How to Practice the Great Repentance Text at Home?

The Great Repentance Text is one of the primary evening recitations in Buddhist daily practice. Usually, when reciting the 88 Buddhas, one kneels upright and chants the Buddhas’ names. Beginners can start by doing evening service to familiarize themselves with the names of the 88 Buddhas.

If you are sincere in your repentance practice and wish to make the Great Repentance Text a regular practice, you can do it at home at your Buddhist shrine, similar to doing your morning and evening recitations. Repentance practice is not limited to evening repentance. If you do not have a Buddhist shrine at home, find a quiet, undisturbed room, preferably with a Buddha image, and then perform one prostration for each Buddha according to the ritual, thus completing 108 prostrations.

Venerable Jingjie (淨界法師) of the Institute for Buddhist Studies of Jing-Liu Monastery, specializing in Tiantai Buddhism, explained the prostration method for the Great Repentance Text of the 88 Buddhas in his book, Essentials of Cultivating Samatha-Vipassana Meditation.  If time is limited, you can divide the text into sections and first prostrate to 53 or 35 Buddhas. The Fifty-Three Buddhas are named after "Namo Puguang Buddha … Namo All-Dharma-Perpetual-Full-King Buddha," while the Thirty-Five Buddhas are named after "Namo Shakyamuni Buddha … Namo Ratna-Lotus-Well-Dwelling Sala-Tree-King Buddha." Whether paying homage to the Fifty-Three or Thirty-Five Buddhas, the ritual is the same. The only difference is that one prostration is performed for each Buddha; the same repentance liturgy, from the initial praise and refuge to the final dedication, is recited while kneeling upright.

In his book, Venerable Jingjie points out that when prostrating, one should silently recite the Buddha's name three times while visualizing the image of Shakyamuni Buddha. Upon rising, one should recite the Repentance Verse: "All the evil deeds I have committed in the past, all due to beginningless greed, anger, and ignorance, arising from body, speech, and mind, all of which I now repent." Finally, after completing the entire repentance, one should recite "Namo Amitabha Buddha (Namo Amituofo)" ten times, thereby guiding oneself to the Pure Land. (Editorial Office)



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Q&As on the Great Repentance Text

How to Practice the Great Repentance Text at Home?



Resource: Issue 378 of Humanity Magazine, Dharma Drum Publishing Corporation
Photo: 江思賢
Translation: James 
Editing: Keith Brown, Patricia Yang