Confession

Confession - The Purification Process of Confessions

It has three subdivisions:

1. The general negative actions

2. The transgressions of the three vows

3. The faults without vows

1: The General Negative Actions

From beginning-less time until now,

The five inexpiable, and five nearly inexpiable actions,

The four heavy, eight wrong, and the nine delusions,

The ten non-virtues, I confess the accumulation of all these negative actions.

“The five inexpiable,”

The five inexpiable actions

1. Killing your own father.

2. Killing your own mother.

3. Killing your son and daughter

4. killing your nephew and niece,

5. killing your student, and killing a noble Foe Destroyer,

“and five nearly inexpiable actions,”

The five nearly inexpiable actions

1. Killing Bӧn practitioners

2. destroying consecrated three objects of support

3. revealing the teachings,

4. killing those who have entered the teachings,

5. Causing spiritual friends to impair the root spiritual commitments.

“The four heavy,”

The four heavy actions

1. To anger the Lama,

2. being friends with bad people,

3. causing generous people to stop being like that,

4. And doing the opposite of what you promise.

These are very evil so they are considered heavy.

“eight wrong,”

The eight wrong actions

1. Yelling from the top of a mountain,

2. setting fire to a forest,

3. making a river go in another direction as a trap,

4. teaching incorrectly,

5. helping others kill,

6. fighting in a civil war,

7. denying the law of cause and effect,

8. And having sex with your mother.

“and the nine delusions,”

The nine delusions

1. To believe dreams are real,

2. the mind being seduced and going after the object with admiration,

3. harming and scorning older people,

4. having great desire and attachment for cyclic existence,

5. too much affection for relatives,

6. having great desire and attachment for possessions,

7. too attached to your area or country,

8. previous bad karma continuing in this life too powerfully,

9. And being distracted by endless worldly activities.

“The ten non-virtues,”

The ten non-virtues

The Three Non-Virtues of the Body

a. Killing is the act of separating the body and mind of a sentient being.

The divisions are:

1. Killing through hatred like warriors killing enemies in battle.

2. Killing through attachment and desire like desiring to eat the flesh and wear the skin of goats, sheeps, and so forth.

3. Killing through ignorance like those who do not know the cause and effect of virtue and non-virtue, or those who do not understand religion properly and make offerings of sentient beings.

b. Sexual Misconduct is immoral sexual intercourse

The divisions are:

1. Protected by lineage like brother and sister of the same parents

2. Protected by spouse, like having sex with a married person

3. Protected by precepts, like having sex with a nun who has taken vows

c. Stealing, taking what is not given, is taking possessions that you do not own that

were not given to you.

The divisions are:

1. Taking by force, like taking without the authority of the government or king.

2. Stealing through power, like many people together with the power of arms directly stealing and so forth.

3. Stealing in a stealthy manner, like a thief who does not use force but takes belongings without the owner seeing.

4. Taking possessions in business and so forth by lying to deceive others

5. Taking through deceit, like making up wrong volume and measurements and so forth in order to take and claim ownership of others possessions and so forth.

The Four Non-Virtues of Speech

a. Harsh speech is to disturb others' minds with your words.

The divisions are:

1. Direct harsh speech is like exclaiming to someone about their being deaf or blind and calling them that right to them.

2. Indirect harsh speech, like sending messages that disturb other’s minds.

3. Abusive speech; although the words may be pleasant, they make other’s minds upset.

b. Pointless speech is speaking many irrelevant, meaningless words.

The divisions are

1. Nonsense speech that is spontaneously, carelessly speaking

2. Especially pointless speech is talking when you know you should not talk, like at a prayer gathering or initiation.

3. Unreal pointless speech like singing and stories.

c. Lying is to know the truth of something but to express untrue words to others.

The divisions are:

1. Lying without benefit or harm which is not intending to mislead, others, like saying things that are untrue when joking around.

2. Lying with benefit and harm, intending to mislead others and, speaking untrue words.

3. Serious lying, like falsely claiming to see Buddhas, and saying you have attained levels of spiritual realization that you have not.

d. Divisive Speech is saying words that incite discord between friends and break

their relationship

The divisions are:

1. Forceful divisive speech, when someone with power directly uses forceful words to separate friends.

2. Concealed divisive speech, as when there are two friends and you go to one and say the other criticized him, then this causes them to separate.

3. Exhorting divisive speech, although the divisive speech is not direct, you say something to others whom the friends associate with which creates discord between the two friends.

The Three Non-Virtues of the Mind

a. Evil Mindedness is a desirous mind that wishes to get attractive things, food,

possessions, and so forth for oneself.

