a silent, thought-free stillness, an empty state without any object at all, where nothing is grasped or rejected and subject and object alike vanish; that to dwell blankly and inertly in stillness is itself suchness, and that to indulge one's own feelings and let oneself go is itself wondrous function. On this basis they no longer bow to the sacred images, no longer read the true scriptures; they violate the precepts, break the fast, indulge in wine and meat — all while boasting that this is the great path, and spreading it to others. Evil karma seeks its own kind, and such notions are, for the most part, simply handed down and imitated. This is nothing but a wild, deluded speculation, an inverted and topsy-turvy line of reasoning. How could such people understand that, precisely because all dharmas that are penetrated are seen as true, nothing stands in the way of their being utterly purified — and that, precisely because truth itself is put to use, nothing stands in the way of continued practice? One should know from this: when the principle is truly awakened to, the myriad practices are cultivated all the more together; and when one actually engages in practice, not one hair's breadth of the principle is thereby lost. Apart from someone of thoroughgoing insight, what more is there to say?" [Zichi Commentary, fascicle 28]
With this, the first chapter of this gate — Contrasting the Two Confessions — is concluded.
The guide reads the Jiyuan Commentary's four propositions as a diagnostic any practitioner can apply to themselves: principle without practice is sight without legs, unable to advance; practice without principle is legs without sight, wandering without direction; principle and practice together is the only combination that actually reaches the far shore; and both together missing is the worst case of all, blind, legless, and complacent, with no way out. Its own punchline — "within the ground of ultimate principle, not a speck of dust is admitted; within the gate of practice, not a single dharma is abandoned" — is offered as the correct resolution: emptiness and actual conduct are not rivals to be traded off against each other.
The guide treats what follows as one of the compendium's most pointed passages: a direct rebuke of people who take "everything is empty" to mean nothing need be done at all — no bowing, no scripture, no precepts — and dress this up as some higher, freer teaching. Against this, the guide's own gloss is exact: genuinely understanding that all dharmas are empty is precisely what removes any obstacle to practicing them fully, not an excuse to stop; "understanding truth" and "abandoning practice" are two entirely different things, and confusing them is not deep realization but its precise inversion.
5. Milestone: Chapter Two Opens — The Right Mindset for Confession Through Insight
With the two modes of confession set side by side, the compendium turns, in its second chapter, to unpack confession through insight on its own terms — beginning with the basic mental posture it requires: a constant contemplation of the absence of any fixed nature, whether in the self, the offense, or the very distinction between merit and fault.
第二章
重廣理懺
重廣理懺中分為三節┬一標示用心
├二別列三觀
└三結示
第一節
標示用心
▲事鈔云『言理懺者。既在智人、則多方便。隨所施為、恆觀無性。 以無性故、妄我無托。事非我生、罪福無主。分見分思、分除分滅。 如人醒、則不眠醉。』
Chapter Two
Elaborating Confession Through Insight
This chapter, elaborating confession through insight, divides into three sections: first, Marking Out the Mindset Required; second, Setting Out the Three Contemplations Individually; third, A Closing Statement.
Section One
Marking Out the Mindset Required
[Fresh citation] The Procedural Commentary says: "As for confession through insight — since it belongs to the wise, it has many skillful means. Whatever such a person undertakes, they constantly contemplate the absence of any fixed nature. Because there is no fixed nature, the deluded self has nothing to rest upon; phenomena are not actually generated by any 'self,' and offense and merit alike have no fixed master. Such a person partially sees, partially reflects, partially removes, and partially extinguishes [the offense] — just as one who has awakened no longer remains asleep or drunk."
