The Practice of the Four Opponent Powers of Purification

At present our mind is like an overcast sky, but if we purify all our negativity and keep the promise to refrain from harmful actions in the future, our mind will become like a clear and cloudless sky.

In Friendly Letter Nagarjuna says:

If anyone who has previously been extremely reckless,
Later practises conscientiousness sincerely,
That person will become pure like a stainless moon.

If we do powerful purification every day we can completely purify all our negative karma; if we do middling purification we can reduce our negative karma; and if we do a little purification we can prevent our negative karma from increasing. If we do no purification our negative karma will increase as time goes by and we shall definitely experience its painful results. The degree of purification we attain depends upon the strength of the four opponent powers:

1. The power of regret
2. The power of reliance
3. The power of the opponent force
4. The power of promise

For our practice of purification to be complete, all four powers must be present.

For more detail, refer to Joyful Path of Good Fortune, The Bodhisattva Vow and Universal Compassion