Does Buddhism believe in repentance?
Yes. Buddhism definitely believes in the function of repentance.
Buddhism holds that, in addition to serious completed offenses such as killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, and gross lying (falsely claiming oneself to be a sage), which must be met with karmic retribution according to one’s deeds, other uncompleted offenses, as well as karmic offenses arising from negligence in violating precepts and violations of deportment, etc., can all be repented for according to the methods prescribed by the Buddha.
The function of repentance is an uncompromising self-examination and self-auditing; it is a vigilant watch over one’s own conscientious mind and a purifying cleansing of one’s self-respect—after that, one will never commit the offense again. As long as one has the determination to reform and renew oneself, what has happened is already in the past and will no longer be pursued; the heart will be rescued from the torment of guilt, restoring calm. This is the function of repentance. After committing a crime, one must honestly and openly confess it (depending on the severity, confess to the public, to a few people, to one person, or even to one’s own conscience—clearly revealing the sins committed, earnestly regretting them, and resolving never to do so again). Otherwise, the shadow of this sin will surely remain buried in the heart, and will become the seed for experiencing the karmic retribution later on; after repentance, that seed of sin that was felt will immediately disappear.
However, the purpose of repentance is to cleanse one’s mind so that one does not commit offenses again. If one continually commits crimes, continually repents, and then commits again, the act of repentance will lose its proper efficacy. Moreover, Buddhist repentance is entirely different from Christianity’s prayer to God for the forgiveness of sins. Buddhism does not believe that any deity can forgive human sins. Buddhist repentance is to wash away the defilement of the mind and restore it to purity.
18 Does Buddhism believe in heaven and hell?
Yes, Buddhism has not the slightest doubt about the existence of heaven and hell, because both heaven and hell are within the cycle of rebirth in the bounds of life and death. Buddhism believes that as long as one is not beyond the boundary of life and death, everyone has the possibility of personal experience of heaven and hell. It could even be said that everyone has gone to heaven and hell. By cultivating the superior five precepts and ten kinds of good conduct, one is born into heaven; by committing the ten evils and the five reversals, one falls into the lower hells. After the sufferings of retribution are exhausted, beings in hell can be reborn into heaven; when their blessings are used up, beings in heaven can be reborn into hell. Therefore, Buddhism believes that although heaven is good, it is not the ultimate land of bliss; although hell is bitter, there are also times when one can escape.
At the same time, because one’s cultivated wholesome karma differs, there are also ranks and levels within heaven. And because the severity or lightness of one’s created evil karma differs, hell too is divided into levels and grades.
In Buddhism, the heavens are divided into three realms and twenty-eight heavens. In the lower Desire Realm heavens there are six levels closest to the human world; in the upper Form Realm there are eighteen levels; and in the higher Formless Realm there are four levels. In fact, people who cultivate wholesome karma can be reborn only in the six Desire Realm heavens and the Form and Formless Realm heavens. Among them, except for the five Pure Abodes at the upper Form Realm, which are inhabited by the Sravaka’s three-fruit sages, the rest are meditation heavens inhabited by those who practice禅定.
In Buddhism, the hells—great and small—are countless in number. They are classified according to the different sufferings and retributions received in prison. The major categories are mainly three: the Avīci (foundational) hells, the near-by edge hells, the solitary hells, and so on. In Buddhist scriptures, the term “hells” usually refers to the foundational hells. The principal divisions within the foundational hells include eight great blazing hot hells that run from above to below, and eight great icy cold hells that connect across the four directions. According to differences in the grades and types of each person’s offenses and karma, one goes to the hell that one is due for and undergoes retribution. In simple terms, the lower hells are seized by ghost-officers and jailors; speaking practically, being born into the lower hells as well as being born into the heavens is all due to one’s own karma. Karma inclines toward heaven and thus one is reborn into the heavens to enjoy blessings; karma inclines toward hell and thus one is born into hell to suffer.
19 Does Buddhism believe in Yama?
In general, Buddhism does believe in the existence of Yama, because in many Buddhist scriptures one can find records of Yama (for example, Volume 12 of the Zhong-Agama, the Sutra of Heavenly Messengers).
However, Yama was not first discovered by Buddhism. Buddhism merely took over an idea from ancient Indian religions and Buddhistized it.
In the Vedas of India, the universe is divided into three realms: heaven, space (or air), and earth. The heaven realm has celestial gods; the space realm has air gods; and the earth realm has earth gods. Buddhism’s three realms— the Desire Realm, the Form Realm, and the Formless Realm—may also have been influenced by such hints and then observed and arranged accordingly. As for Yama, in the Vedas he is called Yama (Yāma). Originally he was a celestial god, but later he became the first ancestor of humankind—the first dead person—yet he is in the heavens. Therefore, in the Li-ju Veda it is said that after a person dies, the first audience in heaven is with Yama and the judicial goddess Boluona. In the later Atharva Veda, however, it states that Yama presides over death, and it also grants him adjudicative authority over the dead. This Yama in heaven is somewhat like the God of Christianity. It was only in Buddhism that the heavenly king Yama in the third heaven of the Desire Realm was separated from the hell-king Yanluo of the underworld.
The Yama’s administration of the judging, managing, and punishing of the dead—the status of Yama in the hells—is comparable to God’s status in heaven. Buddhism neither worships God, and therefore naturally does not worship Yama either. Although Buddhism in general, for the convenience of teaching according to popular customs, accepts the idea that Yama exists, in essence it does not affirm Yama’s independent existence. Therefore, some sects of Buddhism believe that both Yama and the jailors are induced by the karmic forces of beings in the various hells. Buddhism holds that everything manifests as it is shown by mind-only (唯识所现).
Furthermore, Buddhism of right faith also does not admit that after a person dies one must necessarily undergo Yama’s judgment. Broadly speaking, it only acknowledges the beings of the ghost realm and the hell realm in relation to Yama’s functions. As for the folk tale that Yama sends jailors to seize those about to die, that is a popular legend. From the standpoint of mind-only (唯识所现), Buddhism does not oppose such a legend; it is a manifestation of one’s own consciousness. That is why Buddhist texts contain records of similar things.
Ji Xiaolan (紀晓岚) in the Qing dynasty, in his notes, although he believed in but still could not understand the situation of hell and the Yama realm. He said: the world is vast, and humans have differences between Chinese and foreign and east and west. Why is it that whenever people receive reports from the realm of the underworld, they see only Chinese people and never foreigners? Could it be that China’s underworld and foreigners’ underworld are also two separately administered worlds? Actually, if Ji Xiaolan understood the Buddhist principle of “all that is manifested is mind-only (唯识所现),” then this doubt would be resolved. In Chinese people’s minds, only a Chinese-style underworld exists, so naturally they cannot manifest an underworld like that of the United Nations. $BTC
