SHORTVAJRASATTVAMEDITATION

PUBLISHER’SACKNOWLEDGMENT

We are extremely grateful to Lama ZopaRinpoche for his eternal and unsurpassedlove, compassion, wisdom and guidance; toall our benefactors—large and small, regularand occasional; and of course, to the greatLama Yeshe, who started it all and whosekindness exceeds that of the buddhas of thepast, present and future.

May whoever sees, touches, reads, remembers,or talks or thinks about this book never bereborn in unfortunate circumstances, receiveonly rebirths in situations conducive to the perfect practice of Dharma, meet a perfectlyqualified spiritual guide, quickly develop bodhi-citta and immediately attain enlightenment forthe sake of all sentient beings.

LAMA ZOPA RINPOCHE

SHORT VAJRASATTVA

MEDITATION

Purification with the

Four Opponent Powers

Edited by Nicholas Ribush

LAMA YESHE WISDOM ARCHIVE • BOSTON

www.LamaYeshe.com

First published in 200112,000 copies for free distribution

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EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION

In Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand,Pabongka Rinpoche explains how the greatAtisha would purify any negativity, no mat-ter how small, immediately. Even in publicor when riding his horse, as soon as henoticed a breach of his ethics, he would stopwhat he was doing, drop to one knee andthen and there, purify it with the four oppo-nent powers—the powers of dependence,regret, remedy and restraint.

Of course, compared to us, Atisha maynot have had that much to purify. Still, hewould say, “I never break my pratimokshavows; I rarely break my bodhisattva vows;but my tantric vows—I transgress those likefalling rain.”

Atisha practiced purification in this waybecause of his deep realization of the psy-cho-mechanics of negative karma, especially

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its four fundamentals: negative karma is cer-tain to bring suffering; it multiplies expo-nentially; if eradicated, it cannot bring itssuffering result; and once created, it neversimply disappears.

Through the study and practice ofDharma, we should try to attain Atisha’slevel of understanding. In the meantime, weshould try to practice as he did.

Therefore, out of his great compassion,Lama Zopa Rinpoche has composed thisshort Vajrasattva practice and requested thatit be published in a format that is easy forpeople to carry around and have available atall times. Thus, we can be like the greatAtisha—whenever we notice we have brokena vow or created any other kind of negativekarma, we can whip out our little Vajrasattvabook and purify that negativity with the fouropponent powers without a second’s delay.

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THE POWER OF DEPENDENCE (A): TAKING REFUGE

“I forever take refuge in Buddha, Dharmaand Sangha,

I take refuge in all the three vehicles,In the dakas and dakinis of secret

mantra yoga,In the heroes and heroines, the gods

and goddessesAnd in the bodhisattvas of the

ten bhumis.But most of all, I take refuge in my holy

guru forever.” (3x)

THE POWER OF REGRET

First recall the definition of negativekarma—any action that results in suffering,usually an action motivated by ignorance,attachment or aversion.

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“Almost every action I do, twenty-fourhours a day, is motivated by worldlyconcern, attachment to the comfort ofthis life. It is like this from birth to deathin this life and has been like that frombeginningless rebirths. Nearly every actionI have ever created has been non-virtuous,the cause of suffering. Not only that, butcontinuously I have also been breaking mypratimoksha, bodhisattva and tantricvows. Worst of all, I have created the heav-iest of negative karmas in relation to myvirtuous friends—getting angry at them,generating wrong views, having non-devo-tional thoughts towards them, harmingtheir holy body and disobeying theiradvice. Having these negative imprints onmy mental continuum is unbearable. It’s asif I’ve swallowed a lethal poison. I mustpractice the antidote right away and

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purify all this negative karma immedi-ately, without a second’s delay.”

In this way, generate strong feelings ofurgency and regret.

REMEMBERING IMPERMANENCEAND DEATH

“Many people my age or younger havedied. It’s a miracle that I’m still alive andhave this incredible opportunity to purifymy negative karma. Death is certain but itstime is most uncertain. If I were to dieright now, I would definitely be born inthe lower realms. Because I could not prac-tice Dharma there I would remain in thelower realms for countless eons. Therefore,how unbelievably fortunate I am to be ableto purify my negative karma right now,without even a second’s delay, by practic-ing the Vajrasattva meditation-recitation.”

