A small poem (doka, sutra) of the Zen master, Ikkyu:
ALL THE SINS COMMITTED
IN THE THREE WORLDS
WILL FADE AND DISAPPEAR
TOGETHER WITH MYSELF:
The moment you know that you are not, then all that you have done in the past, are doing in the present, or will be doing in the future, has also disappeared. When the doer disappears, the doings have disappeared.
In the East, people have been too much concerned with karmas, actions. They have been very much afraid because whatever bad things they have done in the past, they have to pay for them, they have to suffer for them.
Ikkyu is giving you a great key: Don't be afraid -- because YOU ARE NOT, so you have not done anything! How can you do? Because in the first place you are not. He is taking the very ground from underneath your feet -- with it, all disappears.
ALL THE SINS COMMITTED
IN THE THREE WORLDS
WILL FADE AND DISAPPEAR
TOGETHER WITH MYSELF:
So the only thing is to go deep into yourself and to see your nothingness. You need not do good things to weigh against the bad things that you have done. You are not to go and do good deeds -- because whether you do bad or good, you remain in the illusion of a doer. See the difference!
Ordinary religions teach you to be moral, do good, avoid sins. Remember those Ten Commandments -- they consist of the ordinary religion: Don't do this, do that. The extraordinary religion says: Disappear as a doer -- don't be bothered about doing good or bad. And who knows what is good and what is bad?
In fact, nothing is good and nothing is bad, because existence is one -- how can there be two?