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The Confessional Samadhi of the Lotus Sutra, page 11
1. Very First is the Confession of the Eyes
With a single mind, one kneels with one’s right knee on the ground. With an erect body and a dignified bearing, one burns incense and scatters flowers. The mind has thoughts of regret and repentance. Along with all living beings, one’s eyes have always had the nature of emptiness and serenity, but a perverted causality has originated many heavy sins. One grieves and wells up tears as the mouth declares the confession. The method used for the next five sense faculties are the same as they are taught here. From the mouth one declares:
"I confess with all my heart - along with all living beings everywhere, my eyes have been greedily attached to the forms of the material world for countless generations. Because of these attachments there have been cravings for sensations, and I have felt tempted by the the sensuality of the female form. For generations this has produced confusions and attachments to the forms of the material world. These forms have harmed my eyes, making me a slave seeking their favor as I have wandered through the threefold realm1. This corruption has caused me to be blind and see nothing at all. My eyes have not been good and have harmed me greatly. The Buddhas of the Ten Directions are eternal, without extinction. My polluted and evil eyes have been obstructed and so I have not seen them."
"Now, upon chanting the Sutra of the Universal Way2, I take refuge in and turn my life over to the Bodhisattva Universal Virtue and all of the World Honored Ones. Burning incense and scattering flowers, I expound upon my eye's errors and sins without daring to hide them or cover them up. Because of this, along with all living beings, may my eyes be ultimately purified of all heavy sin."
Having already confessed, one worships the Three Treasures. Having expounded like this, one's five members3 fall prostrate onto the ground. The confession of the six senses is clarified in The Sutra on the Observation of the Bodhisattva Universal Virtue. If one has had difficulty in one’s practice for a long time, one should make three recitations of it. Upon making a single recitation of the Sutra, one should also make these words of confession. Upon the second and third recitation, one again expounds like this. The practitioner must do self-reflection upon recalling the Sutra. When the senses begin to produce heavy sins, one should face the Bodhisattva Universal Virtue and well up tears of confession. The sections on the other five senses below are identical to this one.
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Footnotes:
1. Threefold Realm: #1 Desire #2 Form #3 Formlessness; The mortal realm of the self-existence; Life & Death (Samsara)
2. Sutra of The Universal Way: (S. Vaipulya Sutra) Sutra of the Great Vehicle (Mahayana)
3. One's five members: One’s two arms, two legs, and head
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