Four Powers of Purifying Negative Karma

 FDRA is 

Foundation

Destruction

Restraint

Antidote

So you take a bad karma you've done in the past in actions, words or thoughts. Just try it as an example. And you do FDRA. -Foundation: you go for refuge in something that can protect you from experience the bad effects of this karma. So you can go for refuge in Buddha, Jesus, whatever you think will help you. But the thing that really helps you is the actual teaching letting you know this so going for refuge in wisdom (embodied in a person or symbol) Is power. You picture yourself running like it's raining and you're in the middle of the woods and you find this nice quiet, abandoned church. You just run into it for refuge from the storm. Remember the storm is the consequence I'm going to suffer from my negative karma. I am running from that to a foundation place where I can regroup, dry off from the rain, and think. 

Destruction: this is deep deep regret. Now that you have a foundation you want to begin destroying this negative seed by truly have regret. You contemplate how this negative seed WILL ripen unless I do something. It will ripen into something exponentially worse than the initial thing done. So if I said so how do I stop this torrential rain that has been created by my past actions. You have to very clear how even a small negative word can snowball into people speaking poorly of me for years. And the sad thing is we are doing these negative actions every day. Every day we are committing a slew of negative seeds in thoughts, words, and actions. It is truly a miracle that are good seeds outweigh our bad ones so that we woke up this morning. Because every day we are just piling on thousands and thousands of negative thoughts, words, and small actions...and then doing a sprinkling of good stuff. There really isn't a comparison. We should have regret for this and all the pain we are going to experience. 

Restraint: can I stop myself from doing this negative deed for a set amount of time. Make it realistic. If it's something you're going to do again -like have a negative thought about X person- then set the timer on this restraint for a few hours or even a few minutes. Seriously. A few honest minutes is so much more powerful as a purification than committing to a week and breaking that promise. 

Antidote: now it's doing the positive karma in thoughts, words, actions, but it's to counteract the negative one. So this is not something I'm planting for a ripening, but to just pour acid on the bad seed or you're lighting that bad seed on fire with your practice so it burns out. 

And then feel good that you purified at least one bad karma to completion. As you practice this and start to get good at it, you'll be doing purification on the go, at work, driving. You will go for refuge, have regret, agree to restrain and then think about an antidote...like it's second nature. But first you should be practicing, taking it slow, really thinking about individual negative karma and purifying with the 4 powers.

TEACHING OF THE FOUR POWERS (by Lord Buddha)

I bow down to each and every Enlightened Being, and every bodhisattva.

One time I heard the Buddha give this teaching.The Conqueror was staying among the worldly gods of the Land of the ThirtyThree, at the great gathering place of the gods known as Excellence. Together with him was a great gathering of 500 monks, along with mass of great bodhisattvas such as Loving One and Gentle Voice. 

And the Conqueror spoke the following words to that great bodhisattva, Loving One:

"O Loving One, if a great bodhisattva keeps four practices, then he or she can never be overwhelmed by bad deeds that they have both committed and collected.

"And what are these four practices? They are the activity of destruction, and the activity of an antidote, and the power of restoring, and the power of the foundation.

"Here the 'activity of destruction' refers to having many regrets about a negative deed that you have committed.

"The 'activity of an antidote' refers to making great efforts in positive deeds, despite the fact that one has performed a negative action.

"The 'power of restoring' refers to making a commitment to restrain oneself, and then succeeding in not breaking this commitment.

"The 'power of the foundation' means never giving up the act of taking refuge in the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Community; and never giving up the wish for enlightenment. Any person who maintains these kinds of power can never be overwhelmed by a negative deed that they may have done."