The Hundred-Syllable Mantra

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The Meaning of the Hundred-Syllable Mantra
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The mantra is a prayer evoking Vajrasattva’s promise. Here are the words with their equivalent meanings.

OM
Most highly praised,

VAJRASATTVA SAMAYA
Vajrasattva! The sacred link between us—

ANUPALAYA VAJRASATTVA
Guard it closely. O Vajrasattva,

TENOPATISHTHA DRIDHO ME BHAVA
May you remain firmly with me.

SUTOKAYO ME BHAVA
May you completely satisfy me.

SUPOKAYO ME BHAVA
Make me blossom fully.

ANURAKTO ME BHAVA
May you always be loving toward me.

SARVA SIDDHIM ME PRAYACCHA
Bestow on me all accomplishments.

SARVA KARMASU CHA ME
In all my actions

CHITTAM SHREYAH KURU
Make my mind most virtuous.

HUNG (The vital seed syllable of Vajrasattva.)

HA HA HA HA (Syllables indicating the four boundless attitudes, the four empowerments, the four joys, and the four bodies.)

HO (A laugh of pleasure at those.)

BHAGAVAN SARVA TATHAGATA
O Victorious, Virtuous, and Transcendent One of all the Tathagatas,

VAJRA MA ME MUÑCHA
You are the diamond—do not forsake me.

VAJRI BHAVA
Make me a diamond holder.

MAHA SAMAYASATTVA
O great being of the commitment,

AH
May I be inseparably united with you.

THE POWER OF ACTION AS AN ANTIDOTE 
This entails performing positive actions as antidotes to negative ones. In this case, it refers to the essential points of visualizing the deity, reciting the mantra, concentrating on the negative actions and obscurations being washed away, and so on.

THE POWER OF REGRET 
This is to give rise to intense remorse for the negative actions one has performed in the past—as if one had taken poison.

THE POWER OF RESTORATION OR RESOLUTION
This is the firm resolution to refrain from negative actions in the future, even if one’s life is at stake. These last two powers are complete when at the end of reciting the mantra, one verbalizes one’s parting, in verse or as prose, with such prayers as “In ignorance and confusion . . .” Even if one cannot do this, giving rise to true regret and recognizing the fault in future wrongdoing will automatically produce the resolution to refrain. There is not one of us who has not entered the door of the Secret Mantra Vehicle. And once we have done so, if we do not subsequently keep the commitments, we will go to hell; if we do keep them, we will attain Buddhahood. There is no other destination than these two. The Secret Mantra Vehicle commitments are very subtle, numerous, and difficult to keep. Even Lord Atisha said that after he had entered the Mantra Vehicle, he committed fault after fault in rapid succession. So for us who have few antidotes, weak mindfulness, and no vigilance (we do not even know the different categories of vows, nor the point at which we break the precepts), there can be no doubt that breaches of our vows are falling on us like rain. We should therefore do the practice of Vajrasattva every day and recite the hundred syllables twenty-one times. By doing so, our downfalls will be blessed and their fully ripened effect will be prevented from growing greater. And by reciting the hundred-syllable mantra one hundred thousand times, all our downfalls will be eradicated, as the Ornament of the Essence says:

Clearly visualize Vajrasattva Enthroned on a white lotus and moon: By reciting twenty-one times The hundred syllables according to the ritual, Downfalls and the like will be blessed And therefore not grow greater. Thus the greatest accomplished beings have taught, So do this practice constantly. If you recite it one hundred thousand times, You will become the very embodiment of total purity.

Torch Lighting the Way to Freedom
Complete Instructions on the Preliminary Practice of the Profound and Secret Heart Essence of the Dakini
By Dunjom Rinpoche Jigdral Yeshe Dorje 
Translated by the Padmakara Translation Group
Shambhla Boston & London 2011


We offer these words of advise to our sangha as we remember and pray for Venerable Dhomang Gyatrul Rinpoche who entered Parivirvnan on April 8th.

As Lama Tharchin Rinpoche said, in speaking of Kyabje Thinley Norbu Rinpoche’s parinirvana:

“It is like doing one mantra on a holy day where the merit multiplies by millions. During this time, we can remember Rinpoche’s wisdom, his kindness, how much that has penetrated our mind, how our lives would be inconceivable without him … We can come together and pray, make aspiration prayers together that immediately this life has set we can be reborn in the Pureland, that we can practice together and attain fully enlightened Buddhahood always together. Then we don’t have any separation, from life to life.”  

See Orgyen Dorje Den for Parinirvana of Venerable Dhomang Gyatrul Rinpoche Puja Schedule and Swift Rebirth Prayer