Termo

lit. “splitting” or “laying aside.” This term, which has often been translated as “confession,” includes two aspects: openly and remorsefully acknowledging (or confessing) one’s faults and misdeeds, and resolving not to repeat them. It is because of this resolution (which is not included in the usual meaning of the word “confession”) that one is able to lose the habitual tendencies to commit negative actions and that one is therefore able to purify and free oneself from the negative consequences of one’s past deeds, parting from them so that they are no longer an impediment to one’s spiritual progress. This process requires that the four powers be properly employed (see the chapter on the practice of Vajrasattva): one does not part from one’s negative deeds simply by ignoring and forgetting them. [TLWF 2011]