Sin to a Buddhist is mere ignorance.
Buddhists do not regard man as sinful by nature or "in rebellion against God.' In fact, in the Buddha's teaching, man is originally without sin. Every human being is a person of great worth who has within himself a vast store of good as well as many evil habits. The good in a person is always waiting for a suitable opportunity to flower and to ripen. Please remember the saying, "There is so much that is good in the worst of us, and so much that is bad in the best of us."
Buddhism teaches that everyone is responsible for his own good and bad deeds, and that each individual can mould his own destiny. Says the Buddha, "These evil deeds were only done by you, not by your parents, friends, or relatives; and you yourself will reap the painful results."
Man's sorrow is his own making and is not handed down by a family curse or an original sin of a mythical ancestor.
Buddhists do not accept the belief that this world is merely a place of trial and testing. This world can be made a place where we can attain the highest perfection. And perfection is synonymous with happiness.
If a sin could be forgiven, people may take advantage and commit more and more sins. The Buddhists have no reason to believe the sinner can escape the consequences by grace of external power. If a man thrust his hand into a furnace, his hand will become burned, and all the prayer in the world will not remove the scars. The same is with the man who walks into the fires of evil action.
According to Buddhism there is no such thing as sin as it is explained by other religions. To put it another way, the Buddhist idea of sin differs from the other religions. To the Buddhist, sin is mere ignorance. The wicked man is an ignorant man. He need instruction more than he needs punishment and condemnation. He is not regarded as violating God's will or as a person who must beg for divine mercy and forgiveness. All that is necessary is for the sinners friends to help him reason in a human way and to help him to realise that he is responsible for his action and must pay the consequences.
In the Buddha's teaching, sin and evil means a falling away. Sin is deterioration of the good life. Thus there is no need for the practice of confession in this religion.
The purpose of Buddha's appearance in this world is not to wash out the sins committed by people or to destroy the wicked people. He came to make the people understand how bad it is to commit evil and to point out the reactions of such evil actions.
There are no commandments in Buddhism since no one can command another in his spiritual upliftment. The Buddha has encouraged us to use our intelligence. He has merely shown us the path for our enlightenment. The precepts that we undertake to observe are not commandments; they are observed voluntarily. The Buddha's teaching is thus: 'Please pay attention; take this advice and think it over; see whether you can practise it or not. If you think it is suitable for you to practise my advice, then do so and you can see the results very soon.' There is no religious value in blindly observing any commandment without proper conviction and understanding. However, we should not take advantage of the liberty given by the Buddha. Remember that it is our duty to behave as cultured, civilized. intelligent arid understanding human beings.
Taken from "What Buddhists Believe"
Written by Ven. K. Sri Dhammananda
Published by Buddhist Missionary Society