Two Kinds of Repentance, Briefly Divided
This gate opens Part Three of the compendium, 懺悔篇, the Part on Repentance — and before it even reaches its own two chapters, the compendium first sets out the Procedural Commentary's and Zichi Commentary's general case for why repentance can never simply be left undone: an offense, once committed, binds itself into a seed of karma that must be uprooted, and a mind that turns to genuine regret can overturn even long-held evil in a single instant. At the emotional center of this opening material sits a striking passage from the Nirvāṇa Sūtra, contrasting the fate of someone who breaks one of the four gravest precepts but still confesses with shame and conscience against someone who does the very same thing without any remorse at all. Only then does the gate proper begin, drawing the basic distinction between two modes of repentance: confession under the teachings of transformation (化教), open to monastics and laity alike, and confession under the regulatory teaching (制教) — the Vinaya's own procedure, confined strictly to those who have gone forth.
1. Milestone: What Repentance Actually Means, and Why It Cannot Wait
Part Three opens not with a rule but with a case: the compendium first explains, on the authority of the Zichi Commentary, exactly what the word "repentance" is doing in Chinese and in Sanskrit at once, and then, quoting the Procedural Commentary, argues that any offense left unrepented has already become a seed bound to bear fruit — while a mind that suddenly turns to genuine regret can overturn even old evil in the space of a single thought.
懺悔篇
▲資持云『梵云懺摩、此翻悔往。有言懺悔、梵華雙舉。準業疏云、取其義意謂不造新、懺謂止斷未來非、悔謂恥心於往犯。有將懺字訓首訓鑒、義雖通得、華梵須分。』
Part Three — On Repentance
[Fresh citation] The Zichi Commentary says: "In Sanskrit this is called kṣamā; here it is rendered 'repenting what is past.' Some say '懺悔' (repentance), raising both the Sanskrit and the Chinese terms together at once. According to the Karma Commentary (業疏), taking up the sense of the term: it means not to create anew. 懺 (chan) means halting and cutting off wrongs yet to come; 悔 (hui) means feeling shame in one's heart over past transgressions. Some construe the character 懺 as meaning 'to bow the head' or 'to take as a mirror' — and although such readings can, in a general way, be made to work, the Chinese and Sanskrit terms must nonetheless be kept distinct."
▲事鈔云『夫結成罪種、理須懺除、則形清心淨。 故薩婆多云、無有一法疾於心者。不可以暫惡、便永棄之。故須懺悔。』
[Fresh citation] The Procedural Commentary says: "Now, once an offense has bound itself into a seed of karma, it must, in principle, be repented away and eliminated — only then does the body become clean and the mind pure. Hence the Sarvāstivādin [treatise] says: 'There is no single thing swifter than the mind.' One should not, on account of a momentary evil, cast oneself away forever — this is why repentance is necessary."
資持釋云『初敘懺意、上句明造業。結業成因、必招來果、故如種焉。次句明須懺。以犯從妄起、罪假緣生。妄體本空、緣生無性。了知妄本則犯相何依、識達緣生則罪根叵得。是以忽追所犯、深恨前非。仰對勝緣、盡披肝膽。罪從心起、還逐心亡。既伏現因、不牽後果。犯而不悔、業苦窮。有智識非、義無隱覆故也。則下彰益。
故下二引勸。初引論、不下申勸。彼論問曰、何法重於地、何法高於空、何法多於草、何法疾於風。答曰、戒德重於地、我慢高於空、煩惱多於草、心念疾於風。今略引後句。以明昔心造惡、今忽追悔、剎那翻善、不待終日。意令有犯速須求懺。』
The Zichi Commentary explains: "The opening portion narrates the intent of repentance. The line above explains the creating of karma: karma, once bound, becomes a cause that must inevitably draw a corresponding future fruit — hence it is likened to a seed. The next line explains the necessity of repentance. Because transgression arises from delusive thought, and offense is only provisionally generated through causes and conditions, the very substance of that delusion is originally empty, and whatever is generated through conditions has no fixed nature of its own. Once one clearly knows that the root of delusion is empty, upon what could the mark of transgression then depend? Once one penetrates that all things arise through conditions, the very root of offense becomes ungraspable. It is for this reason that, the moment one suddenly recalls what one has transgressed and comes to feel deep regret over one's past wrongs, and, looking up to face a supremely worthy object of confession, bares one's very liver and gall — since the offense arose from the mind, it likewise vanishes in pursuit of that same mind. Once the present cause has thus been subdued, it no longer draws forth any future fruit. But if one transgresses and does not repent, the suffering of that karma is without end — for one who has wisdom recognizes wrongdoing, and by right nothing should be concealed or covered over. The clause that follows then reveals the benefit [of repentance].