資持釋云『初示所修觀相。無性即空理。 以下明罪滅所以。諸世間業皆從我生、我為業主我既無托、故所造善惡不從我倒而生、妄業無依、故得除滅。見謂達理、斷謂起修、除謂能觀智、滅即所觀業、破妄 顯真而非頓證故皆云分。若約位判、分見分思即內凡人、分除分滅即初果已去。 如下喻顯。眠醉喻迷醒覺喻悟眠覺醉醒相似法故。』見事鈔記卷二十八
The Zichi Commentary explains: "The opening shows the mark of the contemplation cultivated: 'no fixed nature' is precisely the principle of emptiness. From 'because' onward, [the text] clarifies why the offense is thereby extinguished: all worldly karma arises from a 'self,' and the self is held to be the master of that karma; but once the self itself has nothing to rest upon, the good and evil thereby created no longer arise from any inverted notion of self, and the deluded karma, having nothing to depend on, can therefore be removed. 'Sees' means penetrating the principle; 'reflects' means taking up the practice; 'removes' is the wisdom that contemplates; 'extinguishes' is the karma contemplated — since delusion is broken through and truth revealed only gradually, not all at once and completely, each is qualified with 'partially.' Ranked by stage: 'partially sees, partially reflects' belongs to those still among ordinary worldlings inclined toward the path; 'partially removes, partially extinguishes' belongs to those who have already reached the first fruit [of stream-entry] and beyond. From 'just as' onward, [the text] illustrates this with a simile: sleep and drunkenness are likened to delusion, waking and sobriety to awakening — sleep and waking, drunkenness and sobriety, being analogous states in exactly the same way." [Zichi Commentary, fascicle 28]
The guide glosses the logic here as turning entirely on the idea of ownership: all worldly karma is thought to belong to a "self" that generates and owns it, so once contemplation shows that this self has nothing to stand on, the good and evil supposedly produced by it lose their anchor as well, and the deluded karma — with nothing left to depend on — can actually be dissolved rather than merely suppressed.
It also draws attention to how carefully the commentary paces this realization: "sees," "reflects," "removes," and "extinguishes" are each marked as only partial, corresponding to real, ranked stages of practice — ordinary worldlings already inclined toward the path for the first two, and those who have reached at least the first fruit of the path for the latter two — rather than something achieved in one single stroke. The guide's own note ties this to the sleep-and-drunkenness simile: waking and sobriety are not different in kind from sleep and intoxication, only in degree of clarity, which is exactly why insight-confession is described as a gradual sobering rather than an instantaneous leap.
6. Milestone: Three Levels of Insight — Framing the Whole
Before naming the three contemplations individually, the Procedural Commentary and its commentary pause to explain what kind of "three" this actually is — not three unrelated theories, but one and the same underlying principle refracted through three different vehicles, degrees of directness, and doctrinal schools, all of them ultimately converging on the identical realization.
第二節
別列三觀
▲事鈔云『然理大要不出三種。』
Section Two
Setting Out the Three Contemplations Individually
[Fresh citation] The Procedural Commentary says: "The principle [underlying confession through insight], broadly speaking, does not go beyond three kinds."
資持釋云『理本是一、何有三者。若權實往分、前二是權、後一是實。若大小相對、前一是小、後二屬大。若約開權會小、終歸一理。若對三宗、性空局小、唯識局大、相空通小大如是分之。』
The Zichi Commentary explains: "The principle is, at root, a single thing — how, then, can there be three? Divided in terms of the provisional and the ultimate, the first two are provisional and the last is ultimate. Contrasted in terms of the Lesser and Great Vehicles, the first is Lesser and the latter two belong to the Great. Considered in terms of opening up the provisional teaching to merge it back with the Lesser Vehicle, all three ultimately return to a single principle. Matched against the three doctrinal schools, Emptiness-of-nature is confined to the Lesser Vehicle, Consciousness-only is confined to the Great Vehicle, and Emptiness-of-characteristics runs through both Lesser and Great alike — this is how the distinction is to be drawn."
