Even though in our zazen our activity is carried on together with the whole earth and all beings, there is no way we can carry out perfect action like a buddha. To think that we have achieved perfect action is simply to be arrogant. For thinking in such a way is, after all, nothing more than our own human judgment. In our zazen, precisely because we have taken such a vow, we cannot help but repent of our inability to fulfill it.
To truly repent does not mean offering an apology; rather, repenting requires facing life straight on, and letting the light of absolute reality illuminate us. What does it mean to be illuminated by absolute reality? The Samantabhadra Bodhisattva Dhyana Sutra says, "If you wish to repent, sit zazen and contemplate the true nature of all things." In other words it is in doing zazen that true repentance is actualized.
Chapter 8 - The Wayseeker: Section - Seven Points of Practice, page 115-116, Opening the Hand of Thought by Zosho Uchiyama
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