How to Repent and Eliminate Karmic Obstacles

Question: How does one repent and eliminate karmic obstructions?  

Answer: When first learning Buddhism, one should follow the aspiration text to repent and make vows—one is repentance, the other is making vows. These two practices should be done frequently, done daily before the Buddha, to eliminate unwholesome karma and give rise to wholesome and pure vows. Drawn along by wholesome vows, one's practice will become smoother and smoother. Making vows is very important, and repentance is also extremely important. If karmic obstructions are not repented, they will obstruct you and cause great distress. After daily repentance to dissolve karma, body and mind will become increasingly tranquil and at ease, and one's practice will go more smoothly. 

In the morning and evening liturgy books there are repentance texts for the Three Refuges and Five Precepts, as well as the repentance text for the manas that I wrote. Using these two repentance texts as a guide, repent before the Buddha of all the unwholesome karma created in past lives—whether or not you can confirm having committed it, large or small, repent of it all. Before the Buddha, openly disclose the karma created in this present life, and vow never to commit it again. Both repentance and vow-making must be sincere, coming from the heart, not merely going through the motions or perfunctorily performed. Only with utmost sincerity can karma be dissolved and the mind purified. Once the mind becomes somewhat pure, and afflictive habits are somewhat corrected, then, drawn along by great pure vows, one's practice will naturally proceed onto the right path.