IMPORTANCE OF PURIFICATION
Once you purify wrongdoing and obscurations, it is actually easy to generate meditation experience and realization. For example, if you are meditating upon the path of method, which is to say the six dharmas of Naropa, it was said by the mahasiddha Taklung Thangpa, who founded the Taklung Kagyu, that the best way to ensure the successful generation of bliss and warmth is to accomplish the practice of Vajrasattva.
If you wish to practice meditation on a wrathful deity, such as Gonpo Bemakchen or Palden Lhamo, and if you have engaged in the purification practice of Vajrasattva, then there will be no obstacle arising when you pursue the main practice and it will only be a source of benefit for yourself and others. It will go smoothly and there will be no upheaval.
In short, the cause of everything that goes wrong for us — our sickness, demons, and afflictions of all kinds — is our previous wrongdoing and obscurations.
Often, we become somewhat superstitious and say, "I am experiencing an obstacle. Where did this obstacle come from? Oh no, an obstacle!" But all obstacles stem from our own previous wrongdoing, therefore it says in the text, "If you have no wrongdoing and obscuration, then how could sickness or obstacles ever arise for you? Where would they come from?"
That is why Vajrasattva practice is the single most effective and most profound method of averting obstacles and misfortune. When we do any practice and yet do not experience the results described in the practice manuals, it is because we are obscured, because we have not gone through the necessary practice of purification.
This is because the signs or indications of the practice we are attempting are in fact themselves obscured by our obscurations. Therefore, the most profound single method for increasing our realization and our experience of purity or sacredness is the Vajrasattva meditation.
The only reason that we do not see Mahamudra, that we do not see the nature of our mind as it is right now, is because of our obscurations, which in this case stem from what is called connate, or coemergent, ignorance.
If we remove those obscurations, which can be done most effectively through the practice of Vajrasattva, there is nothing preventing us from seeing the nature of our mind as it is, and we will.
Therefore there is no more profound method of generating realization of Mahamudra than the Vajrasattva practice…
(In the text Rinpoche is explaining, it states) "There is no point in my continuing to say the same thing in many other ways. In short, it is taught that you can attain full Buddhahood through this method of Vajrasattva practice alone. Therefore… practice it.”
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Once you purify wrongdoing and obscurations, it is actually easy to generate meditation experience and realization. For example, if you are meditating upon the path of method, which is to say the six dharmas of Naropa, it was said by the mahasiddha Taklung Thangpa, who founded the Taklung Kagyu, that the best way to ensure the successful generation of bliss and warmth is to accomplish the practice of Vajrasattva.
If you wish to practice meditation on a wrathful deity, such as Gonpo Bemakchen or Palden Lhamo, and if you have engaged in the purification practice of Vajrasattva, then there will be no obstacle arising when you pursue the main practice and it will only be a source of benefit for yourself and others. It will go smoothly and there will be no upheaval.
In short, the cause of everything that goes wrong for us — our sickness, demons, and afflictions of all kinds — is our previous wrongdoing and obscurations.
Often, we become somewhat superstitious and say, "I am experiencing an obstacle. Where did this obstacle come from? Oh no, an obstacle!" But all obstacles stem from our own previous wrongdoing, therefore it says in the text, "If you have no wrongdoing and obscuration, then how could sickness or obstacles ever arise for you? Where would they come from?"
That is why Vajrasattva practice is the single most effective and most profound method of averting obstacles and misfortune. When we do any practice and yet do not experience the results described in the practice manuals, it is because we are obscured, because we have not gone through the necessary practice of purification.
This is because the signs or indications of the practice we are attempting are in fact themselves obscured by our obscurations. Therefore, the most profound single method for increasing our realization and our experience of purity or sacredness is the Vajrasattva meditation.
The only reason that we do not see Mahamudra, that we do not see the nature of our mind as it is right now, is because of our obscurations, which in this case stem from what is called connate, or coemergent, ignorance.
If we remove those obscurations, which can be done most effectively through the practice of Vajrasattva, there is nothing preventing us from seeing the nature of our mind as it is, and we will.
