PACIFIC WORLD - The Institute of Buddhist Studies

Willams: Seeing through Images 61
like. By also introducing certain doctrinal innovations, notably the concept
of the twofold dharmakāya that entered northeastern China in the early
sixth century, we were able to argue that this provided a certain doctrinal
justification, if not legitimacy, for the use of meditative visualization as a
soteriologically sufficient meditative praxis. Such, at least, are the broad
outlines of the situation.
Our final consideration in this section addresses what Lingyu and some
of his contemporaries regarded as the goal of the repentance rituals they
performed. On the surface rituals of karmic repentance would not appear
to be problematic. They eliminate the future undesirable karmic results of
one’s past and present bad actions. The elimination of bad karma has no
real direct impact on furthering one’s progress along the path of spiritual
development (mārga). Eliminating bad karma, however, could have an
indirect impact by allowing one to obtain a favorable rebirth. In such a
rebirth one would have better opportunities to practice the teachings of
the buddhas and advance spiritually. To directly affect one’s progress
along the path of spiritual progress, the practitioner had to eliminate the
kleśas, or defilements. In this view kleśas cannot be eliminated through
rites of karmic repentance; they must be removed through meditation, or,
more accurately, meditative realization. 103
It is thus of more than passing interest then that two eminent
members of the Ten Stages lineage, from different branches of the lineage,
composed repentance prayers in which they stated that karmic repentance
eliminated kleśas. Both of the monks were members of the South of the
Road school descended from the Ratnamati and Buddha/bhadra lineage
through Huiguang. The first prayer is by Lingyu. Tanqian, 104 the author of
our second prayer, was the student of Tanzun (, 492–576), 105 one of the
ten great disciples of Huiguang.
Daoshi (d. 668), who included both prayers in chapter 86, “The
Chapter on Repentance” (“Chanhui pian,” ) in his encyclopedia of
Buddhism, the Fayuan zhulin, recommended that these prayers be used
as substitutes for those prayers found in the translations of Indian rituals
and liturgies. Daoshi regarded the Indian repentance prayers as prolix and
disorganized and he feared that the repentance that they provided might
not be comprehensive. The prayers by Lingyu and Tanqian, both based
ultimately on the Daśabhūmikavyākhyāna, by contrast for Daoshi were
concise, comprehensive, and unsurpassed among all of the repentance
prayers then available. 106
Lingyu’s prayer is in verse. It is not clear whether this prayer was
meant to substitute for the repentance prayer found in the “Buddha
Names in Seven Registers” inscription on the wall outside of his cave
temple, and, if so, under what conditions. The title suggests, however,
that they may have been used as supplemental verses for recitation. Also,