The guide is careful to keep this framing from being read as a ranking of three separate truths: the commentary itself insists the principle is fundamentally one, and that the "three" only appear once it is viewed through different lenses — provisional versus ultimate teaching, Lesser versus Great Vehicle, or the specific doctrinal school being used to classify it. All three converge, in the end, on a single realization; what differs between them is only how directly, and by what route, a given practitioner is actually able to reach it. This gate's earlier compendium, in its section on the essence of the precepts, had already flagged that these same three levels correspond, in outline, to the three approaches to liberation traditionally distinguished in the broader Vinaya literature — the guide treats the table that follows as the promised fuller unpacking of exactly that correspondence.
7. Milestone: Level One — Emptiness-of-Nature, and Level Two — Emptiness-of-Characteristics
The first two contemplations are now given in full. Emptiness-of-nature is the Hinayana level: an offense is traced, through patient analysis of cause and condition, back to the point where no fixed self committing it can actually be found. Emptiness-of-characteristics goes one step further — the level of the "minor bodhisattva" — seeing not merely that the self behind an offense is empty, but that every appearance involved in it, offense included, is nothing but a projection of deluded feeling.
△事鈔續云『一者諸法 性空無我。 此理照心、名為小乘。』
[Continuation] The Procedural Commentary continues: "The first holds that all dharmas are empty of any fixed nature, without any self. This principle illuminates the mind, and is called the Lesser Vehicle level."
資持釋云『性空中分三、初示所觀境即諸法二字。諸法之言總包一切。諸經論中或約依正因果、或世出世間、或有漏無漏、或色心非色心、或善惡無記、或陰界入等。若據通論總觀諸法、今就懺悔且指罪業而為觀境。 性空無我一句即能觀智。罪從緣有、本無自性。緣即心境、虛妄心境和合成業。業性自空、非合之空。由存妄計故受輪轉、但破妄計覓罪叵得、叵得之處強名空理。言性空者小機智劣、不能即法見空。必待推析、窮法體性、然後方空。 此下判位。小乘通收聲聞緣覺。據所乘法諦緣雖殊、若論斷證同見空理。』
The Zichi Commentary explains: "The discussion of Emptiness-of-nature divides into three parts. The opening shows the object contemplated — the two characters 'all dharmas.' 'All dharmas' comprehensively includes everything: the various sūtras and treatises discuss this in terms of the direct and circumstantial retribution of cause and effect, the mundane and supramundane, the outflow-bearing and outflow-free, form and mind or neither, the wholesome, unwholesome, and morally neutral, the aggregates, elements, and sense-fields, and so on. Speaking generally this means contemplating all dharmas as a whole, but here, in the context of confession, it specifically points to the karma of one's own offense as the object contemplated. The clause 'empty of any fixed nature, without any self' is precisely the contemplating wisdom. An offense arises from conditions and originally has no nature of its own; 'conditions' means mind and its object — a deluded mind and a deluded object come together and form the karma. The very nature of that karma is itself empty, not made empty through anything external. It is only because a deluded notion is held onto that one undergoes the cycle of rebirth; once that deluded notion is broken, the offense itself proves ungraspable, and it is at the very point of its being ungraspable that the term 'the principle of emptiness' is provisionally applied. As for calling this 'emptiness of nature' — it is because those of lesser capacity have limited wisdom and cannot see emptiness directly within phenomena themselves; they must rely on analytical reasoning, exhaustively probing the very substance of the dharma, only after which emptiness is finally seen. What follows ranks the level involved: 'Lesser Vehicle' here comprehensively includes both śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas — although the particular paths and conditions on which they rely differ, when it comes to their actual severance of affliction and realization, they alike see this same principle of emptiness."
△事鈔續云『二者諸法 本相是空、唯情妄見。 此理照用、屬小菩薩。』
[Continuation] The Procedural Commentary continues: "The second holds that the true mark of all dharmas is itself empty, and that what appears otherwise is nothing but a deluded projection of feeling. This principle illuminates both mind and function, and belongs to the level of the minor bodhisattva."