Therefore there is no more profound method of generating realization of Mahamudra than the Vajrasattva practice…
(In the text Rinpoche is explaining, it states) "There is no point in my continuing to say the same thing in many other ways. In short, it is taught that you can attain full Buddhahood through this method of Vajrasattva practice alone. Therefore… practice it.”
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ESSENCE OF ALL DEITIES
In the most extensive form of Vajrayana practice, which is the practice of the combined mandala of the Eight Herukas, there are 725 deities. The essence of the 725 deities is the 100 peaceful and wrathful deities. The essence of the 100 peaceful and wrathful deities is what is called the 25 deities, or 25 families, and the essence of this is the five buddhas, each of which has a fourfold retinue. The essence of the five buddhas is Vajrasattva, who is called the all-embracing single family.
Therefore, it is understood that by meditating on Vajrasattva you are simultaneously meditating on all deities, all buddhas, and all mandalas. By accomplishing, or realizing, Vajrasattva you accomplish or realize all deities, all mandalas, and all buddhas.
Therefore, this very secret practice of Vajrasattva is considered to be the essence of all of the tantras and teachings of the Eight Herukas and the peaceful and wrathful deities.
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The usual number that is given for the effective recitation of the Vajrasattva hundred-syllable mantra is 100,000.
In the most extensive form of Vajrayana practice, which is the practice of the combined mandala of the Eight Herukas, there are 725 deities. The essence of the 725 deities is the 100 peaceful and wrathful deities. The essence of the 100 peaceful and wrathful deities is what is called the 25 deities, or 25 families, and the essence of this is the five buddhas, each of which has a fourfold retinue. The essence of the five buddhas is Vajrasattva, who is called the all-embracing single family.
Therefore, it is understood that by meditating on Vajrasattva you are simultaneously meditating on all deities, all buddhas, and all mandalas. By accomplishing, or realizing, Vajrasattva you accomplish or realize all deities, all mandalas, and all buddhas.
Therefore, this very secret practice of Vajrasattva is considered to be the essence of all of the tantras and teachings of the Eight Herukas and the peaceful and wrathful deities.
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The usual number that is given for the effective recitation of the Vajrasattva hundred-syllable mantra is 100,000.
It is also taught that nowadays all of the numbers that are found in the tantras need to be multiplied by four. The reason for this is that we live in a time of degeneration, which means that our afflictions are much stronger. We engage in much more wrongdoing in general than people did in the past.
At the same time, our faith has actually decreased, so while we have more to purify, it is harder for us to purify anything because of our attitude. Therefore, it is taught that it is best if you can recite the mantra 400,000 times; this will be extremely effective.
Even if someone has committed a root violation of samaya, which is a fundamental violation of the commitments of Vajrayana, if they recite the hundred-syllable mantra 400,000 times, unmixed with other speech (which means that they are doing it in formal meditation sessions, not just reciting it while they are walking around and talking), their violation will be purified. This is taught in both the old, or Nyingma, and the new, or Sarma, traditions.
At this point Chakme Rinpoche offers a compassionate concession to the needs of individuals. He says that if you find the hundred syllable mantra too difficult to recite, you may recite the six-syllable mantra, OM BENZA SATO HUNG , 600,000 times, and it will have an equivalent effect of purification.
Karma Chakme Rinpoche now describes why one might want to do such purification. It is taught that someone who has committed a root violation of samaya in this lifetime will be reborn in a specific hell realm.
In the sutras this hell realm is called Shambhala hell, and in the tantras it is called vajra hell. It is said to be to the northeast of Avichi, which is the lowest of the eight regular hot hells. It is seven times worse than the worst of the eighteen regular hell realms. It is a state of inconceivably great suffering that is completely uninterrupted.
We do not even know how truly bad it is or how long it lasts because the Buddha refused to speak of it in detail. The reason he refrained from describing this hell was that he found that when he started to talk about it, bodhisattvas, out of their compassion for beings, started to vomit blood and die on the spot.
