Reflect on the formless repentance: the past, and the future
Look honestly at the three defilements the sūtra names, stupidity, deceit and jealousy, and form a resolve about how you will meet them next time.
Why it works
In the Repentance chapter, “repentance” (chan) is to repent past wrongs, and “remorse” (hui) is to resolve about future errors; together they are “repentance and remorse.” The formless repentance names the three defilements of stupidity, deceit and jealousy, and asks that each moment of thought be unstained by them across past, present and future. The text presents this as a way to purify body, speech and mind without relying on outside rites, saying “Do not seek outside of yourselves.” The sūtra’s point about future remorse is the part many people leave out.
How to do it
- Before reflecting, sit or stand for a breath, feel your feet and seat, and let your shoulders drop. If the reflection starts to feel like punishment, stop and return to your senses. The sūtra presents the formless repentance as bequeathed by the master and recited in unison with the assembly; the full form is learned with a teacher or community. What follows is only a private reflection inspired by it.
- Recall one recent occasion where stupidity, meaning not seeing what was happening, or deceit or jealousy shaped what you did.
- Name it plainly, without an elaborate story, such as “this was jealousy,” and acknowledge what it cost the other person or you.
- Form a resolve about the future: the next time this arises, what would it mean to see it sooner?
- End by sitting briefly with the three defilements in general, to remember them as passing states rather than as who you are.
Evidence
The formless repentance and its gloss on “repentance” and “remorse” are in the Repentance chapter of McRae’s translation. In the text, the repentance is recited in unison and led by the master; this page describes an individual reflection on its terms and does not reproduce the liturgy. (anecdotal)
The full formless repentance is learned with a teacher or community; this page offers only a private reflection inspired by it. Adapting a community liturgy into solitary reflection is the page’s choice. Reflection on past wrongs can deepen distress for some people. If guilt becomes punishing, stop, and talk with someone you trust or a clinician; the meditation-related-challenges page covers this.
Sources
Common mistake
Repenting only the past, which the sūtra describes as what ordinary people do, while leaving out the remorse about future errors. The opposite error is self-punishment, which the sūtra does not describe.
Practice this with IX Coach
More practices for Sudden Awakening in the Platform Sūtra: Seeing One’s Own Nature
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Let thoughts arise and pass without taking hold of them, instead of trying to stop them from coming.
- Notice where the mind has settled during a dispute
In a conflict, find the point where your mind has fixed on one side, and let that grip loosen without pretending the issue is absent.
- Set the two verses side by side and look at what you are wiping
Compare Shenxiu’s verse with Huineng’s, and notice whether you are carrying a cleaning project into your own practice.
- Sit with stillness and clear knowing as one lamp
Sit with the sense that calm and clear knowing are not two separate achievements, in the way a lamp and its light are not two things.
- Keep one straightforward mind in every posture
Carry a single, undivided attention through walking, standing, sitting and lying down, without performing it for anyone.
- Test your stillness by how you speak about others afterwards
After sitting, check whether the mind is still in the way it talks about other people, because the sūtra says a body still while the mouth judges others is going against the Way.
Related concepts
- Zen Buddhism: Its History, the Rinzai and Sōtō Schools, and How to Begin
The branch as a whole: where Zen came from, how its schools differ, and the practices of a Zen community
- Shikantaza: Just Sitting
Dogen’s objectless meditation — how to sit, what to expect, and honest evidence
- Buddha-Nature (Tathāgatagarbha): A Buddha Hidden in Every Being
The Mahāyāna teaching that a buddha is already present in every being, and how practitioners work with it
- The Heart Sutra: Its Lines, Its Structure and How It Is Practised
The shortest Perfection of Wisdom scripture, read line by line and practised the ways traditions practise it
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