The Lotus Garland

A commentary to the [long] Dewachen wishing prayer

by [Karma] Chagme [Rinpoche] Part 3

Second branch: Making offerings

My body and all my possessions, together with my roots of virtue, whatever offerings that are actually present like ablution water, flowers, incense, lamps, perfumes, food, at least a hundred of all these, or offerings emanated by mind including the eight auspicious substances which are a mirror, sindhura, kusha grass (a), conch shell, white mustard, durwa grass (b), and yoghurt, all in limitless kinds, the eight auspicious signs which are the (infinite) knot, white conch, banner of victory, umbrella, vase, lotus, wheel, and sun (c), the seven precious items (signifying royalty) which are the wheel (of a universal monarch), jewel, (the earrings of the) queen, (the earrings of the) minister, the (tusks of the) elephant, supreme mount (symbolised by the horn of a unicorn), (the signs of the) general – whatever offerings exist since all times, since the first appearance of the worlds, such as billions of three thousandfold universes with their four continents, the central mountain, the sun and the moon together with all the wealth of gods, nagas (d) and humans – I take them up in my mind which means to visualise them very clearly and offer them to Amitabha. By the force of your compassion, accept this for my own benefit.

This concludes the branch of offering.

Third branch: Confession

I lay open and confess all the non-virtuous deeds which have been committed from beginningless time until now by myself and by all sentient beings headed by my father and mother.

[I lay open and confess] the three unwholesome acts of the body: killing, taking what is not given, and impure conduct. I lay open and confess the four unwholesome acts of the speech: lying, slandering, rough speech, and gossip. I lay open and confess the three unwholesome acts of mind, all that has been accumulated since beginningless time in samsara: covetousness due to desire, malice due to anger, and (holding on to) wrong views like denying the law of cause and effect or the Three Jewels (which stand for the possibility of enlightenment).

I lay open and confess all the five deeds of immediate retribution which we accumulated in beginningless samsara: killing our father, our mother, and – in following the way this explanation is given in the Kadampa tradition of Jowo Atisha – our teacher (e), or an arhat (f), and intending to cause harm to the body of a Victorious One which means actually doing the act without regret of cutting open his body so that blood comes forth. These five are the causes which will result (after death) in immediate rebirth in the Hell of Unspeakable Torment (Avici) without any possibility for other factors to hinder this rebirth.

I lay open and confess the evil deeds similar to the deeds of immediate retribution: killing a gelong or a getsul, making a nun fall into lay status (by seducing her), destroying a statue, stupa or temple – except if wanting to repair it – or to unnecessarily destroy holy texts and so on.

I lay open and confess all the evil acts of abandoning the Dharma together with everything related to this kind of act like abandoning the three supports etc. in front of which I have committed myself at the time of taking the vows: the Three Jewels, the temple, and the supreme Speech (e.g. the Dharma texts) present in front of us.

To "lay open" means not to keep one's faults secret but to clearly say them. To "confess" means to destroy or sweep them away like dust.

I lay open and confess all these accumulated very negative, useless actions – which are so useless that one cannot even get "a glass of water" for them – like abusing bodhisattvas which is of greater evil than to kill the sentient beings of the three realms (g). In general one should, whenever talking about lamas and monks, be aware that there are probably bodhisattvas among them.

Compared to the five crimes of immediate retribution it is more negative not to believe in the benefits of virtuous deeds and the difficulties resulting from non-virtue about which we have heard and to think that this as well as similar teachings is not true and simply a pedagogical device, and this although we received explanations by a lama on the duration and extent of suffering in the hell realms, and so on. I lay open and confess this negative karma that makes liberation impossible.

This was the general confession of faults.

Now comes the more specific confession concerning transgressions of the vows of individual liberation, the bodhisattva vows and the tantric vows. Among these three, [transgressions of] the outer (h) vows of individual liberation about what is to be given up are considered the roots of all faults and transgressions. They include: to take life, to steal, to have impure relationships with a woman (or man), to tell lies like pretending to have clairvoyance.

I lay open and confess all breakage and damages of the discipline of individual liberation including the five categories of faults (i): the four root downfalls, in short: killing, stealing, impurity, and lying, these are what one should keep in mind and protect oneself from, since they are the principal transgressions – if they occur, one is not following the Buddha's teaching any more. Furthermore there are the thirteen [transgressions of vows] with a remainder, the thirty transgressions which are like downfalls, the ninety downfalls, the four individually confessed damages, and the hundred and twelve faults.

I lay open and confess the acts which we we should give up once having requested the bodhisattva vows: the four negative actions (j) which damage (these vows), as well as the root downfalls which actually break the vows: the five which concern "kings" – referring to bodhisattvas who have obtained a power and influence similar to a great ruler, and the five similar ones of "ministers" who are executing the orders of a king and acting on his behalf, and to these are added the eight transgressions of ordinary beings in the bodhisattva family which (also) constitute a major breakage. Together they are counted as eighteen root downfalls. If they occur, they constitute the defeat of the bodhicitta: you should protect yourself from them, if any of those present themselves.

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Notes :

(a) In the usual list we find the bilwa fruit instead of kusha grass
.
(b) The list usually includes at this place a medicine made from elephant brain.

(c) The Tibetan text has nyi-ma which means sun, but usually there would be nya-ma, fish, which stands for two golden fishes.

(d) Nagas are beings of the animal realm, some of which have half human, half fish or serpent form.

(e) In the usual list of the 5 extreme crimes of immediate retribution one includes creating a schism in the sangha instead of killing the teacher.

(f) Arhat stands here for any realised being including bodhisattvas.

(g) Three realms refers to the desire, form and formless realms which together make up the whole universe.

(h) The self liberation vows are called outer vows because they concern the outer level of our existence, our visible behaviour.

(i) The following five categories are a summarised list of transgressions of the vows of Buddhist monks.

(j) The four negative actions are called the four "black Dharmas" in Tibetan. They are explained in the next paragraph.