The two citations that follow are both adduced in order to exhort repentance. The first cites a treatise; the clause following it extends the exhortation further. That treatise poses the question: 'What thing is heavier than the earth? What thing is higher than the sky? What thing is more numerous than grass? What thing is swifter than the wind?' It answers: 'The virtue of the precepts is heavier than the earth; self-conceit is higher than the sky; afflictions are more numerous than grass; and the movement of thought is swifter than the wind.' Here [the Procedural Commentary] cites only the latter phrase, in brief, to show that the very mind that once created evil can, the moment it suddenly turns to regret, overturn itself into good in a single instant, without needing to wait for an entire day to pass. The intent is to make clear that once a transgression has occurred, one must seek repentance at once, without delay."
The companion guide reads this opening material as laying out, in careful stages, why repentance is not optional. Committing an offense is not a closed event that simply recedes into the past — it binds itself into a seed of karma that, left alone, will inevitably ripen into a corresponding fruit. But because that offense arose from delusive thought in the first place, and delusive thought has no fixed, independent substance of its own, genuine regret is able to reach all the way down to the root of the offense and undo it from there, rather than merely papering over its surface.
The guide also draws out the point behind the "heavier than the earth, swifter than the wind" verse: precept-virtue is called heavier than the earth and thought called swifter than the wind specifically to make a single practical point vivid — a mind that has just done evil can, in the very next instant, turn completely around into good, without needing to wait for any formal occasion or completed ritual. The lesson the guide draws for readers is blunt and immediate: the moment one becomes aware of having done wrong, one should seek to repent right away, rather than postponing it to some more convenient day.
2. Milestone: The Nirvāṇa Sūtra's Warning — Confessing with Shame, Confessing without It
The opening material now reaches its sharpest point: a passage from the Nirvāṇa Sūtra that takes the single worst class of offense in the monastic code — breaking one of the four gravest precepts — and shows that the offender's own inner state of shame and conscience, not the bare fact of the offense, is what actually decides whether the resulting suffering comes due lightly, in this very life, or heavily, in a life yet to come.
▲事鈔云『涅槃云。犯四重者、生報即受。
若披法服、猶未捨遠。常懷慚愧、恐怖自責。其心改悔。生護法心。建立正法、為人分別。我說是人不為破戒。 若犯四重、心無怖畏慚愧發露。於彼正法、永無護惜建立之心。毀呰輕賤、言多過咎。若復說言、無佛法僧。並名趣向一闡提道。
云何是業能得現報、不未來受。謂懺悔發露、供養三寶、常自呵南。以是善業、今世頭目等痛橫罹死殃鞭打飢餓。若不修身戒心慧、反上諸法、增長地獄。』
[Fresh citation] The Procedural Commentary says: "The Nirvāṇa Sūtra says: As for one who breaks one of the four gravest precepts — he receives it as retribution to be born into a future life.
