Hard or Easy to Get Rid of?
往昔所造諸惡業 皆由無始貪瞋痴
從身語意之所造 如今懺悔除三障
除業障之法，根本在滅無明。無明滅則業障不銷自銷。業障粗分可見，細分則不容易覺察。例如動念欲行惡事，雖有念，一轉即空，空即清淨，這只在於是否能轉念。由惡念以至於造作惡事，皆因無力能轉，所以順流而下、不能挽救，此為生死之根，曰情執，皆可障道。
故不善念起時，若有我見情執，不問鉅細，但求除念，這不是斷念或滅念，而是轉念。不轉則住著，住著即纏縛，皆屬業障。所謂業障深淺，是自己積習的深淺，易除的是業障淺，難除的是業障深。又，念頭放得下的、轉得快的，一照即空的是淺。如放不下、轉不動，提不起覺照之力，反越陷越深的便成因果。
銷業除障一事，非明白因果不可，能明白業障因地本是性空。下根之人，恐其不明因果，不瞭解真諦、反誤於空，流入惡途。是故必以儀軌規範之；以戒為師勿縱逸，除開其般若之路，勸其改脾氣習慣，障消方能現機緣，當機點破，使其廓然開悟。
經云帶業往生西方，此「業」乃指見思惑未斷而言，以見西方勝境而思慕為念。在死時自力不足，在毫無把握之時，得正念一助，自能得力不少。不戀此世、一心念佛，即得往生。往生已，其舊習慣業力尚未除也，從此在西方薰習，久之成熟。再悟到罪福性空、本無生滅，智慧華開，本性佛見。
經云業且不有，云何說銷。若不明心地，不從業上解，偏從銷上說，實為不明白因果之人！是以若不依般若信解行證，業障是無法可銷。
人身難得、今已得，須珍惜，早儲淨資糧，勿臨時慌亂。行者既明生死之苦，以無明為因、業障為緣、受苦為果，當努力精進，謀以解脫之，豈可再入惡道耶？
修行道上共勉學
資料來源：心靈甘露(四)，隆門圓通法師著。英文翻譯：張惠平。
Hard or Easy to Get Rid of?
All the bad karmas I created before result from the greed, hatred, and ignorance in the non-beginning era.
They were all created from the body, speech, and mind.
Now I repent in the hope of eradicating the Three Obstacles.
The fundamental way to eradicate the karmic hindrances is to extinguish ignorance. Once it is extinguished, the karmic hindrances will naturally disappear. They can roughly be seen, but the small parts of them are not easy to notice. If someone gives rise to a thought to do bad things, such a thought will become empty if changed. Emptiness is purity. The key is whether he can change his thought or not. Someone bears bad thoughts and does bad deeds because he is incapable of changing his mind. So he will take advantage of the situation and do something irreversible. This is the root of life and death, is called adherence to emotions, and will hinder the Path.
So when bad thoughts arise together with self-views and adherence to emotions, we have to get rid of the thoughts. This means not to sever the thoughts or extinguish them, but to change them. If we don’t, we will be clinging to something, which is a fetter and a karmic hindrance as well. The degree of a man’s karmic hindrance depends on the depths of his accumulated habits. The shallow ones are easy to rid, while the deep ones are difficult to rid. Thoughts that are easy to let go of and can be changed quickly and those that immediately turn empty once reflected belong to shallow karmic hindrances. Those cannot be let go of, changed, or reflected will become deeper hindrances and then become causes and conditions.
In order to eradicate karmic hindrances, one has to know causes and conditions and know that the causal grounds of karmic hindrances are innately empty. People with low capabilities may not know causes and conditions as well as truths, so they may be mistaken by emptiness and thus enter the evil path. Therefore, there must be standards to regulate them and precepts to teach them so that they won’t be dissolute. Their way to the prajna has to be opened and there must be someone persuading them into changing their tempers so that they may have the chance to get rid of their karmic obstacles. Once they are frankly instructed at the right time, they will get enlightened.
It is said in the sutra that people can go to the Pure Land with the karmas they have created. But here “karmas” means that people’s views, thoughts, and delusions are not severed yet and that people are longing for seeing the magnificent scenery of the Pure Land. When they are about to die, they don’t have enough power to go there and are not sure if they can go there. So, with such right thoughts, they may gain quite a lot of assistance. They can get reincarnated to the Pure Land if they do not cling to this life but are wholeheartedly mindful of Buddhas. Once they are there, because their old habits and karmas are not eliminated yet, they can start learning for a long time until they are mature. Next, they will be able to realize that sins and blessings are empty without arising and extinction. Then their wisdom will open and they will see the Buddha of the innate nature.
The sutra says that karmas do not even exist, so why should we talk about eliminating them? Those who do not know the mind field put emphasis on eliminating but ignore karmas. People like these actually do not know causes and conditions. So if we do not believe, understand, practice, and confirm according the prajna, we cannot eliminate our karmas.
It is difficult to be born human, but we are humans already. So we should cherish our life and reserve our capital earlier so that we won’t panic when facing emergencies. Since practitioners already know the pain of life and death, they should think of ignorance as the cause, karmic hindrances as the affinity, and sufferings as the condition. They should be more diligent in search of getting liberated and avoid entering the evil path again.
Let’s encourage each other on the path of cultivation.
The Mahāvaipulya Buddhāvataṃsaka Sūtra goes:
The thoughts in the mundane realm can be counted and known, and the water in the ocean can be drunk to the very end.
The Void can be measured and the wind can be tied, but the merits of Buddhas cannot be talked to the very end.
Source: Sweet Dew for the Soul (Vol. IV), Written by Master Shih Longmen Yuantong. Translated by Huei Ping Chang.