資持釋云『相空中亦三、示境同前 能觀中。言相空者了法無相。猶如幻化昧者謂真、亦如空華眼病謂實、故云唯情妄見。 判位中小菩薩者雖發大心、未窮心本、故設此觀空諸塵境、如諸般若所被初心。者二乘住寂故但照心、菩薩涉事故云照用。 若對三宗、即當四分。同觀空理故云小也、志慕佛乘故云菩薩。』
The Zichi Commentary explains: "The discussion of Emptiness-of-characteristics likewise has three parts; the object shown is the same as before. Within the contemplating [wisdom]: to speak of 'emptiness of characteristics' is to understand that dharmas are without any fixed mark at all — just as one deceived by a conjured illusion takes it to be real, or one whose eyes are diseased takes flowers seen floating in empty space to be real, this is why it is said that this is nothing but a deluded projection of feeling. In ranking the level: 'minor bodhisattva' means one who, although the great [bodhi-]mind has already been generated, has not yet fully fathomed the root of the mind itself, and therefore sets up this contemplation, emptying out every object of sense — just as the various Prajñā [scriptures] address themselves to the beginning practitioner. As for 'illuminates both mind and function': the two vehicles [of śrāvaka and pratyekabuddha] dwell in quiescence and therefore only illuminate the mind, whereas the bodhisattva actively engages with worldly affairs, which is why 'function' is illuminated as well. Matched against the three doctrinal schools, this corresponds to the Four-Part [Vinaya school's classification]. Because this level contemplates the same principle of emptiness [as the first], it is still called 'lesser'; but because its aspiration is set on the Buddha-vehicle, it is called 'bodhisattva.'"
The guide summarizes Emptiness-of-nature as the level suited to a mind not yet able to see emptiness directly within phenomena: it must instead work backward through analysis, tracing a given offense through the conditions — a deluded mind meeting a deluded object — that produced it, until the offense proves ungraspable and only then can be called "empty." Because it still requires this analytical, step-by-step recovery of emptiness rather than seeing it at a glance, the guide treats it as the entry level of the three, shared by both classes of Hinayana practitioner (śrāvaka and pratyekabuddha) despite their different paths.
Emptiness-of-characteristics, the guide notes, is a genuine step up rather than a mere restatement: where the first level empties out a fixed self behind the offense, this level empties out the offense's very appearance, treating it — like a conjured illusion, or flowers hallucinated by diseased eyes — as nothing but a projection of deluded feeling from the start. The guide is careful to preserve the somewhat paradoxical label attached to this level, "minor bodhisattva": someone here has already generated the great bodhi-mind and so counts as a bodhisattva in aspiration, yet has "not yet fully fathomed the root of the mind itself," which is exactly why this contemplation is still needed and why, on the doctrinal-school axis, it is still classed with the "lesser" teaching even while its aspiration reaches toward the Great Vehicle.
8. Milestone: Level Three — Consciousness-Only, and a Caution Against Overreach
The third and deepest contemplation holds that no external object exists apart from consciousness itself — the level reserved for the great bodhisattva and for Buddhahood's own fruit. Because this is by far the loftiest of the three, the passage anticipates an obvious objection and answers it directly: ranking a contemplation this high does not mean confession is only for the already-exalted, nor does it excuse anyone from practicing at whatever level actually matches their own capacity.
△事鈔續云『三者諸法 外塵本無、實唯有識。 此理深妙、唯意緣知。是大菩薩佛果證行。故攝論云、唯識通四位等。』
[Continuation] The Procedural Commentary continues: "The third holds that external objects have, at root, no existence at all, and that in reality there is only consciousness. This principle is deep and subtle, known only through the mind, and belongs to the practice and realization of the great bodhisattva and of Buddhahood itself. Hence the Mahāyānasaṃgraha says that Consciousness-only extends through all four stages, and so on."
