The Compassionate Samadhi Water Repentance Dharma Function Held for the Ching Ming Festival – Passing Down Chinese Traditional Values

The annual Compassionate Samahi Water Repentance Dharma Function was held at the temple on 2nd April. The ceremony was presided by Venerable Abbess Manshin and joined by a congregation of over 180 devotees. The ceremony included recitation of the “Compassionate Samadhi Water Repentance Text”. This Dharma function was held in respect to the Chinese tradition of honouring ancestors, where merits generated from repentance can be transferred to our ancestors to ensure they be reborn in good places with good health, wisdom and fortune.

During the Dharma talk the Abbess disseminated the historical source and meaning of National Master Wuda’s “Compassionate Samadhi Water Repentance” by emphasising the meanings of “The act of Repentance” and “Principles of Repentance”. She explained that repentance can be understood through both perceivable action and underlying principles. The perceived action of repentance can be done through prostration, exclaiming words of praise, chanting of sutras, charity, and doing good deeds etc. As long as one can carry out these deeds with a sense of atonement then a portion of their past transgressions will be eliminated. Repentance is also much like cleaning a container, where as long as you are dedicated at scrubbing away the grime your container will eventually become pure and pristine. This is the perceivable act of repentance. The Abbess followed by explaining the meaning of “Principles of Repentance” as the elimination of transgressions by contemplating the principle reality of appearances. This is through the contemplation and cultivation of Prajna Wisdom to perceive the fundamental empty nature of transgressions in reality. This is what’s called: “Bad Karma are created by the mind and are fundamentally empty, hence when the mind ceases then transgressions will be eliminated; when the mind ceases and transgressions are eliminated then they are both empty, this is what is called true repentance.” It is like a room that has been darkened for a thousand years being illuminated instantly with a spark of light, which is why the Dharma method of repentance that contemplates “True appearance has no appearance” and awakening to “the nature of transgressions is fundamentally empty” are akin to light, and such light can pierce the darkness of ignorance. Repentance can also be perceived as castle walls that guard the mind’s 6 gate, a bridge that lead to Buddhahood, and ornaments that adorns the Bodhi Path.