G.2, (Confess to proscribed misdeeds) in three parts: 1. Confess to the downfall of pratimoksha vows; 2. Confess to the downfall of bodhisattva vows; 3. Confess to the downfall of tantric vows.

H.1, Confess to the downfall of pratimoksha vows

Breaking the pratimoksha vows through the

four inexpiable offenses, or the thirteen temporary excommunication transgressions,

or indulging in the five kinds of defilement,

all this I now confess.

Now let's talk about misdeeds of breaking the Buddha proscribed precepts. First, the pratimoksha downfalls: Four inexpiable offenses, thirteen temporary excommunication offenses, thirty abandonment downfalls, ninety single downfalls, four confession to others, and one hundred and twelve misdeed downfalls. As a monk, if one violates any of these five kinds of proscribed precepts, he breaks the pratimoksha vows. Hou will fall into anywhere between the extremely hot hell and the repeated rebirth hell and experience pain. Therefore, sincerely confess to and repent of the misdeeds of breaking the pratimoksha vows (before Amitabha Buddha and his retinue).

For all monastics, the detailed instructions for observing the precepts are explained in other treatises, and it is not necessary to explain them to lay men and women in detail. If monks who have received the bhikkhu or samanera precepts are not taught how to observe them, they will easily become a person who commit misddeds like butchers. The Buddha said in the sutra: "To bestow vows upon those who do not understand the precepts, is like letting a drunk elephant do whatever it wants." Therefore, monks must study and practice the precepts diligently. As the verse says: "Those who broke the precepts, will be forever banned from using the Dharma hall, etc." Those who broke the vows cannot join the ranks of monks in the current life, let alone be reborn in Sukhavati. The "Satipatthana Sutra" says: "The precepts are good from beginning to end, those who uphold the precepts are praised. Those who break the precepts, are like animals." It also says: "Whoever observes the precepts, is covered by clothes. Whoever abandons the precepts, is naked like an animal."

After thinking about the merits of observing the precepts and the harm of breaking the precepts, one should strive to restore the precepts and observe the precepts.

H.2, Confess to the downfall of Bodhisattva vows:

Falling into the four black activities, or

violating the five, the other five, or eight vows

and thus breaking the bodhisattva vows, 

all this I now confess.

The Bodhisattva downfalls are: to deceive with lies the gurus, khenpos, acharyas, etc.; to make people who engage in deity practices, recite mantras, seek precepts, and other virtuous deeds doubt or regret; to slander accomplished monks or monks of great virtues; to deceive sentient beings by various means of flattering and lying through activities such as doing business. These four black deeds can lead to serious faults such as forgetting and losing the bodhichitta. So they must be abandoned and practice the four opposite white deeds.

(The following introduces the twenty Bodhisattva's root downfalls:)

1. Plundering the property of the Three Jewels; 2. Abandoning the Dharma; 3. Beating and robbing bhikkhus and samaneras; 4. Committing the five heinous crimes; 5. Having wrong views. These are the five root downfalls that bodhisattvas who are kings are prone to commit. In addition to the first four (among the five downfalls), destroying cities, regions, villages, or associated territories by force, etc., are the five root downfalls that bodhisattvas who are ministers are prone to commit.

1. Teaching emptiness to those whose wisdom has not maturated, causing them to be afraid; 2. Causing others to regress on their Mahayana aspirations and take up the Lesser Vehicle; 3. Causing others (those of Lesser Vehicle faculties) to abandon the pratimoksha vows and take up Mahayana; 4. Saying that this Sravaka or Pratyeka-buddha path cannot eliminate afflictions, upholding this view oneself or causing others to uphold it; 5. Praising oneself and slandering others out of jealousy; 6. Claiming to have realized emptiness for fame or profit; 7. By divisive speech, causing bhikkhus to be punished and thereby secretly taking bribes from them (for appeasement)#; 8. Taking the offerings meant for meditators and giving them to students in the stages of listening and contemplation, thus causing the meditators to abandon their practices. These are the eight root downfalls that unenlightened bodhisattvas are prone to commit. Together with the previous ten, there are a total of eighteen. Plus the two of abandoning bodhichitta of aspiration and bodhichitta of application, there are a total of twenty root downfalls. (In front of Amitabha Buddha and his retinue) confess to and repent of the misdeeds of violating any of the bodhisattva vows.

In "The Way of the Bodhisattva", it is said: "Just like the best metallurgical material, the stained body will be transformed, into the priceless Buddha body, so one should persist in bodhichitta." If one upholds the bodhichitta precepts (Bodhisattva vows), he will attain Buddhahood. In the "The Way of the Bodhisattva", it is also said: "Therefore, I will respectfully follow, the vows I have made. If I do not work hard from now on, I will definitely go down the stream." After thinking that if we do not uphold the precepts, we will be reborn in the evil realms continuously, we must diligently confess with remorse, and observe the precepts seriously.

