We certainly need to purify all of our wrongdoing and obscurations. And, in order to be inspired to purify them, we need to be aware of the fact that we are obscured.
Now all of us have been accumulating obscurations and imprints of wrongdoing and so forth throughout beginningless time, and we cannot and don’t remember those previous lifetimes. Some of us have trouble even remembering this lifetime. But if we become aware of the fact that we are obscured, aware of the kleshas and so forth that remain within us, then this makes us open to a kind of open-ended confession. This open-ended confession is taught to be the most powerful way to confess, and therefore to purify, any and all obscurations.
Open-ended with respect to time: you say, “Whatever I have done wrong throughout beginningless time…” with the frank understanding that you don’t remember most of it. Not only yourself, [but] open-ended with respect to beings: “Whatever I or any other being has ever done wrong, I confess. May it be purified.” And it’s said that by making your confession open-ended with respect to time, and open-ended with respect to all other beings, the vastness of scope of that intention empowers your confession and makes it far more effective than it otherwise would be.
[From a teaching on The Words of the All-Pervasive Guru given by Bardor Tulku Rinpoche at Kunzang Palchen Ling in September 2012. Translated by Lama Yeshe Gyamtso. Edited by Matt Willis. All rights reserved. The complete teaching is available as an MP3 download from the KPL Bookstore.]