| Summary: | 碩士 === 國立屏東教育大學 === 中國語文學系 === 98 === Abstract
The Jeweled Repentance of Emperor Liang is in ten volumes, and it was reported to be the Merciful Daoist Confessional written by Emperor Wu of the Liang Dynasty (464-549) to bring salvation to Empress Xi; it is also referred to as Confessional of Liang Emperor and Liang Wu Confessional. It has had broad ritual influence, beautiful language, deep merit, and is widely liked by Buddhists; it is one of the confessionals that have circulated for the longest time in China.
The prequel to The Jeweled Repentance of Emperor Liang, Merciful Daoist Confessional, records that Empress Xi sought repentance from Emperor Wu of the Liang Dynasty (464-549). To give salvation to Empress Xi, Emperor Wu of the Liang Dynasty made the Merciful Daoist Confessional so that she can turn into a heavenly person from the body of a python, and reborn into heaven. Domestic scholars have conducted evidentiary studies on the past events, causes, and conditions of this confessional and found precise results. The primary goal of this notion is to evince the “ability for one to be reborn in a higher realm” of confessionals. Scholars compared the content and the form of The Jeweled Repentance of Emperor Liang with the Jingzhuzi jingxing famen written by King Wenshuan, Xiao Zi-liang in the reign of Chiwu Emperor in the South Dynasty (483-493); it was found to be similar to other confessionals in the South Dynasty. According to Song Tsan-ning’s (919-1002) Biographies of Eminent Song Monks, The Jeweled Repentance of Emperor Liang has been in wide circulation in Huainan since the mid-Tang period.
Li Yan-shou’s South History does record that Empress Xi fell into the animal realm after she died. This shows that the Tang people have myths on Empress Xi’s strong hatred and jealousy, her transmutation into a dragon, the dreams that she placed into the Emperor, as well as the hundreds of food dishes that he offered to Empress Xi in rituals, explaining the results caused by antipathy leading to the animal realm. At the end of Yuan and beginning of Ming, Jue-an’s An Outline of Historical Researches into the Śākya Family Lineage further stated that it was The Jeweled Repentance of Emperor Liang that allowed Empress Xi to enter heaven; this is to emphasize the Buddhist effect of repentance to extinguish sins, in order to make people believe.
Xi was jealous by nature, and when she neared the end of her life, she experienced great pain of the four great separations; it aroused her antipathy and she fell into the animal realm. This was frequently recorded in Buddhist anecdotes throughout history. Even when practitioners face death, they suffer from sickness and cannot focus on One Pure Heart, and also have evil thoughts that put them into bad realms, not to mention ordinary people. On this basis, the writer poses two questions. The first is that when people experience the four great separations in dying, they are in great pain and it tends to arouse antipathy and fall into a bad realm, thus “one thought before death” and “peace and sutra-chanting at death” are keys that affect whether the person can pass from the state of intermediate existence. The second is how humanity deals with antipathy, on finding a resolution for attitude management, in order to accumulate possibility for future passage to the Pure Land.
The Jeweled Repentance of Emperor Liang discusses six roots repentance and explains that the emotional people produce ten sins from their bodies, mouths, and intentions; they are based on six roots, enacted in six consciousnesses, taken from the six dusts, and opening eighty-four thousand doors to dust and labor. Thus there must be repentance from the sins from the six roots. According to the causes listed in the prequel to The Jeweled Repentance of Emperor Liang, Xi did not seek repentance a second time, through the confessional, she extinguished her sins and did not fall into the three bad realms. This shows that Buddhist repentance thought emphasizes one’s genuine and deep repentance regarding sins committed since the infinite eons, changing one’s behavior and not committing the sins. Repentance to extinguish sins can resolve the vendettas from many lives, and the ultimate goal is to be free from reincarnation into the six realms through life and death. In summary, based on repentance methods and confessional ability for one to be reborn in a higher realm, the core concepts in this paper are focused around past events, causes, and conditions in The Jeweled Repentance of Emperor Liang, evolving into the three axes of “one thought before death,” “correction of antipathy,” and “repentance to extinguish sins.” Since the Buddha is merciful and has emotions, the paper uses the angle of humanity, in hoping to use Buddhist wisdom to positively face life problems and find release from pain in life. This makes it possible to have good management of causes, elevate personal belief standards in theory and practice, and enhance the quality of life.
Keywords: The Jeweled Repentance of Emperor Liang, Four Great Separations, One Pure Heart, state of intermediate existence, antipathy, repentance
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