H.3, Confess to the downfall of tantric vows:

Breaking the fourteen root vows and

eight branch vows of Vajrayana

I now confess.

The vajrayana vows (samaya) include fourteen root precepts and eight branch precepts. The fourteen root precepts recognized by all the Anuttarayoga tantras are:

1. Swearing at (slandering) the vajra guru acharya; 2. Violating the Buddhas' teachings; 3. Harming fellow vajra brothers and sisters; 4. Abandoning bodhichitta; 5. Deliberately not practicing semen retention apart from allowed occasions; 6. Deriding Buddhist teachings practiced by others; 7. Disclosing strictly confidential teachings to those who are not maturated; 8. Viewing the five aggregates as suffering; 9. Doubting the teaching of the pure nature of phenomena; 10. Having the ability but not subduing in the ten occasions that call for it; 11. Viewing the non-conceptual nature of phenomena as being able to be grasped by conceptual thinking as fabricatons; 12. Abandoning disciples who are qualified to be vessels of the Dharma; 13. Not making use of the samaya objects when appropriate; 14. Denigraing women whose essence is wisdom.

Eight branch vows: 1. Following an unqualified tantric consort; 2. Quarreling during a Tsok ceremony; 3. by one’s own efforts, taking nectar from a tantric consort who does not meet the descriptions in the tantras; 4. Not teachhing Vajrayana to a person who is a qualified vessel of the Dharma; 5. Giving different teachings to those who request with faith a specific transmission; 6. Staying and following their practices for seven days among those who do not believe in Vajrayana; 7. Claiming to be a yogi without the realization and wisdom; 8. Teaching Vajrayana to those who are not proper vessels of the Dharma.

Confess to and repent of all the misdeeds of breaking the tantric vows (before Amitabha and his retinue).

If one does not confess to (the broken samaya), one will fall into the vajra hell; if one confesses to past misdeeds and prevents new ones, one will quickly attain Buddhahood. As the tantra (Treasury of Precious Qualities) says: "The place where a Vajrayana practitioner goes, is either the lower realms (referring to hell) or Buddhahood, there is no other place."

Although all three kinds of vows have been taken, if one does not observe any of the precepts and only make confession and regret diligently, then one will not experience the serious retribution fruits of breaking the vows. However, while the fruits of taking the vows may help one leave samsara, there is no hope of quick liberation. As long as one has received some of the three kinds of precepts, one must maintain them separately like raising horses, cows, and sheep. If one violates them, one must confess according to their respective rituals (requirements). One cannot shirk responsibility by simply having received empowerments. If the vows of the empowerment itself are not intact, how can it save the downfalls of lower level vows? Of course, the three kinds of vows can be transformed from the perspective of their essence. But this does not mean that what is in the beginners' mind continuum, including the subtle individual proscribed precepts in the three kinds of vows, can be considered in the same way as one. These points are difficult to understand. Therefore, it is extremely important to observe the three vows separately, because they need to be treated separately based on the afflictions and conceptual thoughts in one's mind continuum.

G.3, Confess to self-nature misdeeds that are not recognized:

The vows I have failed to take and the unvirtuous deeds I have committed,

my impure conduct, and my enjoyment of wine and so on,

all the faults which cannot be clearly

described and all the faults I cannot recognize as faults

I now confess.

If the lay men and women have not taken the vows, they would not have violated the proscribed precepts. However, the misdeeds they have committed are innumerable. Impure conduct, drinking, killing, stealing, robbing, etc. as well as snuffing, smoking, etc., all self-nature misdeeds caused by afflictions, for monastics or lay people, anyone who commits them is guilty. Although the transgressor commits it without knowing that it is a misdeed, he must still experience the karmic fruits. As stated in the "Chapter on Causes and Conditions": "If the foolish unknowingly, commits all kinds of misdeeds. Once the retribution fruits ripen, they will suffer from it." Therefore, (before Amitabha Buddha and his retinue) confess to these self-nature misdeeds that are not recognized. (The highly accomplished from the past) said: After thinking of the pain of the retribution fruit, they dare not even speak of it, so this kind of misdeeds is called "crime".

Impure conduct: Although the faults of impure conduct are immeasurable and boundless, in general, as stated in the Samadhiraja Sutra: "fools driven by desire, because of the rotten bodies of women, will become inferior beings. They will fall into the lower realms." "The rope that inspires great fear, is the rope of women that is difficult to bear. Therefore, all Buddhas do not praise those, who follow desire and women." The Satipatthana Sutra says: "Women are the root of harms, they destroy the present and future lives. If one wants to benefit himself, he should abandon all women." If one associates with women who are like poisonous snakes that can spread poison quickly, it is the ruin that destroys everything in this and the future lives.