The divisions are:

1. The evil mind wishing to get others’ food and wealth for oneself.

2. Delighting and having evil thoughts that others do not have fortune, possessions, and so forth.

3. Selfishness, wishing to have fortune, possessions, and so forth for oneself, and at the same time delighting in others not getting such things.

b. Malice is the intention to harm the object one feels is unpleasant.

The divisions are:

1. The mind is angry with another and wants to harm and injure which is the malice that arises from the aspect of hatred.

2. When you become unhappy about others being great and famous is the malice that arises from the aspect of jealousy.

3. When you do not forget being harmed previously by others and you want to retaliate which is malice arising from the aspect of resentment.

c. Wrong Views are the mistaken understanding of the meaning.

The divisions are:

1. The wrong view of cause and effect of thinking that there is no benefit to positive actions, and that there is no harm in negative actions.

2. The wrong view of the Three Jewels of not going for refuge in the Buddha, and not having faith in the Buddha’s teachings.

3. Following the wrong views of the truth of extremist philosophies

“I confess the accumulation of all these negative actions.”

Admit and confess all of the accumulation of negative actions done by yourself, encouraged others to do, or rejoiced at others doing.

We confess all of the negative accumulations done by ourselves and encourage others to do the same, supporting others. The ten non-virtuous deeds are very important. Try every day to not connect to these deeds. This is part of our practice and accumulation of merit. The effect of this will not arise immediately but when it ripens. Keep them in your mind and try to stop and avoid them.

2: The Transgressions of the Three Vows

It has three subdivisions:

1. the vow of the individual liberation (monks and nuns)

2. the vow of the bodhisattva (bodhicitta vows)

3. the vow of tantra

1: The Vow of the Individual Liberation (monks and nuns)

The Four Defeats, Remainders,

Afflictive Emotions, Delusions, Great Rules, Discipline, Food,

Three Separate Parts, and so forth,

I confess breaking the vows of Individual Liberation.

“The Four Defeats,”

These are the four root vows of individual liberation.

The Four Defeats (or the four root fours).

1. killing special people

2. taking other peoples’ things without permission

3. having sex

4. lying about spiritual accomplishments

Monks have 4 vows but nuns have 8. Don’t ask me why they are different! We have to ask Tonpa Sherab.

“Remainders”

The Sixty-Three Remainders:

1. Ten Pointless Speech

2. Six Harsh Speech

3. Four Subtle Dissensions

4. Eight Evil Intents

5. Twenty-Three Cruelties

6. Twenty Wrong Views

(All counted these equal Sixty-Three)

“Afflictive Emotions,”

The Class of the Sixty-Eight Afflictive Emotions:

The Ten of Ignorance

1. Ignorance because of not knowing the reality of objects

2. Ignorance because of mental darkness

3. Ignorance because of not knowing why you circle in cyclic existence

4. Ignorance because of the defilement of taking birth in the lower realms

5. Ignorance by the accumulation of negative karmic traces

6. Ignorance because of the karmic defilement of exploitation

7. Ignorance because of being distracted by thinking of the past

8. Ignorance because of continuously being born in bad realms

9. Ignorance because of being preoccupied with alcohol

10. Ignorance because of the fruition of past karma

The Fifteen of Hatred

1. Hatred because of ignorance

2. Hatred to life because of ignorance

3. Hatred to the breath because of ignorance

4. Hatred to the body because of ignorance

5. Hatred to the speech because of ignorance

6. Hatred to the mind because of ignorance

7. Hatred to the complexion because of ignorance

8. Hatred to adornments because of ignorance

9. Hatred to past negative karma

10. Hatred because of course thoughts

11. Hatred because of experiencing undesirable sensations

12. Hatred because of being biased

13. Hatred because of negative intentions and activity

14. Hatred because of fighting

15. Hatred because of not having love, compassion and so forth

The Sixteen of Attachment

1. Attachment to external attractive things

2. Sexual attachment to beings

3. Attachment to beautiful women

4. Attachment to the complexion of women

5. Attachment to the songs of women

6. Attachment to the affectionate expressions of women

7. Attachment to the adornments of women

8. Mentally cheating sexually

9. Attachment to nice houses

10. Attachment to the king’s treasure

11. Attachment to precious jewels

12. Attachment to clothes

13. Attachment to delicious food

14. Attachment to melodious sounds

15. Attachment to sweet smells

16. Attachment to fantasy

The Eleven of Envy

1. Envy of desiring your own greatness

2. Envy of dislike to others

3. Envious of living somewhere

4. Envy to traveling

5. Envious of food

6. Envious of clothes and adornments

7. Envious of jobs

8. Envious of others becoming good

9. Envious of where others are going that you are not

10. Envious of others’ power

11. Envious because of perverse karma

The Sixteen of Pride

1. Prideful because of fighting

2. Prideful of teaching in correctly

3. Prideful because of doing important things

4. Prideful because of the ego

5. Prideful thinking you are the best

6. Prideful because you can do things others cannot

7. Prideful because of repressing the ego of another

8. Prideful because of the activity of fighting and debating

9. Prideful because of the inherent qualities

10. Being prideful continuously

11. Prideful of carelessly talking without shame

12. Prideful of speaking repeatedly

13. Prideful of slandering extraordinary people

14. Prideful of bragging about yourself

15. Prideful of extensive analysis

16. Prideful of meaningless actions

“Delusions”

The One-Hundred and Ten of the Class of Delusion:

The Ten of Greed

Greed is the mentally desiring others’ valuable things

1. Having greed to the five sense objects

2. Having greed to the subjective experience of the mind and mental events

3. Having greed for the continuation of past karma

4. Having greed for the illusory phenomena of places, fields, things, and so forth.

5. Having greed for precious jewels

6. Having greed for phenomena with characteristics

7. Having greed for family entertainment

8. Having greed for a wife

9. Having greed for sons and daughters

10. Having greed for the mistaken actions of killing and so forth

The Ten of Desirous Mind

Desirous Mind is the mentality of desire and attachment for valuable things belonging to another.

