比丘尼恒青法師2025年4月10日講於萬佛聖城大殿

We are extremely lucky to be able to bow to the 10,000 Buddhas repentance every year here in our association. All world religions around the world have some kind of repentance ritual. For example, in Zoroastrianism, they usually confess their wrongdoings and then recite a ritual called The Patet Pashemani to eradicate their sins. In Islam, people pray and bow five times a day. In Buddhism, we have many repentances such as the 10,000 Buddhas Repentance, the 3,000 Buddhas Repentance, the Avatamsaka Repentance, the Medicine Master Repentance, the Compassionate Samadhi Water Repentance, and many others.

我們非常有福報，每年都能在我們的道場禮拜《萬佛懺》。事實上，世界上幾乎所有的宗教都有某種形式的懺悔儀式。比方說，在祆教（拜火教）中，人們會先懺悔自己所造的罪業，然後誦念一種稱為「帕特特」（Patet）的儀式來消除罪業；在伊斯蘭教中，信徒每天五次禮拜，向真主祈禱與頂禮。在佛教中，我們有許多懺法，例如《萬佛懺》、《三千佛懺》、《華嚴懺》、《藥師懺》、《慈悲三昧水懺》等等。

What does it mean to repent and reform? To “repent” means that we are repenting of all of our past offenses that we have created, and to “reform” is not to do them again. Interestingly, in many world religions, their definition of repentance is similar, with a slightly different explanation. In Greek, metanoia, is their word for repentance, and can be translated as to repent and reform. It also means to change one’s thoughts or mindset. In Hebrew, their term for this is teshuvah, which means to return to God and not create actions that would take oneself farther away from God. In Buddhism, we repent to eradicate our karma, but in a way, it is to retrieve or to go back to our purity, because after we eradicate our karma, hopefully, we can retrieve and go back to our original nature.

那麼，什麼是「懺悔改過」呢？所謂「懺」是懺悔我們過去所造的種種罪業；而「悔」則是不再重犯。很有趣的是，許多世界宗教對懺悔的定義也頗為相近，只是說法略有不同。在希臘語中，「metanoia」一詞意指懺悔與改過，也有「轉變思想或心念」之意；在希伯來語中，懺悔稱為「teshuvah」，意思是「回歸」——回到他們的上帝身邊，不再造作使自己遠離神的行為。在佛教中，我們懺悔是為了消除業障；但從某個角度來說，懺悔也是一種「回歸」——回到我們本有的清淨本性。當業障消除之後，希望我們都能找回、回歸這份本來的純真。

In Catholicism, they encourage their followers to repent and go to confession at least once a month. Last year, in 2024, they did a survey where 42% of Catholics said that they would repent and go to confession at least once a year; however, in Buddhism, and especially in our association, we repent daily, even twice or three times a day. In the morning, we bow the Universal Bowing; in the afternoon, we bow the Great Compassion Repentance; and every other evening, we recite the Eighty-Eight Buddhas Repentance. So why is it that we need to repent so much? It is because we have a lot of (unwholesome) karma—karma that is accumulated from many, many kalpas in the past based on our body, mouth, and mind. You know this because sometimes in our lives we encounter obstacles, or we have a lot of afflictions, or some kind of illness—all of these are results from our (unwholesome) karma.

在天主教中，他們鼓勵信徒每月至少懺悔並辦一次告解。去年，也就是2024年，他們做了一項調查，發現有42%的天主教徒表示自己每年至少會懺悔並告解一次；然而，在佛教中，尤其是在我們這個道場，我們是每天都懺悔的，有時甚至一天兩次、三次。清晨，我們拜願；下午，我們拜《大悲懺》；每隔一天晚課，我們誦持《八十八佛大懺悔文》。那麼，為什麼我們需要這麼頻繁地懺悔呢？因為我們的業障太多了。這些業障是過去無量劫以來，藉由身、口、意三業所造作積累而來的。你應該也有感受，有時我們在人生中會遇到種種障礙，或者煩惱不斷，甚至身體生病——這些，其實都是業力的現前果報。

Karma obstructs us from cultivating and achieving the Way. The Master said before that if we want to focus our minds on cultivating but cannot, this is a kind of karma. If we are not at ease and have many afflictions, this is also karma. Or if we have a serious illness, this is karma. So this is why we need to repent. As the Master said, “Our karma doesn’t have a substance or a form, but if it did, one person’s karma would fill the entire empty space.” So we need to constantly repent to eradicate these invisible yet burdensome obstacles.

