Sutra in Forty-Two Sections

Reducing the Severity of Offenses

The Buddha said, "If a person has many offenses and does not repent of them, but cuts off all thought of repentance, the offenses will engulf him, just as water returning to the sea will gradually become deeper and wider. If a person has offenses and, realizing they are wrong, reforms and does good, the offenses will dissolve by themselves, just as a sick person who begins to perspire will gradually be cured."

- http://cttbusa.org/42s/42sections.asp

- wong chee tat :)