1. Having desire for forms

2. Having desire for sounds

3. Having desire for smells

4. Having desire for tastes

5. Having desire for objects of touch

6. Having desire for the mistaken views of eternalism and nihilism and so forth

7. Having desire for illusory things that are in fact not real

8. Having desire for deceptive things

9. Having desire for killing with poison and weapons

10. Having desire for the methods of killing like summoning life-force and so forth

The Seven of Miserliness

Miserliness is being stingy with your own valuables

1. Being miserly about forms

2. Being miserly about sounds

3. Being miserly about smells

4. Being miserly about tastes

5. Being miserly about clothes

6. Being miserly about giving teachings

7. Being miserly about your favorite things

The Ten of Creating Hindrances

Creating hindrances are the wrong mentality of blocking virtuous actions

1. Blocking generosity

2. Blocking of giving food and clothes

3. Blocking of giving land, village, and so forth

4. Blocking of giving the body, life, and so forth

5. Blocking of giving good advice

6. Blocking of giving directly by the hand

7. Blocking of giving protection

8. Blocking of giving abodes like nice houses and so forth

9. Blocking of giving teachings

10. Blocking of giving the understanding of non-referential wisdom

The Thirteen of Impressions

Impressions are the deluded mentality of not having patience for sensations

1. The impression of being negated

2. The impression through the eyes

3. The impression through the ears

4. The impression through the nose

5. The impression through the tongue

6. The impression through the body

7. The impression through the mind

8. The impression through negative and positive karmic traces

9. The impression of being challenged by a demon

10. The impression of exaggeration

11. The impression of adverse conditions

12. The impression through the impermanence and death

13. The impression of not feeling good about any objects

The Twelve Disturbances

Disturbances are the disturbed mind that apprehends the self and others

1. The mental disturbance of fighting, debating and so forth

2. The mental disturbance of negative karmic traces and so forth

3. The mental disturbance of the ordinary mentality

4. The mental disturbance of the basis of cyclic existence

5. The mental disturbance of the increasing negative ripened effect

6. The mental disturbance of showing negative and mistaken paths

7. The mental disturbance of being deceived by demons

8. The mental disturbance of yearning for negative karma

9. The mental disturbance of returning to the places of cyclic existence

10. The mental disturbance of not seeking time for virtuous deeds

11. The mental disturbance of continuing the suffering of birth and death

12. The mental disturbance of being agitated by the afflictive emotions

The Ten of Laziness

1. The laziness of not having great diligence

2. The laziness of not accomplishing virtuous actions

3. The laziness towards virtue with concepts and virtue without concepts

4. Laziness towards gathering and increasing the positive qualities of listening and so forth

5. Laziness of not generating the faith of the Enlightened Mind regarding previous accomplishment of excellent qualities

6. Laziness of not becoming ordained in order to cut the stream of suffering

7. Laziness towards not entering the path of not being attached to cyclic existence

8. Laziness towards not seeking the place of great bliss

9. Laziness of aspiration for the ultimate truth

10. Laziness towards uncontaminated meditation

The Twelve Mistaken Wishes

Mistaken wishes are wishing for the success of worldly activities

1. The mistaken wish of being born in the Three Realms

2. The mistaken wish of producing the basis of all things for the home, family, through attachment and hatred.

3. The mistaken wish to kill others

4. The mistaken wish that others may die

5. The mistaken wish desiring others’ wealth

6. The mistaken wish obsessed with getting others’ food

7. The mistaken wish to harm others

8. The mistaken wish to be born as a general of an army

9. The mistaken wish to be good at the negative actions of a demon

10. The mistaken wish to cut the continuation of the accumulation of merit and virtue

11. The mistaken wish to upset the Lama and so forth

12. The mistaken wish that incorrect scriptures be taught

The Five Hopes and Doubts

Hope and doubt is having two minds of whether something exists or not and so forth.

1. Feeling hope or doubt over whether the unsurpassable result exists or not

2. Feeling hope or doubt about whether the result of an aspiration prayer will happen or not

3. Feeling hope or doubt as to whether positive and negative actions result in happiness and suffering

4. Feeling hope or doubt concerning the nature of phenomena, whether or not your experience is clear, so you feel that the unelaborated mind and appearances are a duality or not.

5. The hope or doubt of not directly perceiving the Natural State, you fall into the view of either eternalism or nihilism.

The Six Attachments to Cyclic Existence

Attachment is clinging to and yearning for worldly activities.

1. Being attached to fighting and so forth.

2. Becoming attached from interest in marriage and so forth

3. Becoming attached from the continuation of sons and daughters, nieces and nephews

4. Being attached because of worry of being without offspring

5. Being attached to the reins of relatives

6. Being attached to the karmic traces of cyclic existence

The Six Mental Distractions

Mental distraction is becoming mentally distracted from the true reality and the mind becomes excited.

1. Becoming distracted and excited from the contemplation of the Natural State of Mind

2. Becoming excited and distracted by not thinking properly

3. Becoming distracted due to improper exertion in discipline and so forth

4. Becoming distracted from the continuous meditation on the nature of Rigpa

5. Becoming distracted by mental deception of fixation on conceptual attributes

6. Becoming distracted by following memories with conceptual attributes in the meditative equipoise without conceptual attributes

The Nine Mental Confusions

Mental confusion is being confused about reality so the mind is mistaken.

1. Becoming confused from worrying

2. Becoming confused from positive and negative karmic traces

3. Becoming confused from the conceptual thoughts by the negative emotions

4. Becoming confused from mental deception

5. Becoming confused from the love of relatives

6. Becoming confused from drinking alcohol

7. Becoming confused from the mind being unclear due to drowsiness and dullness

8. Becoming confused by the views of eternalism and nihilism and so forth when experiencing phenomena

9. Being confused about the nature of reality so then the mind becomes mistaken

“Great Rules,”

The Seven Great Rules (to be avoided by monastics)

Village, Mansions, home, sons, students, possessions, retinue,

(These seven are counted as one.)

“Food,”

The Four Types of Foods (to be avoided by monastics)

1. Meat

2. Alcohol

3. Garlic

4. Food after lunch

Three Types of Thrones (That are not allowed)

1. High throne

2. Good throne

3. Beautiful throne

“Three Separate Parts, and so forth,”

The prayer says “three separate parts,” these are the three types of dispersions.

Types of Dispersions

Cannot take gold or silver, jewelry or perfume, incorrect behavior.

(These three count as one.)

These total the Two-Hundred and Fifty vows of Individual Liberation. Nuns have 360 vows.

Normally, nuns and monks don’t discuss these with lay people. Now, all of the vows in the scripture have been translated and published, so we can share.

There are 3 types of thrones not allowed. Often we may see monks or nuns sitting up high, but this is only when they are teaching high teachings in order to show respect to the teachings.

68 afflictive emotions.

110 classes of delusions.

7 great rules not allowed. (These seven count as one.)

6 types of food not allowed.

3 types of thrones not allowed.

3 types of dispersions. (These three count as one.)

These total 250 vows of individual liberations.

“I confess breaking the vows of Individual Liberation.”

All of those are admitted and confessed.

2: The Vow of the Bodhisattva (Bodhicitta Vows)

The Special Three-Hundred and Sixty,

Condensed into the Twenty-Eight,

More condensed into the Four Negative Bӧn,

I confess having damaged the trainings of the Enlightened Mind.