Nevertheless, all of the violations of samaya and other wrongdoing that we have engaged in that might cause us to be reborn in this hell will be purified and you will not be reborn in that hell realm if the Vajrasattva practice is conducted with a clear visualization and with the full number of the six-syllable or hundred-syllable mantra. This was taught in The Vajrapani Tantra.
For people like ourselves who are afflicted by a large amount of ferocious or intense wrongdoing, this instruction of Vajrasattva is more valuable than a hundred or even a thousand wish-fulfilling jewels. Legend tells us that there exists a wish-fulfilling jewel that will fulfill any wishes upon request, but this practice is even more precious than that because it can purify or remove the fundamental reason behind all of our suffering.
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SIGNS OF PURIFICATION
When you do a practice such as Vajrasattva—that is, a practice of purification—there are likely to be indications in your experience of something happening, some kind of change occurring in you.
These indications can take different forms. What is explained in the text are indications that we would normally find pleasant and that we would assume mean that the practice is going well, and they do. You should not, however, think that everyone is definitely going to have the same experience of the practice.
The typical signs described in the text are that you will feel physically well; you will feel vigorous, tranquil, and at ease. At the same time, your mind will become clearer than it was before.
You will experience an attitude of renunciation because you will experience a recognition of the futility of samsara and the value of liberation. At the same time, you will have greater faith or confidence through an appreciation of the qualities of the Three Jewels and a wish to attain those qualities yourself.
Also, some kind of meditation experience or possibly realization will arise apparently spontaneously within you through doing the practice. For some individuals there will be experiences like this, which occur in the waking state, or direct experiences of the mind.
For others there will be dreams that indicate that you are going through a process of purification, for example dreaming that you are washing, or putting on bright or white, new, clean clothes. You could dream that you are drinking some kind of ambrosia or milk, or dream that you are flying. All of these are considered to be indications, in this context, of purification.
You could have all kinds of positive experiences like that, an increase in your experience of sacredness, and so on.
Not everyone is going to experience purification as a pleasant thing. Because purification is the removal of the imprints of previous wrongdoing, you could experience it as somewhat unpleasant.
You could find that your mind is becoming more and more agitated as you continue the practice. You could actually even experience some kind of external upheaval in the circumstances of your life. It is natural for us, when this happens, to assume that we are doing something wrong, that we are doing the practice wrong or that we are not doing it enough or something like that, otherwise these bad things would not happen. That is not necessarily the case.
Do not forget that when you are doing a practice like Vajrasattva, because you are purifying your previously accumulated negative karma, that karma may show up in your life.
This is like washing dirty clothes. When you immerse dirty clothes in the washing solution, initially they seem to get even dirtier because the dirt starts to emerge from them, and they may even smell. But they are not getting dirtier; this is the beginning of the dirt coming out of the clothes.
If these experiences arise for you while you are doing a purification practice, be patient. Recognize that it is the eradication of negative karma, not the accumulation of it, and continue to do the practice.
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Shechen Gyaltsab Rinpoche:
By confessing one’s negative deeds in this way, concentrating on the four powers, signs of purification will occur in one’s dreams, as listed in the Incantation of the Goddess Cundā:
If in one’s dreams one vomits rotten food, drinks yoghurt and milk, sees the sun and moon, travels through space, sees a blazing fire, is capable of taming wild buffalos and negative forces, sees an assembly of monks and nuns, climbs on top of a tree with milky sap, on an elephant, bull, mountain, lion throne, or palace, hears the Dharma, and so forth, one is free of negative acts.
Other dreams may occur that one is bathing, wearing white clothes, has a vision of the teacher and yidam deity, hears their teachings, and so on.
And in reality as well, all kinds of qualities of the path may take birth in one’s mind stream—a feeling of contentment, clear awareness, an increase in one’s virtuous activities, the effortless arising of wisdom and compassion, and so on.
The signs of having purified misdeeds are explained in the texts. Some particular ones include your body becoming light and needing little sleep, experiencing good health and a clear mind, having some experiences and realizations, and so forth.