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THE POWER OF DEPENDENCE (B):GENERATING BODHICITTA

“But I am not practicing this Vajrasattvapurification for myself alone—the purposeof my life is to release all hell beings, pre-tas, animals, humans, asuras, suras andintermediate state beings from all their suf-fering and its causes and lead them tounsurpassed enlightenment. In order to dothis I must first reach enlightenmentmyself. Therefore, I must purify all mynegative karma immediately by practicingthe Vajrasattva meditation-recitation.”

VISUALIZATION

“Above the crown of my head, seated upona lotus and moon seat, are Vajrasattvafather and mother. Their bodies are white;each has one face and two arms. He holdsa dorje and bell, she a curved knife and

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skull cup. They are embracing each other.The father is adorned with six mudras, themother with five. He sits in the vajra pos-ture, she in the lotus.

“Vajrasattva is my root guru, the holymind of all the buddhas, the dharmakaya,who out of his unbearable com-passion,which embraces me and all other sentientbeings, appears in this form to purify meand all others.”

In this way, your mind is transformed intoguru devotion—the root of all blessings andrealizations of the path to enlightenment.

“On a moon disk at Vajrasattva’s heartstands a HUM encircled by a garland of thehundred syllable mantra. A powerfulstream of white nectar flows from the HUM

and mantra garland and I am cleansed ofall sickness, spirit harm, negative karmaand obscurations.”

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THE POWER OF THE REMEDY: MANTRA RECITATION

“OM VAJRASATTVA SAMAYA

MANUPALAYA, VAJRASATTVA DENOPA

TITHA, DIDO ME BHAVA, SUTO KAYO

ME BHAVA, SUPO KAYO ME BHAVA, ANURAKTO ME BHAVA, SARVA

SIDDHI ME PRAYATSA, SARVA KARMA

SU TSAME, TSITTAM SHRIYAM KURU

HUM, HA HA HA HA HO, BHAGAVAN

SARVA TATHAGATA, VAJRA MAME

MUNTSA, VAJRA BHAVA MAHA

SAMAYA SATTVA AH HUM PHET”

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The meaning of the mantra: You,Vajrasattva, have generated the holy mind(bodhicitta) according to your pledge(samaya). Your holy mind is enriched withthe simultaneous holy actions of releasingtransmigratory beings from samsara (thecircling, suffering aggregates). Whateverhappens in my life—happiness or suffering,good or bad—with a pleased, holy mind,never give up but please guide me. Pleasestabilize all happiness, including the happi-ness of the upper realms, actualize allactions and sublime and common realiza-tions, and please make the glory of the fivewisdoms abide in my heart.

Recite the mantra seven or twenty-onetimes or as many times as possible, prac-ticing the three techniques of downwardcleansing, upward cleansing and instan-taneous cleansing.1

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GENERATING FAITH IN HAVINGBEEN PURIFIED

“From the crown of my head, GuruVajrasattva says, ‘Son of the race,2 yournegativities, obscurations and broken anddamaged pledges have been completelypurified.’”

Generate strong faith that they have beencompletely purified just as GuruVajrasattva has said.

THE POWER OF REFRAINING FROMCREATING NEGATIVITIES AGAIN

“Before Guru Vajrasattva, I vow neveragain to commit those negative actionsfrom which I can easily abstain and notto commit for a day, an hour or at least afew seconds those negative actions fromwhich I find it difficult to abstain.”

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ABSORPTION

Guru Vajrasattva is extremely pleased withyour pledge. Vajrasattva father and mothermelt into light and dissolve into you. Yourbody, speech and mind become insepara-bly one with Guru Vajrasattva’s holy body,speech and mind.

DEDICATION

“In emptiness, there is no I, creator ofnegative karma; there is no action of cre-ating negative karma; there is no negativekarma created.”

Place your mind in that emptiness for alittle while. In this way, look at all phe-nomena as empty—they do not existfrom their own side. With this awarenessof emptiness, dedicate the merits.

