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9. 21-22]
The distinctions of external and internal penance are as follows:
External penance consists of six types:
1. Fasting - renouncing all types of food for a specific period or for life. The first type is intermittent fasting, and the second is continuous fasting.
2. Undereating - consuming less food than one’s hunger.
3. Reducing cravings - lessening the desire for various objects.
4. Renouncing substances - giving up rich foods like ghee, milk, and intoxicating substances such as wine, honey, and butter.
5. Secluding oneself in a quiet place without disturbances.
6. Body hardship - subjecting the body to hardships from cold, heat, or different postures.
Internal penance has six types:
1. Atonement - purifying the faults arising from negligence in the vows taken.
2. Respecting virtues such as humility and knowledge.
3. Service - gathering appropriate means or engaging oneself in service activities. The difference between humility and service is that humility is a mental virtue, while service is a physical virtue.
4. Self-study - engaging in various types of study for knowledge acquisition.
5. Renunciation - giving up egoism and attachment.
6. Meditation - relinquishing distractions of the mind.
The internal penances preceding meditation are sequentially nine, four, ten, five, and two in number. The consideration of meditation is extensive, hence the number of distinctions for the preceding five internal penances has been specified here.
The distinctions of atonement are nine: criticism, retraction, both of those, discernment, renunciation, penance, cutting-off, avoidance, and establishment.
Many types of purification exist for faults or mistakes, all of which are forms of atonement. In brief, they are nine:
1. Criticism - revealing one’s fault in front of a guru with a pure mind.
2. Repentance - reflecting on the fault committed and resolving to refrain from such mistakes in the future.