Question

In the scriptures the Buddha talks about how, when we have done an unskillful action or speech, we should confess it. How can we bring confession into our regular practice?

Answer

If you want to discuss what you have done, that is unbeneficial, with somebody you feel you can respect, someone you feel will not spread what you are telling them, then often it can be helpful. But only if you feel there is someone you respect, someone who can give you some advice about what you have done. It can help. But just be careful who you tell. It can happen that someone whom you tell today, might be, say, a monk or a nun with 10 or 20 years in the practice, etc., yet next year or even next week, they might become a lay person with a different religion (or even none!), they might change their whole direction in life. So it is important, very important, to be careful whom you confess things to. But as I said, if it's someone you really feel you can respect, someone you know won't be spreading what you have to say, it can often be helpful.

Our apologies if there are any errors in the above text. If anything seems to be wrong or confusing in any way, please feel free to contact the teachers for further clarification.