Vajrasattva

The Hundred-Syllable Mantra

~ DudjomTersarNgondro

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The Meaning of the Hundred-Syllable Mantra ~
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

 

Absolute Purification of Vajrasattva

~ DudjomTersarNgondro

“In the absolute sense there is nothing to be purified, no one purifying, and no act of purification. But since we cannot seem to leave it at that, the defilements and obscurations arise. In the illusory perception of our ego-clinging, we experience endless suffering. Since we feel a need for purification, we have this practice as a relative skillful means.

Vajrasattva arises from our nondual awareness, and we visualize his flowing nectar cleansing our defilements. Along with the visualization we say the hundred-syllable mantra, and at the end Vajrasattva dissolves into one’s being, so that ultimately we reach the level of rigpa. In this state there is no defilement that needs to be purified, there is no Vajrasattva who purifies, there is no hundred-syllable mantra as the means of purification. In the natural state of things, in the state of what is, everything is primordially pure like the sky. This is the absolute purification of Vajrasattva.”

“Ngondro Practice According to the Dzogchen View”
His Holiness Dudjom Rinpoche

Excerpted from Venerable Khenpo Rinpoches’ book, Illuminating The Path

 

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐈𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐄𝐧𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐬 all 𝐒𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐍𝐠𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐫𝐨

~ DudjomTersarNgondro

We have been wandering in delusion in samsara since beginningless time, like being trapped in a dream. The dharma is the method that the Buddha taught to wake us up from this dream. For that purpose he taught the 84,000 teachings of the dharma for beings of lesser and medium capacities, and the 6,400,000 tantras for disciples of the highest faculties. They all have one purpose, to tame the five passions of desire, anger, ignorance, jealousy, and pride in each individual being’s mindstream. The teachings are extremely vast, but the condensed essence of all of them, the pith instruction that encompasses all spiritual traditions, is Ngondro.

All Buddhist and non-Buddhist spiritual traditions see samsara as not a good place to remain and seek to end suffering according to their own capacities and methods. The outer preliminary practices are the four ways to turn the mind to dharma and away from samsara (four thoughts).

The inner preliminary practices begin with going for refuge, the foundation of the path of liberation from Hinayana through Vajrayana. The essence of the path from Mahayana through Vajrayana is to arouse in the mind the thought of supreme enlightenment, Bodhicitta.

In order to attain enlightenment we need to perfect the two accumulations, and mandala offering is the method to quickly accomplish this. The outer mandala offering is the billionfold universe, the inner mandala offering is one’s own body, enjoyable possessions, and accumulations of virtue, and the secret mandala offering is the Dharmadhatu Clear Light Vajra Essence Buddhafield. Actually, everybody needs to accumulate merit, it is not just for those who want to attain Buddhahood. It is the foundation of all worldly happiness, and it gathers the favorable circumstances for attaining enlightenment.

In order to purify unfavorable circumstances we do Vajrasattva meditation. It is a complete tantric practice that includes shamatha and vipassana according to the Vajrayana tradition of the two stages of creation and completion.

Guru yoga is the heart of all practices in the Great Perfection tradition which is the essence of all dharmas and spiritual paths.

Ngondro also includes Phowa, a Great Perfection teaching for swiftly transforming consciousness at the moment of death, even if one dies before being able to accomplish the creation and completion stage practices.

Chod is the practice of severing all types of clinging such as the four maras which create obstacles to samadhi, wisdom, accomplishing meditation practice in this life, and attaining Buddhahood.

As Dudjom Rinpoche said, “This profound revealed treasure, this preliminary practice arranged here, is the noble path which leads swiftly and easily to the level of the union of the Four Kayas. It is a chariot, perfectly clear and easily entered, that is brought up here. All fortunate ones, enter now with joy!”

Written by Lama Sonam Tsering Rinpoche and Translated by Cyril Kassoff – March 2015