懺悔 Repentance

Recently, Tzu Chi foundation had a performance titled "Water Repentance" in Taiwan. It's goal was to encourage people to "repent" for their "Dark Side." In the Buddhist Text of the same title, the "Dark Side" is broken down into 10 "bad karmic deeds". 3 bodily deeds of "kill", "steal", "lust". 4 deeds that originate from the mouth: "bad languages", "lie", "flattery", "two tongues". But all these 7 "Dark Sides" can trace their sources to the 3 poisons of "greed", "anger" and "ignorance".


前陣子，慈濟有一個經藏演繹叫「水懺」。
它的目標是鼓勵每個人為自己的「黑暗面」懺悔。
在佛經裡，「黑暗面」可以被分成三種「身」業：「殺」、「盜」、「淫」，
四種「口」業：「妄語」、「綺語」、「兩舌」、「惡口」。
這七種 「身口」業都是從三毒或「意」業而起，那就是「貪」、「嗔」、「癡」。


But for us, repentance is not about confession. It's not about apologizing for your misbehavior. It's not about feeling sorry for yourself or your victims. And It's not about asking for forgiveness. It's about understanding why you have the "Dark Side", why you need to use the "Dark Side," and how to change yourself so you don't need to use the "Dark Side" ever again.


從我們這個法門來說，「懺悔」的重點不是告解，也不是為您的行為道歉，
更不是覺得對不起自己或受害者，更沒有要求寬恕。
懺悔的重點是理解為什麼您有「黑暗面」？
為什麼您需要使用「黑暗面」？然後如何改變自己？
所以您以後就不需要使用「黑暗面」了。


Maybe I am harsh, but I believe that everyone should strive for uttering an apology to a particular misdeed once and only once. To me, if you feel really sorry about doing something, you should do your best not to do it again, and the best chance you have for preventing the same action is to understand why you did it in the first place and change yourself. Otherwise, apologizing for the same thing over and over again seems very insincere to me, and doesn't accomplish anything other than making yourself feel better.


也許我很苛刻，但我認為每個人都應該只為一種行為道歉一次。
對我來說，如果一個人真的覺得對不起，那他就不會再犯下同樣的行為。
或許習性難改，但是如果一個人能盡量了解自己，他就有能改變自己。
否則，為類似的事情道歉又道歉，對我來說是一個很虛偽的行為。
那沒有什麼好處，只是讓自己心裡覺得舒服一點而已。


From our point of view, repentance is also about repaying the debt owed to the victims, to make amend. Often, this is the hardest thing to do. If you lied about somebody, maybe you need to publicly apologize. If you stole someone's money, you will need to repay him, sometimes, with interests. If you killed a person, maybe you will need to repay your life to him, if not in this life time, in the next. The debt will be settled eventually, either voluntarily (i.e. you actively try to repay the debt and not trying to avoid it.), or involuntarily by the force of karma. For us, it is the best to repay your debt as fast as possible, therefore, voluntarily. Because any karmic debt will be an obstacle in your path to enlightenment.


我們的法門認為真正懺悔是需要付出代價的，需要用實際行動，還債於被害者。
這是一件很難的事。
如果您說人家的壞話，也許您需要公眾道歉。
如果偷了別人的錢，錢就要還，有時還要加利息。
如果您殺了一個人，也許代價是您的生命，如果不是這輩子，那有可能就是來世。
反正，欠人家的東西總是要還的，您可以主動的去還，或者您可以等業報來臨，
這是無法避免的。
對於我們來說，越早還越好，因為業報會阻礙您的進步。


Repentance is about asking yourself "why" as a path to change yourself.


懺悔的一個重點是：自我反省，進而從自我反省的過程中去尋找一條路，來改變自己。


The point of repentance is to use real actions to repay your debt to the victim of your "Dark Side".


懺悔的另一個重點是：用實際行動，還債於被害者。 不是無形的而已。


Repentance is only the beginning.


懺悔只是一個開始。