資持釋云『唯識中三科同上觀境可解。 能觀中。外塵謂一切境界也。言本無者有二義、一者境即心故、二者虛妄見故。實唯有識者言唯則遮於外境、言識則表於內心。 判位中。上二句彰勝。對前粗淺故云深妙。次二句正判。大菩薩者初地已去也。故下引證。彼以五十二位總為四位。論云。一切法以識為相、真如為境。境即是體依此境界、隨心信樂、入信樂位。此收加行十信十住十行十迴向四十位如理通達、得入見位。即初地也能對治一切障、得入修位。二地至七地出離障垢、得入究竟位。八地至佛地初位所修名影像唯識、後三所修名真唯識。有人將前小菩薩對加行者不知觀行不同也 問。有人云、唯識觀、現山判位太高。又云、深位無罪、豈須懺悔。其意云何。答。論文自云唯識通四位、那責南山判耶。此蓋特舉深位以彰理妙、當知悔法正為下凡、故下勸令任智強弱隨事觀緣豈令果佛而悔罪耶。前修率爾不無小疵、後進狂簡便生輕謗。寄言有識、詳而慎之。』已上皆見事鈔記卷二十八
The Zichi Commentary explains: "The three sections within the discussion of Consciousness-only correspond to those above, and the object contemplated can be understood accordingly. Within the contemplating [wisdom]: 'external objects' refers to every kind of sense-object; the phrase 'at root have no existence' carries two meanings — first, that the object simply is the mind itself; second, that it is a purely deluded perception. As for 'in reality there is only consciousness': the word 'only' rules out any independent external object, while the word 'consciousness' points to the inner mind. In ranking the level: the first two clauses proclaim its superiority, calling it 'deep and subtle' in contrast to the coarser, shallower levels before it. The next two clauses render the actual ranking: 'great bodhisattva' means one from the first ground onward. Hence what follows cites supporting evidence: [the Mahāyānasaṃgraha] takes the fifty-two stages of the bodhisattva path and gathers them into four. The treatise says: all dharmas take consciousness as their characteristic mark, and true suchness as their object; since the object is itself the very substance [of consciousness], one who, in accordance with this object, follows the mind's own faith and aspiration enters the stage of faith and aspiration — this comprises the forty stages of the preparatory practices, the ten stages of faith, the ten abodes, the ten practices, and the ten dedications. One who penetrates this in accordance with principle enters the stage of insight, that is, the first ground itself, able to counteract every hindrance. One who then enters the stage of cultivation spans the second ground through the seventh, departing from every trace of defilement, and enters the stage of ultimate consummation from the eighth ground through the stage of Buddhahood. What is cultivated at the very first of these final stages is called 'image-only consciousness-only'; what is cultivated in the remaining three is called 'true consciousness-only.' Some people match the 'minor bodhisattva' level discussed earlier against this preparatory-practice stage — this is a failure to recognize that the actual contemplative practice at each level is not the same.
Question: Some say that ranking the Consciousness-only contemplation at so lofty a stage seems excessively high; they further say that at so deep a stage there is no longer any offense left to speak of, so what need is there for confession at all? What is the meaning of this? Answer: The treatise itself states that Consciousness-only 'extends through all four stages' — how, then, could this be turned into a reproach against Nanshan's own ranking of it? This ranking is raised here specifically to reveal how deep and subtle the principle truly is; one should understand that the method of confession exists, properly speaking, precisely for the sake of ordinary worldlings still below these stages. Hence what follows exhorts the practitioner to take up whichever [of the three contemplations] suits the strength or weakness of their own wisdom, and to contemplate according to the actual matter at hand — how could this possibly mean one must wait until reaching Buddhahood's own fruit before confessing any offense at all? Earlier practitioners who took this up too hastily could hardly avoid some minor flaw; but later students who grow reckless and dismissive of it, in turn, easily fall into a shallow, disparaging attitude toward it. I leave this word for those of discernment, to be examined and approached with genuine care." [All of the above is found in the Zichi Commentary, fascicle 28.]