業力會障礙我們修行、證道。師父曾說過，如果我們想要攝心修行卻無法集中，這就是一種業障；若心不安、煩惱多，這也是業障；乃至於若我們罹患重病，這也是業障。因此，我們才要不斷地懺悔。正如師父所說：「業本無體相，若有體相者，盡虛空亦容不下。」所以，我們更應該時時懺悔，消除這些無形卻沉重的障礙。

During the Buddha’s time, Devadatta and King Ajatashatru worked together to slander Buddhism, and they also slandered the Buddha. Then King Ajatashatru became very ill and developed a lot of poisonous boils on his body. He searched everywhere for a doctor who could cure any illness. At that time, a well-known female doctor told him, “Although I can cure all the illnesses in the world, I cannot cure yours. This is because your illness is a result of karmic obstacles, and the only way to cure your illness is if you go to the Buddha and sincerely repent, then your illness will be cured.” So King Ajatashatru asked people to carry him to the Buddha, and he sincerely repented. Later on, his poisonous boils were gone.

佛陀在世時，提婆達多與阿闍世王聯手毀謗佛教，也誹謗佛陀。後來，阿闍世王生了重病，身上長了許多毒瘡。他到處尋找能治百病的名醫。當時有一位醫術高明的女醫生對他說：「雖然我能治世間一切病，但你的病我卻無法醫治，因為這是由於你過去所造的業障所感得的病。唯一的辦法，就是你親自去見佛陀，至誠懺悔，這樣你的病才有可能痊癒。」於是阿闍世王請人抬著他去見佛，並向佛陀誠心懺悔，不久，他身上的毒瘡就痊癒了。

When I was four or five years old, I was introduced to this notion that if something goes wrong or if you have some illness, it is an occurrence from your karma. At that time, my family was living in an apartment. The previous tenants probably had a lot of pets, so we had a lot of fleas on the carpet. In the summertime, everybody in my family got bitten: my parents and my sister only got a few bites, but I got many, many bites. And since my skin is very sensitive and I get allergic quite easily, especially to insect bites, when I was bitten by these fleas, I had an allergic reaction. Many of the bites were on my stomach; I had 20 to 30 bites in the same place, and I had to go to the doctor to drink medicine. I also had to apply medicinal cream to these flea bites that sort of turned bluish-green. 

我大約在四、五歲的時候，便接觸到「生病或遇到問題是因為業障現前」這個觀念。那時我們一家住在一間公寓裡，可能前一位房客養了很多寵物，所以地毯裡有很多跳蚤。夏天的時候，我們全家都被跳蚤咬了：爸爸媽媽和姐姐只被咬了幾個疱，但我卻被咬了非常多，而且因為我的皮膚很敏感，又很容易過敏，尤其對昆蟲叮咬特別敏感，所以被跳蚤咬之後，我產生了過敏反應。大部分的咬傷都集中在肚子上，有二三十個紅腫的疱，後來還不得不去看醫生，喝藥、擦藥膏，那些咬傷甚至腫得發青發綠，看起來很嚇人。

I remember that after we came back from the doctor, I was still in immense pain because the bites itched so much that they hurt, and I cried out to my mother. My mother said that we’d talk to my father to see what we could do. My father said, “This is because of your (unwholesome) karma that you have all of these bites, because nobody else in the family was bitten so much. So what we should do is to bow for two hours.” In our apartment, one of our rooms was a Buddha Hall. Since all of the flea bites were on my stomach, it was extremely hard for me to bow; it was very painful and very uncomfortable, but my father said that we had to finish bowing the two hours and that the family would bow with me.

我還記得從醫院回來後，我依然非常痛苦，因為那些咬傷又癢又痛，我忍不住哭著找媽媽。媽媽說我們可以跟爸爸商量，看該怎麼辦。爸爸說：「這是你的業障，所以你才會被咬這麼多，因為家裡其他人都沒有像你這樣嚴重。我們應該做的，就是拜佛兩個小時。」我們家裡有一個房間是佛堂。因為跳蚤咬的大多都集中在我的肚子上，所以要拜佛真的非常痛苦，也非常不舒服，但爸爸堅持說一定要拜滿兩個小時，而且全家人會一起陪我拜。

The Master said that when we bow the 10,000 Buddhas Repentance, if your lifespan is short, you can prolong your life; if you have karma, you can eradicate your karma; and if you have illnesses, you can cure your illnesses. And everything can go according to your wishes if you bow the 10,000 Buddhas repentance.