Generally speaking, although it is forbidden for lay Buddhists to commit adultery, it does not prohibit impure acts with their wives. However, associating with women is a misdeed that causes desire, and is also the cause of the ultimate negative karma of samsara. As Bodhisattva Nagarjuna said: "Attachment, aversion, ignorance, and those, the karma they produce is negative. Without attachment, aversion, ignorance, and those, the karma they produce is positive" We should not decide only by the deeds of body and speech as ultimately virtues and non-virtues, but should base it on the motivation. As the sutra says, "Those who are shackled by desire, do not know what is right or wrong."

Those with strong desire do not care about committing the Avici crimes: In the past, a patron in Savatthi had a son who engaged in improper impure acts. To protect him, his mother locked the door. He shouted, "Mom, open the door! I need to go to the bathroom." His mother knew that he was going to commit impure act and refused to open the door. He shouted loudly, "Mom, if you don't open the door, I will kill you." His mother said, "Son, I would rather die than hear the news that my son died because of impure acts, the root of evil." A person with lust will do anything. He did not care about the next life and cut off his mother's head with a sword. Then he ran to the woman. He trembled because he had committed a heinous crime. At this time, the woman said, "Don't be afraid, there is no one else here." In order to please the woman, he said, "For you, I killed my own mother." The woman heard this and thought to herself: This person is really evil. So she ran away while shouting, "Robbers..!" He was also scared away by the commotion and got nothing in the end. He committed a heinous crime because of his lust for women.

The "Brahman Sutras"(?)(喜者婆罗门经,諸婆罗门经) says: "Associating with someone else's wife like one's own ornaments, is like a blazing flame that should be discarded. One should be satisfied with having one's own wife, do not commit adultery which is like poison." Lay men who are not satisfied with their own wife and secretly commit adultery with someone else's wife is a very serious crime.

Here, sexual misconduct is referred to as "Abrahmacarya". Including lay Buddhists who practice Brahmacharya (celibacy)#, if one just looks at a woman with covetous eyes, he broke the precept, let alone taking it up (actually performing impure act)? As the sutra says: "It is better to cover one's eyes, with burning iron sheets, than to lose mindfulness, and look at a woman's face." There are many other teachings.

Drinking: For monastics, even if they are sick, drinking a drop as small as a dewdrop on a grass tip is not allowed. And it is the root of wanton violation of all precepts. A drunkard cannot even protect his own life, how can he observe the precepts? Therefore, the Buddha said in the sutra: "Those who drink alcohol are not my followers." Guru Padmasambhava also said: "People wearing dog leather or straw hats, carrying weapons or sticks, teaching the incorrect Dharma of annihilation, teaching the Dharma but has not stop drinking, the five signs of Dharma destruction." Here, drinking alcohol for lay people is also established as a self-nature misdeed because the Buddha forbade the sick among his followers to drink alcohol and said: "Those who acknowledge me as a teacher, cannot drink even a grass-tip drop of wine." Lay men and women should pay attention to the teachings of our First Teacher Buddha Shakyamuni. The Buddhist sutra says: "Drinking alcohol for lay people is an unvirtuous deed of the body. If one drinks a lot, and continue to habituate to it, he will fall into the evil realms." Most of the Sravakas also follow this teaching and recognize that drinking alcohol is a self-nature misdeed. Giving alcohol is also not allowed. As the sutra says: "People who like to drink alcohol very much, cannot benefit themselves and make others happy. Alcohol makes people confused and ugly, Like ha-la poison(?)(哈拉毒), do not drink it." We can easily see the faults of drinking alcohol by reflecting on it with logical reasoning. 

(Generally speaking,) drinking alcohol is mainly done because of greed, but it can also be done because of pride, hatred, and ignorance. If one drinks alcohol with such malicious intentions, then of course it is a misdeed. As in the teaching of Nagarjuna quoted in the previous sections.

Drinking alcohol can also lead to many unvirtuous deeds, such as breaking one's word, lying, idle speech, killing, and committing impure acts, etc. The Buddha once said, "Alcohol is the root of all misdeeds." There is an example such as this: In the past, a monk lived in a mountain and practiced. A woman came to him with a goat and a bottle of wine. She said, "You can either kill this goat, or drink this bottle of wine, or commit impure act with me." The monk thought again and again, and thought that drinking this bottle of wine would be better. So he drank the bottle of wine. As a result, he became confused and ended up killing and committing impure acts also.