If, though he has donned the monastic robe, he has not yet cast it far aside; if he constantly holds shame and conscience, feels dread, and reproaches himself; if his mind turns to repentance and gives rise to a mind that protects the Dharma, establishing the true Dharma and expounding it clearly for others — I say that such a person has not broken the precepts. But if, having broken one of the four gravest precepts, his mind holds no dread, no shame or conscience, and he does not disclose his fault; if toward the true Dharma he never once has any mind to protect, cherish, or establish it; if he disparages it and holds it in contempt, speaking many words of fault against it; and if he goes so far as to say there is no Buddha, no Dharma, no Saṅgha — all such people are said to be heading toward the path of the icchantika.
How is it that such karma can be received as retribution in the present life, and not be received only in a future life? It is because of repenting and disclosing one's fault, making offerings to the Three Jewels, and constantly reproaching oneself.* Because of this wholesome karma, in the present life one meets with such things as pain in the head or eyes, an untimely brush with mortal calamity, beatings, or hunger. But if one does not cultivate body, precepts, mind, and wisdom, and instead does the reverse of all these things, this only increases toward hell."
資持釋云『初示罪報。若下二時犯心有二、初約護法說破為不破。善業勝故、犯心輕故。亦欲進彼護法者。故未捨遠者謂於佛法猶戀慕故。
若犯下次約壞法說為犯。言多過咎即說佛法中多過失故。一闡提此云無信。 云下三示悔法、初標問。謂下答釋、初明懺者現報即受。所謂轉重為輕也。橫謂非橫、罹猶墮也。若下明不懺者生報方受。彼經云。若不觀身無常、名不修身。不觀戒是善梯磴、名不修戒。不觀心躁動制伏、名不修心。不觀智慧有力能斷、名不修慧。』已上皆見事鈔記卷二十八
The Zichi Commentary explains: "The opening portion shows the retribution for the offense. From 'if' onward, the passage shows two cases of the mind at the moment of transgression. The first, in terms of protecting the Dharma, explains that though the precept is broken, it is spoken of as 'not broken' — because the wholesome karma [of repentance] outweighs the transgression, and because the transgressing mind is thereby light. This is also meant to encourage those who protect the Dharma to continue doing so. Hence 'not yet cast it far aside' means that one still cherishes and longs for the Buddha-Dharma.
From the second 'if' onward, the passage speaks in terms of destroying the Dharma, and calls this a genuine transgression. 'Speaking many words of fault' means speaking of many faults within the Buddha-Dharma itself. Icchantika (一闡提) here means 'without faith.' From 'how' onward, third, the passage shows the method of repentance; first it poses the question. From 'it is because' onward is the answer; first it clarifies that for one who repents, the retribution is received immediately, in the present life — this is what is called 'turning the heavy into the light.' 'Untimely' here means 'not truly untimely'; '罹' is equivalent to '墮,' [meaning] to fall into or encounter. From the next 'if' onward, the passage clarifies that for one who does not repent, the retribution is received only in a future birth. That sūtra elsewhere says: 'If one does not contemplate the body as impermanent, this is called not cultivating the body. If one does not contemplate the precepts as a good stepping-stone, this is called not cultivating the precepts. If one does not contemplate the mind's restlessness and bring it under control, this is called not cultivating the mind. If one does not contemplate wisdom as having the power to cut off affliction, this is called not cultivating wisdom.'" [All of the above, from the citation on the seed of offense through this point, is found in the Zichi Commentary, fascicle 28.]
* The source text reads 常自呵南 ("南," south) at this point; given that the Zichi Commentary's own gloss just above speaks of self-reproach, and 南 and 責 are not an obvious classical variant pair, this looks like an OCR-era misreading of 常自呵責 ("constantly reproaching oneself") — the reading followed here and confirmed by the Ru-Yi Study Group's independent transcription of the same passage.