師父曾說，如果我們能至誠懺悔、禮拜《萬佛懺》，那麼──如果壽命短，可以延壽；如果有業障，可以消業；如果有病痛，可得痊癒；乃至於一切的願望，都能實現。

So, how do we bow the repentances? We need two things: one is to be sincere, and the second is to reflect. In explaining the seven types of bowing, the Master said that the sixth one is Cultivating the Sincere Proper Contemplation bow. He says, “What is proper contemplation? It is when we are very focused on bowing. We don’t think of any other things as we bow, and we bow with one mind, not two minds. It should not be the case that when we are bowing, our minds are elsewhere, thinking about going outside the temple or watching TV. We should sincerely bow to the Buddhas. If we have a lot of discursive thoughts when we bow, this is improper contemplation.”

那麼，我們應該如何拜懺呢？有兩個要素：第一是「至誠」，第二是「反省」。在講解七種禮拜法時，師父提到第六種是「正觀修行至誠禮」。他說：「什麼是正觀呢？就是我們在拜佛的時候，心很專一，完全投入，不起妄念，做到一心不亂。不要一邊拜佛，一邊心裡在想道場外的事，或者在想看電視。應該是至誠懇切地禮拜諸佛。如果我們在拜佛的時候妄念紛飛，那就是邪觀、不是正觀。」

The second part is reflection. Why do we need to reflect on our actions? As mentioned earlier, to reform is not to make the same offenses again. The Earth Store Sutra says that living beings in the Saha world create karma with every movement and thought, so it is extremely important that we are constantly aware of and reflect upon our actions so we don’t create new karma or repeat the same offenses. 

第二個重要的部分就是「反省」。為什麼我們需要反省自己的行為呢？如前所說，懺悔之後要「改過」，也就是不再重犯。正如《地藏經》所說：「南閻浮提眾生，舉止動念，無不是業，無不是罪。」所以，我們必須時時警覺、反省自己的身口意行為，避免再造新業，或重蹈覆轍。

Bowing repentances is extremely incredible and miraculous. In the 10,000 Buddhas Repentance text, or the Buddha Says the Buddhas’ Names Sutra, that we’re bowing, it mentions, “If good men and good women uphold and recite these Buddhas’ names, then in this life, these people can achieve peace and be apart from all obstacles and difficulties, and also eradicate their karma. In the future, they can achieve Anuttara-samyak-sambodi. Bowing the 10,000 Buddhas Repentance is an incredible opportunity for us to gain a lot of benefits. 

拜懺實在是非常不可思議、極有感應的事情。我們正在拜的《萬佛懺》與《佛說佛名經》中提到：「若善男子、善女人，受持讀誦諸佛名者，是人現世安隱，遠離諸難，及消滅諸罪；未來當得阿耨多羅三藐三菩提。」可見拜《萬佛懺》是一個極為殊勝難得的機緣，能為我們帶來無量的利益。

Recently, I heard a story that I think happened only a few years ago on Penghu Island in Taiwan. There was a Dharma Master there who would lead, I think, an annual repentance session, and he required that participants bow at least 800 bows daily. There was an elderly nun who couldn’t even bow three times a day because she had hurt her legs. But the requirement was that anybody who goes there has to bow at least 800 bows a day, so she forced herself to, and finally she had a dream of Guanyin Bodhisattva rubbing her knees. The next day, she was able to bow 1,000 bows. She told the host Dharma Master, “Dharma Master, you bow this repentance every year, so you must be able to fly!” The Dharma Master said, “Why do you ask me this?” The elderly nun said, “After Guanyin Bodhisattva rubbed my knees, I can bow now when I couldn’t for over twenty years, so you must be able to fly due to bowing so much!” We just finished the first week of bowing the 10,000 Buddhas Repentance, and if you felt that you had a lot of false thoughts when you were bowing, you don’t need to worry; we still have three more weeks for you to bow. Amitabha.

最近我聽到一個故事，據說是幾年前在台灣澎湖發生的。有一位法師在當地每年都會帶領一場拜懺法會，並要求所有參加者每天至少拜八百拜。有一位年長的比丘尼因為腿受過傷，一天連拜三拜都很困難，但因為規定是每天必須拜滿八百拜，她便咬緊牙關勉強自己完成。後來她夢見觀音菩薩為她摩膝，隔天起來，她竟然能夠拜一千拜了。她對那位主持法會的法師說：「法師，您每年都拜這麼多，您一定會飛了吧！」那位法師問：「你為什麼這麼說呢？」老比丘尼回答：「觀音菩薩幫我摩了膝蓋，我二十多年不能拜，現在竟然能拜了！那您每年這樣拜，應該早就會飛了吧！」

我們剛完成《萬佛懺》的第一週，如果你覺得自己在拜的時候妄念很多，也不需要擔心，因為我們還有三個星期可以繼續拜。阿彌陀佛。