@1tm122n22m Atma Unum
Vajrasattva, the Adi-Buddha, symbolizes essential purity and purification. His tantric practice transforms karma and reveals our authentic nature. 🌸✨ #Buddhism #Vajrasattva #Purification #Tantric #Wisdom https://wp.me/p3JLEZ-90Z
The Buddha Beyond Space and Time
Vajrasattva is referred to as the Adi-Buddha. Adi means principle or primordial, not as the Buddha who has existed since the beginning of time, but as the Buddha who exists entirely beyond space and time. Vajrasattva represents the Dharmakaya, the true nature of Buddhahood; His authentic nature is found beyond the furthest confines of what can be expressed. He is a symbol of what cannot be symbolized.
The Essential Purity “Symbolized”
Vajrasattva is a Buddha appearing in the form of a bodhisattva. He is white. This signifies purity and purification, which here consists of the deep perception that, essentially, no one, not even ourselves, has ever been impure. We are completely pure from the very beginning, pure by our very nature, essentially, in the depths of our being. We are pure of all conditioning. Indeed, we are pure even of the mere distinction between the conditioned and the unconditioned. Our true nature is non-nature, and we are, in our very essence, completely and perfectly immaculate. For anyone who has grown up in a culture so affected by guilt as ours, this can be a great relief. When we recognize in Vajrasattva our essential, pure nature, any irrational guilt is entirely destroyed.
Tantric Practice of Purification
Vajrasattva does not appear in any of the Mahayana Buddhist scriptures. He is an exclusive figure of tantric Buddhism and plays various important roles in tantric practice. In particular, the visualization of Vajrasattva occurs in the traditional series of the four basic yogas, where one visualizes him and recites his mantra 100,000 times as support for the complete purification of body, speech, and mind.
The Visualization of Vajrasattva
Blue Sky of Emptiness
To begin, everything around us dissolves into a vast blue sky that extends in all directions. All hope and fear, all rounds of thoughts, fade away into the sky, and everything is serene.
From the White Lotus of Our Potential, Vajrasattva Emerges
Above our heads, from the clear blue emptiness, a perfect white lotus emerges. On top of it is a circle of white light. It is a moonlit cushion. On that unblemished throne appears a figure made of white light, sitting serenely in the full lotus posture. He is adorned in dazzling silks and jewels made of pure light.
The Vajra and the Bell: Wisdom and Compassion
His right hand is at heart level, palm upward, balancing perfectly on it is a vajra, the diamond scepter of the Buddhas. The vajra may appear gold or crystal, but it is also made of light, of Mind, of reality itself.
His left hand rests at his side, holding a bell-vajra, which is a silver bell with a vajra handle. Five jewels crown his head, and his body is surrounded by an aura of light in five colors: white, yellow, red, blue, and green, for Vajrasattva is the union of the mandala of the five Buddhas, the total personification of their wisdoms. He has long black hair that falls over his shoulders and looks down at us with a smile of complete acceptance.
The Bija or Seed Syllable from Which the Mantra of Vajrasattva Emerges
In the center of his heart, there is another small white lotus and a moon cushion. Above it, upright and dark blue, is the seed syllable HUM (hung). Surrounding this is a circle of white letters, like a necklace of pure white pearls. These are the letters that compose Vajrasattva’s “hundred-syllable mantra.”
The Union with Fundamental Purity
As we deepen our concentration on the radiant figure above us, various drops of luminous white nectar form over the HUM and the garland of white mantra. The drops become heavier, fuller, and slowly begin to fall. They flow into the body of Vajrasattva and touch our crown. The nectar drops are cool, soothing, and healing. They flow into our bodies, drop by drop, radiant. We feel very refreshed.
The rhythm of the falling nectar accelerates. The drops become indistinguishable. They turn into a flowing and healing stream that the heart of Vajrasattva pours into our body and mind. The stream of light washes away all our clumsy karma, our foolish actions, our selfishness. It even washes away physical illnesses. We shed the dark clouds.
Primordial Liberation
The swirling letters in the heart of Vajrasattva strengthen the purification. They revolve around the HUM, singing the sound of the mantra. One by one, the hundred syllables return us to our true home, our true nature.
The radiant luminous nectar cleanses us even of our flesh-and-blood nature, born to die. Our body becomes like a perfect crystal jar. This luminous container with a corporeal shape fills completely with the white nectar. We feel light, pure, and free like the blue sky.
Mantra of Vajrasattva
In their deepest nature, mantras are, essentially, untranslatable. However, some masters have attempted to provide a translation that gives us a sense of what the mantra of Vajrasattva means.
The transliteration presented here is based on a form of the mantra as bestowed to some of his disciples by Master Dudjom Rinpoche.
It begins with: “Om Vajrasattva samaya” (when you adopt a sadhana or visualization practice, you make a samaya, or commitment, vow with the figure you are going to visualize, promising to maintain that practice regularly. If you do it faithfully, the figure you visualize, in turn, will grant you the fruits of the practice).
Om Vajrasattva samaya
Manupalaya
Vajrasattva ‘tvenopatishta
Drdho me bhava
Sutosyo me bhava
Suposyo me bhava
Anurakto me bhava
Sarva siddhim me preecha
Sarva karma sucha me
Chittam shreyah kuru hung
Ha, ha, ha, ha, ho!
Bhagavan sarva tathágata
Vajrama me muncha
Vajri bhava
Mahasamayasatva
Ah! Hung! Phat!
Om, I vow to Vajrasattva,
he who protects men,
with your essence, Lord of the Vajra, stay by my side,
Be your unwavering support for me,
May you be pleased with me,
may you favor me,
feel deep love towards me,
grant me all perfections,
purify all my karma,
and make me a better mind.
Ha, ha, ha, ha, ho! (laughter)
Blessed be all Buddhas!
You, like the vajras, liberate me!
Truly be of the nature of the vajra.
Great hero of my commitment.
Ah! Hung! Phat! (May the evil go away! Phat! is a sound used to subdue demons.)
The pronunciation of the mantra may vary slightly between different traditions and dialects. Some Tibetan masters teach their students to pronounce it in the Tibetan way, while others recommend the Sanskrit pronunciation. Regardless of the chosen pronunciation, the intention of the practice remains the same: purification and transmutation.
Vajrasattva and His Relationship with Death
Vajrasattva has a special relationship with death, and it is common to chant his mantra to help those who have just passed away. The proximity of death is the moment when our past actions, skilled or clumsy, come to us most intimately, and it is also the moment when our future rebirth can be determined. Therefore, in those moments, we need, more than ever, to invoke the essential purity of Vajrasattva to help us purify our karma.
Vajrasattva and Spiritual Confession
Likewise, Vajrasattva is related to the act of confession. Whenever we confess, when we reveal ourselves by opening up, we try to let go of the clumsy act we are confessing. If the confession is sincere, we can experience at least a glimpse of our true nature as Vajrasattva.
Reference:
Teachers of Enlightenment, Kulananda, Windhorse Publications
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