The guide treats this passage as the emotional center of the whole gate, and reduces it to a single hinge: it is the same offense — breaking one of the four gravest precepts — under both columns below, and the only variable is the offender's own state of mind afterward.
| Case | Inner state | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Protects the Dharma | Still holds shame and conscience, dread, and self-reproach; turns to repentance; gives rise to a mind that protects and upholds the true Dharma | Retribution is received immediately, in this present life — the heavy is turned light |
| Destroys the Dharma | No dread, no shame or conscience, no disclosure of fault; no mind at all to protect or cherish the true Dharma; disparages and holds it in contempt | Retribution is deferred to a future birth, and grows heavier — increasing toward hell |
As the guide puts it, this is the first real jolt the Part on Repentance wants to give its reader: shame and conscience are not decorative feelings layered on top of an offense — they are what actually converts a deferred, compounding future debt into something worked off, lighter, in the present. The four things the Zichi Commentary lists as neglected by the unrepentant offender — not contemplating the body as impermanent, the precepts as a stepping-stone, the mind's restlessness, and wisdom's power to cut through affliction — read less as a separate list than as a diagnosis of exactly what shame and conscience would otherwise have kept in view.
3. Milestone: Chapter One — Clarifying the Teachings of Transformation
With the case for repentance made, the gate proper now opens. The compendium first announces that Part Three itself divides into two gates, of which this is the first; this gate, in turn, divides into two chapters — and the first chapter takes up 化教, the teachings of transformation, the doctrinal side of the Buddha's teaching that both monastics and laypeople share.
懺悔中分為二門┬一略分化制通局
└二別明化教二懺
第一門
略分化制通局
略分化制通局中分為二章┬一明化教
└二明制教
第一章
明化教
▲事鈔云『今懺悔之法大略有二、初則理懺二則事懺。此之二懺通道含俗。』
The Part on Repentance divides into two gates: first, Two Kinds of Repentance, Briefly Divided; second, The Two Modes of Confession Under the Teachings of Transformation, Explained in Detail.
Gate One — Two Kinds of Repentance, Briefly Divided
This gate on the basic division between the doctrinal and regulatory teachings' repentance divides into two chapters: first, Clarifying the Teachings of Transformation; second, Clarifying the Regulatory Teaching.
Chapter One — Clarifying the Teachings of Transformation
[Fresh citation] The Procedural Commentary says: "The methods of repentance, broadly speaking, are two: the first is confession through insight; the second is confession through ritual practice. These two modes of confession extend through both monastics and the laity alike."
資持釋云『化教具兼兩懺、通被二眾、如文所敘。又復二懺通大小乘。又所犯罪通悔三世、總牒十業。』見事鈔記卷二十八
The Zichi Commentary explains: "The teachings of transformation embrace both modes of confession together, and extend to both of the two assemblies [monastic and lay], exactly as the text describes. Moreover, the two modes of confession extend through both the Great and Lesser Vehicles alike. And further, whatever offense is committed may be confessed across all three time periods [past, present, and future], comprehensively covering the ten courses of karma." [Zichi Commentary, fascicle 28]
上來略分化制通局中第一章明化教竟
With this, the first chapter of this gate — Clarifying the Teachings of Transformation — is concluded.
4. Milestone: Chapter Two — Clarifying the Regulatory Teaching, and the Comparison Table
The second chapter turns to 制教, the regulatory teaching — confession under the Vinaya proper — and shows, point by point, why it is so much narrower in scope than the confession just described. The gate then closes with a table, drawn from the Zichi Commentary's own wording, setting the two side by side.
第二章
明制教
▲事鈔云『若論律懺、唯局道眾。 由犯託受生、汙本須淨。 還依初受、次第治之。』
Chapter Two — Clarifying the Regulatory Teaching
[Fresh citation] The Procedural Commentary says: "As for confession under the Vinaya — it is confined solely to the assembly of those who have gone forth. This is because a transgression arises out of dependence upon the precept-reception one has undertaken; the original purity, once defiled, must be made clean again — and it is by returning to rely upon that initial reception that one deals with it in due order."