In the past, when Master Tsongkhapa was alive, there was a wine seller woman up from the monastery. She sold a lot of wine to the monks and let them drink it. As a result, within her lifetime, her body turned into a scorpion as big as a human, and it went straight into a rock as big as a house. When listening from the outside, there was a sound of howling and crying coming from inside. There was an eagle that wiped the rock with its feathers every day. The disciples asked Master Tsongkhapa: "What is the reason?" The master said: "The woman cause others to drink wine in many lives. Because of the misdeed of drinking, anyone who drank her wine was transformed into a scorpling, and eat the mother scorpion. They also eat each other. They will be reborn and eat each other continuously. Every day, they have to experience many sufferings of birth and death, until the eagle wiped off the rock with its feathers completely. Then they will fall into hell again." 

Some Buddhist scriptures say that drinking is only a misdeed proscribed by the Buddha. In this regard, Vasubandhu thinks that if lay people drink a small amount of wine without strong greed, there is no fault, just like ordinary food. Of course, if one drinks too much with strong greed, it will lead to quarrels, wars, disasters, etc. Its evils are so great that there is no need to say it again.

The same is true for snuff (smoking). The Buddha once summarized all the things to abstain and said: "Any action that can produce negative karma, must be completely abandoned." Smokers obviously violate this teaching. Many termas and the prophecy of Machig Labdron also say that smoking is extremely harmful. (Tobacco) is produced by evil causes - the menstrual blood of a female demon as the seeds, and is composed of impure and harmful substances. In the final stage, the female demon made many evil wishes, which formed this harmful matter. It can cause extremely strong desire and many misdeeds, and will anger many beings such as devas and nagas. Therefore, we must regard smoking as a misdeed.

Other and more detailed harms of drinking and smoking can be learned from other sutras and treatises. In addition, going into gatherings of Buddhists or shrine rooms or Dharma lecture halls after eating onions and garlic also belong to this kind of misdeeds.

In short, in this life and the lives after, all things that are completely beneficial and harmless to oneself and others are not misdeeds no matter who does it; in terms of matters that are harmful and with no benefit, all deeds tainted with the three poisons of greed, malice, and wrong views are misdeeds. Therefore, whether it is a layperson or a monastic, if they confess to and repent of the misdeeds they have committed in the past and take precautions from now on to avoid repeating them, they can all be included in this.

G.4, Confess to proscribed misdeeds committed not knowing the prohibition:

Having taken refuge vows or empowerments,

without knowing how to keep the commitment precepts,

and subsequently having fallen from them, 

this I now confess.

Although one has taken refuge vows, empowerment tantric vows, etc., they just disregard them like releasing cattle and sheep. After taking refuge vows, one cannot abandon the Three Jewels even if he encounters life-threatening situations, and other five common precepts; after taking refuge in the Buddha, one cannot follow other gods, and other nine practices of refrain and performance, etc.; and after receiving empowerment, one cannot violate the guru's teachings even in dreams, and many general and specific vows. (After each empowerment) one takes the vow: "Whatever the guru teaches, I will follow it." (Before Amitabha Buddha and his retinue) confess to and repent of not knowing how to uphold even a single proscribed precept such as these.

Although there are a few Dharma teachings left nowadays, because the devil's activities are extremely rampant, just like putting food in front of a patient, people are not interested in the Dharma teacher's teachings at all. There are signs that the realization of the Dharma is disappearing: even the empowerments of the four classes of tantras are just regarded as a child's play, like just touching the head. It can truly be said that "many request the Dharma but few uphold it, it is easy to take a vow but difficult to put it into practice."

Originally, teaching the Dharma is teaching what to take up and forgo based on karma cause and effect and the precepts of the vows. However, (some people) do not seek the teachings but take many vows without knowing anything about the precepts, which they disregard afterwards. Of course, there is some merit in taking the vows, but because of breaking the vows, they will definitely fall into the evil realms for the time being. As the verse says: "If one does not work hard on practicing the Buddha's precepts, he will fall into the evil realms." Lay men and women must also know the precepts that should be maintained and diligently practice them. This is very important. The Buddha once said: "In the degenerate age, practitioners fall into the evil realms like a box of sand with its opening facing downwards." This is the secret meaning of what he said here. Therefore, all those who have received precepts have a part of the precepts to be observed. Not only should we know how to request for taking vows, but we should also know how to keep them. Now we have recognized all the misdeeds of ourselves and others. Although there is nothing to confess to in the absolute level of the nature of phenomena, we can confess and repent in the illusory realm of relative truth and seek temporary rebirth in Sukhavati and ultimately attain Buddhahood. In this way, bodhichitta is the supreme antidote of immediate formations.