“The Special Three-Hundred and Sixty,”

The Vows of the Enlightened Mind

As for the Special Three-Hundred and Sixty Training of the Enlightened  Mind, there are:

• Sixty afflictive emotions

• Sixty sufferings

• Sixty ignorances

• Fifty-three negative behaviors

• Forty-six worldly tenets

• Sixty-four tenets of wrong views

• Seventeen negative demonic activities

• Eighty-eight inferior views and behaviors

These make three-hundred and sixty.

“Condensed into the Twenty-Eight,”

If you condense these, then there are the twenty-eight which is not

exactly clear. It may be like this:

• The afflictive emotions of the five poisons

• The three sufferings of suffering, happiness, and neutral

• The two of co-emergent and conceptually imputed

• The two of the subtle and serious activities for the Enlightened Mind

• The ten mistakes

• The two of eternalism and nihilism

• The two of wrong intentions and abusive engagement

• The two of the inferior views and inferior behavior

If you reject all of these twenty-eight, then you will easily accomplish the goals of the bodhisattva and have the enlightened mind.

If they are condensed more,

“More condensed into the Four Negative Bӧn,”

Four negative Bӧn (These are also called the four black Bön.)

1. Cheating the Lama

2. Making others sad,

3. Disparaging the Great Vehicle

4. Speaking unpleasantly.

“I confess having damaged the trainings of the Enlightened Mind.”

All of those are admitted and confessed.

3: The Vow of Tantra

The Twenty-Five Root Commitments,

Seventy Branch Commitments,

One-Hundred and Eight Outer Commitments,

I confess having damaged the Secret Mantra commitments.

“The Twenty-Five Root Commitments,”

The Twenty-Five Root Commitments:

The Commitments of Pure Body.

The Twelve commitments of body

1. The two commitments of the Enlightened Mind,

2. the six commitments of the Lama,

3. and the four commitments of the spiritual siblings.

The Commitments of Pure Speech:

The three commitments of secret mantra

The Commitments of Pure Mind

The ten secret commitments

“Seventy Branch Commitments,”

The Seventy Branch Commitments

1. The five of union and liberation

2. The five poisons transformed into purity

3. The five nectars

4. The five families of Buddhas

5. The five Father Consorts

6. The five Mother Consorts

7. The Five Primordial Wisdoms

8. The Five Enlightened Bodies

9. The Five Enlightened Speech

10. The Five Enlightened Mind

11. The Five Qualities

12. The Five Enlightened Activities

13. The five aggregates

14. The five elements

“One-Hundred and Eight Outer Commitments,”

The One-Hundred and Eight Outer Commitments of the Commands

1. The five root downfalls

2. The twenty branches

3. The five poisonous faults,

4. the five poisonous behaviors,

5. the five commitments of rejection

6. the five intransgressible commitments

7. the five commitments of transformation

8. and the five untimely behaviors

9. sixteen coarse

10. the nine infractions

11. the four significant ones,

12. the six of yoga,

13. the nine faults of the base, path, and fruit,

14. the seven branch downfalls,

15. not receiving initiation,

16. not definitively discovering

“I confess having damaged the Secret Mantra commitments.”

All of those are admitted and confessed.

3: The Faults Without Vows

Even though not have received the actual vows,

The natural misdeeds done,

By myself and those I have encouraged others to do,

As well as those I have rejoiced at, I confess them all.

These account for those who have not received any vows. These vows make our lives better, our circumstances better, and make our mind and way of thinking, living, and behavior much better. These will change us every day. The root text says that if you have vows, you need to keep them. However, even if you don’t, there are still some to follow. If we have vows, misdeeds are more serious. Even if we don’t there are misdeeds and the natural law of cause and effect. There are three types of negative actions: those done by yourself, those you encouraged others to do, and those done by others you enjoyed.

The misdeeds of not having received vows

Even those with vows can get non-virtues, why not? And also those without vows, there are two types of misdeeds; proscribed and natural. Even if you have taken vows or not, there are the natural misdeeds. Furthermore, there are the negative actions done by yourself and those that you have encouraged others to do. There are the negative actions that you have rejoiced at others doing.

“As well as those I have rejoiced at, I confess them all.”

All of those are admitted and confessed.

These are the three vows, starting with the monastery. Then there are the bodhisattva and tantra vows. Dzogchen vows - there are counting vows and supreme vows. We will discuss counting vows at a later time. The supreme vows are - keep the reality as it is (the reality of suffering, phenomena, etc). We don’t need to follow our karmic dreams. If we follow them, then we break dzogchen vows.

Up to here, we are explaining vows and the natural cause and effect. We should keep all of these good things in mind because it is the source of the next life. Our conduct informs the next body of the next life.