WHAT IS REPENTANCE WITH FORM?
Master Jun Hong Lu: Repentance with attachment to form will lead to ignorance, delusion and derangement. After committing a mistake, if you merely say, “I’m sorry, Bodhisattva”, and make no attempt to mend your ways, there will be jealousy in you, and you are arrogant and idiotic.
On the other hand, in the case of a formless repentance, one’s mind is free from all distracting thoughts as one owns up to his mistakes by saying, “I have definitely done wrong. But I am going to make sure that I will never commit the same mistake again.”
This is what I, your Master, term as a “heart repentance” where deep down, you know that you have erred, and you must mend your ways without a single distracting thought.
When we talk about “I will now repent”, the notion of self still looms large in one’s heart. The reality is, many people apologise with a specific objective. For example, “My mom forced me into saying sorry” or “I have no choice but to apologise because there is this factor that is controlling me”.
When you say, “I’m sorry” to your superior, do you actually do it willingly? The fact of the matter is if you don’t apologise, you risk losing your job and hence, you have no other choice but to fake an apology.
Buddhist practitioners must be sincere when performing their repentance, that is, there mustn’t be any self-justification behind this act. After all, a mistake is a mistake and there’s no two ways about it. You may think you can fool everyone but in reality, you are only fooling yourself.
In fact, whatever that you do, there is no way that you will be able to escape the eyes of all beings in heaven and hell. Ignorant to this fact, you may even have the impression that you are so good at fooling others.
Source: Master Jun Hong Lu’s Buddhism In Plain Terms, Volume 8 Chapter 6
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