“Due to all the merits of the three timescollected by me, buddhas, bodhisattvas

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and all other sentient beings (whichappear to be real, from there, but whichare empty), may the I (which appears tobe real but is empty) achieve Guru Vajra-sattva’s enlightenment (which appears tobe real but is empty) and lead all sentientbeings (who appear to be real but aretotally empty) to that enlightenment(which appears to be real but is empty) bymyself alone (which appears to be realbut is also totally empty, non-existentfrom there).

“May the precious bodhicitta, thesource of all happiness and success formyself and all other sentient beings, begenerated within my own mind and inthe minds of all sentient beings withouteven a second’s delay; and may thatwhich has been generated be increased.

“May I and all other sentient beings

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have Lama Tsong Khapa as our directguru in all our lifetimes, never be sepa-rated for even a second from the purepath that is greatly praised by the con-queror buddhas, and actualize the com-plete path—the three principal paths andthe two stages of Highest Yoga Tantra—the root of which is guru devotion, with-in our minds as quickly as possible.

“Just as the brave Manjushri andSamantabhadra realized things as theyare, I dedicate all these virtues in the bestway, that I may follow after them.

“Whatever dedication the three timevictorious ones gone to bliss haveadmired as best, in the same way, I alsoperfectly dedicate all these roots of virtueso that I may perform good works.”

Notes1. See The Tantric Path of Purification, pp.58-60, for details of these three methods ofpurification. 2. This “son of the race” has nothing to dowith gender but refers to a sentient being ofa certain mental type, which in turn relatesto the buddha family into which one hasbeen initiated.

ReferencesLama Zopa Rinpoche. Teachings from theVajrasattva Retreat. Lama Yeshe WisdomArchive: Boston, 2000.Lama Yeshe. The Tantric Path of Purifi-cation. Wisdom Publications: Boston, 1995.

ColophonThis teaching was given by Lama ZopaRinpoche during the Vajrasattva retreat,Land of Medicine Buddha, Soquel,California, USA, 1999, and revised in NewYork, November 1999.

LAMA YESHE WISDOMARCHIVE

The LAMA YESHE WISDOM ARCHIVE (LYWA)is the collected works of Lama Thubten Yesheand Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche and a section of the Foundation for the Preservationof the Mahayana Tradition (FPMT;www.fpmt.org). The ARCHIVE was founded in1996 by Lama Zopa Rinpoche, its spiritualdirector, to make available in various waysthe teachings it contains. Distribution offree booklets of edited teachings is one ofthe ways.

Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche beganteaching at Kopan Monastery, Nepal, in1970. Since then, their teachings have beenrecorded and transcribed. At present theLYWA contains some 7,000 cassette tapesand approximately 40,000 pages of tran-scribed teachings on computer disk.

Here at the ARCHIVE, we preserve the tapesand transfer them to digital media; edit andpublish the teachings for free distribution;edit teachings for publication as trade books;and maintain and develop our web sitewww.LamaYeshe.com.

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DEDICATION

Through the merit created by preparing,reading, thinking about and sharing thisbook with others, may all teachers of theDharma live long and healthy lives, may theDharma spread throughout the infinitereaches of space, and may all sentient beingsquickly attain enlightenment.

In whichever realm, country, area or placethis book may be, may there be no war,drought, famine, disease, injury, dishar-mony or unhappiness, may there be onlygreat prosperity, may everything needed beeasily obtained, and may all be guided byonly perfectly qualified Dharma teachers,enjoy the happiness of Dharma, have onlylove and compassion for all beings, and onlybenefit and never harm each other.

LAMA THUBTEN ZOPA RINPOCHE was bornin Thami, Nepal, in 1946. At the age ofthree he was recognized as the reincarnationof the Lawudo Lama, who had lived nearby.Aged ten, Rinpoche went to Tibet, where hestayed until the Chinese occupation of Tibetin 1959 forced him into exile in India,where he met Lama Yeshe. The Lamas wentto Nepal in 1967 and started teachingDharma to Westerners. In 1974, they begantraveling the world to teach and establishcenters of Dharma. When Lama Yeshepassed away in 1984, Rinpoche took over asspiritual head of their organization, theFoundation for the Preservation of theMahayana Tradition, which now numberssome 150 centers and activities in almostthirty countries worldwide and continues toflourish under his peerless leadership.

LAMA YESHE WISDOM ARCHIVE • BOSTON

www.LamaYeshe.com