資持釋云『制中反成五局。言律懺者局小宗也、如文自述局道眾也、託受生者局事行也、依初受者局現犯也、次第治者局名體也。上且分對、次釋文相。初二句標局。言道眾者總收出家五位。
由下釋局所以。文敘犯懺皆依本受、受是稟制、於制順違遂成持犯、則彰律懺與經天別矣。初句示犯起之本、次句明制懺之意。 還下示立懺之法。』見事鈔記卷二十八
The Zichi Commentary explains: "Within the regulatory teaching, these same points instead come to form five kinds of confinement. Speaking of 'confession under the Vinaya' confines it to the tenets of the Lesser Vehicle; as the text itself states, it confines it to the assembly of those who have gone forth; 'depending upon reception' confines it to actual conduct; 'relying on the initial reception' confines it to present transgressions; and 'dealing with it in due order' confines it to fixed names and essences. The above first sets these out point by point in correspondence; what follows explains the shape of the text itself. The first two lines mark out the confinement. 'The assembly of those who have gone forth' comprehensively gathers in all five ranks of the monastic life.
From 'because' onward, the text explains the reason for this confinement. It states that both transgression and confession alike depend upon the original reception of the precepts; that reception is itself the undertaking of a regulatory rule, and whether one accords with or violates that rule is precisely what constitutes 'upholding' or 'violating' it — this makes plain that confession under the Vinaya is worlds apart from confession under the sūtras. The first line shows the root from which transgression arises; the next line clarifies the intent of confession under the regulatory teaching. From 'return' onward, the text shows the method by which confession is established." [Zichi Commentary, fascicle 28]
上來略分化制通局中第二章明制教竟
With this, the second chapter of this gate — Clarifying the Regulatory Teaching — is concluded.
化制二教、通局互對。今依記文列表如下。
┌化教─二懺通大小乘─通被二眾─具兼兩懺─所犯罪通悔三世─總牒十業
└制教─局小宗────局道眾──局事行──局理犯─────局名體
The doctrinal and regulatory teachings, in what they extend to and what confines them, stand in mutual contrast to one another. A table is given below, based on the wording of the Commentary.
| Vehicle | Assembly | Modes of confession | Temporal reach | Content | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 化教 — Teachings of transformation | Extends through both the Great and Lesser Vehicles | Extends to both assemblies, monastic and lay | Embraces both confession through insight and confession through ritual practice | Confesses offenses across all three time periods | Comprehensively covers the ten courses of karma |
| 制教 — Regulatory teaching | Confined to the tenets of the Lesser Vehicle | Confined to the assembly of those who have gone forth | Confined to actual conduct | Confined to present transgressions* | Confined to fixed names and essences |
* The source table prints 局理犯 here, but the Zichi Commentary's own gloss just above this table defines this exact point as 局現犯 ("confined to present transgressions") — and 現 and 理 share the 王 radical and are easy to mistake for one another in a scanned text, so 局理犯 is followed here as a likely OCR-era slip for 局現犯 rather than a separate reading.
上來懺悔篇中第一門略分化制通局竟
With this, the first gate of Part Three, the Part on Repentance — Two Kinds of Repentance, Briefly Divided — is concluded.
The guide reads the regulatory teaching's five points of confinement as all following from a single fact: Vinaya confession is tied to a specific precept-reception that only a monastic actually underwent, so its entire procedure — which offenses it covers, who may use it, and how it is carried out — stays bound to that original ordination in a way lay practice under the doctrinal teaching never is. Where the teachings of transformation reach across both vehicles, both assemblies, all three time periods, and the full range of the ten courses of karma, the regulatory teaching is deliberately narrow on every one of those same five axes at once.
For a lay reader, the guide draws out, this narrowing is not a loss but a relief: the confession actually available to a layperson — confession through insight and confession through ritual practice, the two modes named in Chapter One and taken up in full in the next gate — is already the broader of the two paths, open to laity from the start, reaching back across past, present, and future offenses alike, and requiring no monastic ordination as its precondition. Not being able to use the Vinaya's own procedure, in other words, costs a layperson nothing that the teachings of transformation do not already supply in fuller measure.