Four Yogas Of Mahamudra:
I. Yoga of One-pointedness. Repentance.
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Because, as the result of gaining confidence in the mind-essence, the soil, seed and sprout are seen separately, the suffering stops to be a subject of faith and the feeling of the possibility to attain the freedom arise.
The soil is a primordial nature of mind, non-apparent, formless, giving place for everything, possessing the only one quality of the self-knowledge.
The seed is a complex of remnant impressions, becoming apparent as desires-attachments, fear-anger and indifference-ignorance, or as good intention, wisdom of self-knowledge and freedom.
The sprout is a patterns of enjoyment and suffering, that are assimilated from the all-containing soil by the seed according to its inclinations.
Thus, the confidence in and the insight into the capacity of complete liberation are gained, which is identical to the direct perception of mind-essence.
Concerning the results of such practice the following may be said:
Its results are absolute in the intermediate state between death and new birth (the bardo), where the mental action instantly cuts off the very suffering.
Its results depend on the phase of forming of suffering in the ordinary world, where the forming factor may be in three phases – of mental activity (arising), acceleration (stabilization), and relative disappearance (together with the circumstances, that are forming it physically).
If the forming factor is in the phase of arising – the repentance would be most effective.
If the forming factor (image, disease and so on) has rooted in, accreted with individuality, then, to achieve success in practice, it is necessary to form a possibility for the disclosing of potential of auspicious accumulations in this person. If such are available, then repentance in their non-revelation will bring to success. If the auspicious accumulations are insufficient, then it's necessary to repent in the lack of tendency to form them in this individual. Then cessation of suffering should be achieved stage by stage, duration of which depends on the degree of conditioning by the traces of outer cognition, i.e. on the degree of attachment and aversion, and the conditioning itself is a subject to repentance.
The above-stated shows that in the ordinary world the success of repentance depends on how wisely we manage to apply the method of the stage-by-stage liberation from suffering.
The truly wise repentance should not be tense. If the repentance concurs with the necessary form of action, it reminds drawing water from the well or from the shallow reservoir (depending on the duration of practice).
Though repentance begins as feeling of getting rid from sufferings, in its mature form it is like the revealing the good or the way to it.
That is why a contact with repentance at first is painful, but blissful in the end.
The wisdom, perceiving sensations of pain and bliss as a seed, and objects that cause their rise as the all-supporting ground, brings to the realization of identity of mind and phenomena. Though this realization brings to the cutting down of the actual practice of repentance, if the practicing one has rightly understood the value of goodwill, then the practice would be carried out naturally, according to its appropriateness.
Such is a result of conscious repentance, not limited by conceptual thinking.