| Level | What is seen | Who is actually capable of it |
|---|---|---|
| 性空 — Emptiness-of-nature | Tracing the offense through cause and condition until no fixed self committing it can be found | Hinayana practitioners — śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas alike |
| 相空 — Emptiness-of-characteristics | Seeing that every appearance, offense included, is a mere projection of deluded feeling | The "minor bodhisattva" — aspiration already generated, but the root of the mind not yet fully fathomed |
| 唯識 — Consciousness-only | Holding that external objects have no existence apart from consciousness itself | The great bodhisattva, from the first ground onward, through to the fruit of Buddhahood |
The guide treats Consciousness-only as differing from the first two levels in kind, not just in degree: rather than emptying out a self, or emptying out an appearance, it denies that any external object exists apart from consciousness at all — "only" ruling out the outer object, "consciousness" affirming the inner mind as what is actually there. It underscores the ranking the commentary gives this level real teeth: citing the Mahāyānasaṃgraha's compression of the bodhisattva path's fifty-two stages into four, the guide notes that genuine Consciousness-only contemplation is placed no earlier than the first ground — a stage most practitioners, including most who call themselves advanced, have not remotely reached.
The guide gives particular weight to the question-and-answer that follows, reading it as this gate's central caution: if Consciousness-only is ranked this high, does that mean confession itself is only for the exalted, or that someone at a "deep" stage has no more offenses to confess? Yuan Zhao's answer, as the guide paraphrases it, refuses both conclusions — the lofty ranking is there only to show how subtle the principle is, not to gatekeep who may confess; the method of confession exists specifically for ordinary worldlings, and each person is told to use whichever of the three levels actually matches their own strength of wisdom. The guide draws out the closing warning as evenly balanced rather than one-sided: a beginner who takes up a contemplation too hastily will have minor flaws, which is forgivable — but a more advanced student who grows arrogant and dismissive toward confession itself, on the grounds that they have supposedly outgrown it, commits the worse error of the two.
9. Milestone: Closing — Match the Practice to Your Own Capacity
The gate closes where it began: with the reminder that these three levels exist to be matched against a practitioner's actual strength, not treated as a ladder everyone is expected to climb to its top rung. The Zichi Commentary's own closing gloss adds an unmistakable note of lament about how rarely, in the compendium's own age, even the more basic practices are being kept up at all.
第三節
結示
▲事鈔云『以此三理、任智強弱、隨事觀緣、無罪不遣。』
Section Three
A Closing Statement
[Fresh citation] The Procedural Commentary says: "By means of these three principles, taking up whichever suits the strength or weakness of one's own wisdom, and contemplating in accordance with the actual matter at hand, there is no offense that cannot be dispelled."
資持釋云『據理深淺、由機強弱、當量己分隨力修之。然末世情昏、鮮逢利器。尚未堪事行、況克意於玄門。三觀微言、於茲殆絕嗚呼。』見事鈔記卷二十八
上來別明化教二懺中第二章重廣理懺竟
The Zichi Commentary explains: "According to the depth or shallowness of the principle, and according to the strength or weakness of one's own capacity, one should measure one's own portion and cultivate according to one's actual ability. And yet, in this degenerate age, people's minds are dull and confused, and one rarely encounters a person of truly sharp faculties; they are not yet even equal to the practice of ritual confession, let alone capable of setting their intent upon this profound gateway. The subtle words of these three contemplations have all but vanished from the world in our own time — alas!" [Zichi Commentary, fascicle 28]
With this, the second chapter of this gate — Elaborating Confession Through Insight — is concluded.
The guide reads the closing instruction plainly: depth of principle and strength of capacity are to be matched to one another, each person measuring their own actual portion rather than reaching either above or below it. It treats the Zichi Commentary's closing lament — that even basic ritual confession is barely being kept up, let alone the three contemplations themselves — as more than incidental color. The guide draws an explicit line back to the very end of this compendium's earlier Part on the Precept-Body, where Lingzhi's own closing words turn toward taking refuge in the Pure Land: when direct contemplation is this difficult and the general capacity of the age this weak, concrete, down-to-earth practice — confession, prostration, recitation, and ultimately seeking rebirth in the Pure Land — becomes, if anything, the more urgent and appropriate place to actually put one's effort, not a lesser consolation for those who cannot manage the "real" path.