Vajrasattva Purification Practice

The purification practice of Vajrasattva, or "Dorje Sempa" in Tibetan, is a skillful psychological method of the Indo-Tibetan tradition of Buddhism, often practiced daily before going to sleep. Using the four psychological factors known as "the four opponent powers" together with visualization and mantra (OM VAJRASATTVA HUM), help us to go deep into our psyche and gradually eliminate the unwanted energy traces, or karmic compulsions, created by our unskillful actions of the past.

Transcript

.

.

.

As we begin this purification practice,

We first bring our awareness to the body and begin the gentle process of physical relaxation.

.

.

.

Letting go of physical tension with each out-breath and dropping deeper into the stillness of the body.

.

.

.

.

.

.

As we allow our breath to move naturally,

Without any conscious control from our side,

We're also letting go of all the stories,

Both outer and inner,

That we're telling ourselves.

Bringing our awareness to the sensations of the breath throughout the body.

And just following these tactile waves.

Dropping deeper.

.

.

.

To establish the foundation for the purification practice itself,

We check our motivation and adjust it to make it more expansive.

Aspiring for full awakening,

For the benefit of all beings.

.

.

.

And with that powerful aspiration,

The aspiration known as bodhicitta,

We enter the purification practice of Vajrasattva itself.

The first step in this practice,

The first so-called power of purification,

Is the power of regret,

A constructive understanding of the fact that we want to purify our mind from negative imprints.

In the past,

In this life,

And in our past lives,

We have done many unskillful actions of body speech in mind.

Actions done under the influence of our mental afflictions,

Ignorance,

Anger,

Neurotic attachment,

Pride,

Jealousy,

And so forth.

And all those actions of our three doors,

Our body speech and mind,

Have left negative mental imprints,

Traces of energy that might potentially ripen as suffering.

Different types of unwanted experiences.

These energy traces also limit our ability to help others,

So we naturally generate a strong wish to purify our system of these traces,

Liberate ourselves from these negativities,

These negative compulsions.

And we can even think of specific instances of negative actions that we have done recently or earlier in our life,

Generating a strong resolve to purify those,

Change our habits,

Change our behavior,

Stop harming ourselves and others,

And bring more happiness and compassion into this world.

These contemplations and these feelings become the first power,

The power of regret.

To implement the second power,

The power of reliance,

We think,

Whom can I rely upon in order to purify,

Who can be my support,

My refuge?

One aspect of this support is the enlightened mind itself,

The Buddha.

Manifest as both all the enlightened beings in this universe and as our own Buddha nature,

Our pure potential.

The profound realizations of this mind,

Known as the Dharma,

Those who embody this mind,

Known as the Sangha,

These three become our support in this process.

And they manifest above the crown of our head as the Buddha of purification,

Vajrasattva,

A radiant being made of beautiful moon-like white light,

White as snow,

Sitting upon a beautiful lotus flower,

Youthful and radiant.

He is holding a golden scepter or Vajra next to his heart,

He's holding a bell next to his hip.

And these symbolize the union of method and wisdom,

The union of compassion or bliss and profound insight.

This manifest form of Vajrasattva above our crown becomes the manifestation of support of refuge.

And the other aspect of this support is the compassion that we extend to all beings,

Including ourselves.

We want to purify,

To bring greater happiness and greater freedom from suffering to ourselves and to all other beings.

And so this powerful love and compassion in our mind is in itself a power of purification.

With this we turn to the third power,

The power of remedy,

The application of the purification process itself.

And in order to apply it,

We imagine supplicating Vajrasattva's power of purification with his short six syllable mantra,

Om Vajrasattva Hum.

And as we repeat this supplication,

Quietly or chanting,

We imagine limitless streams of light and nectar flowing down from Vajrasattva's heart,

Through his body,

Through his lotus flower,

Into our crown and then into our energy system,

Our central channel,

All the secondary energy channels in our subtle nervous system.

Flowing down this blissful nectar,

This blissful light,

Completely purifies our body,

Our speech and our mind by forcing all the negativities through the lower orifices of our body.

We imagine them leaving us as all the substances that we ourselves see as dirty and unpleasant.

Tar,

Coal,

Snakes,

Frogs,

Scorpios,

Pus,

Blood.

All of these leave our body and disappear completely.

They no longer exist anywhere.

And our body,

Speech and mind become completely pure.

With this understanding and with this visualization,

We recite this short mantra,

Om Vajrasattva Hum.

Om Vajrasattva Hum.

Om Vajrasattva Hum.

Om Vajrasattva Hum.

Om Vajrasattva Hum.

Taking a moment to feel that we have been profoundly purified.

But because there's always more purification that can be done,

Now we're imagining that Vajrasattva's light and nectar,

Still flowing into our body and into our energy channels,

Helps us purify by forcing all the remaining negativities through the upper orifices of our body,

Our eyes,

Our nose,

Our ears.

So all the remaining negativities rise on the surface of this nectar and leave our body in this way.

And so with that,

We continue the recitation.

Om Vajrasattva Hum.

Om Vajrasattva Hum.

Om Vajrasattva Hum.

Om Vajrasattva Hum.

Om Vajrasattva Hum.

Once again,

Feeling deeply purified,

Even more so.

And now to remove all their remaining most subtle obscurations and negativities,

We imagine that Vajrasattva's light upon entering us just instantly dispels the darkness,

In the same way that darkness is dispelled when the light in a room is turned on,

Instantly and completely dispelled by the radiance.

So now in the same way,

We imagine Vajrasattva's radiance of wisdom and compassion instantly dispelling our obscurations.

With that,

We recite some more.

Om Vajrasattva Hum.

Om Vajrasattva Hum.

Om Vajrasattva Hum.

Om Vajrasattva Hum.

Om Vajrasattva Hum.

Now we just rest in this experience of very profound purification,

Seeing our body,

Speech and mind as something completely pure and radiant,

Like a crystal,

Like the light itself,

Resting in the ease that purification brings.

To complete the process of purification,

We also need the fourth power,

The power of resolve.

And this resolve is the resolve to avoid negative actions in the future as much as we can,

To continue training in pure ethical discipline,

To continue aligning our actions with the values of wisdom and compassion.

And so we generate this resolve mentally as our internal promise to Vajrasattva.

We can think of something specific,

Like the actions that we feel we can avoid for some time.

And we also think in general about practicing compassion,

Practicing nonviolence,

Living purely with the ethical precepts that we have taken.

And then we imagine that Vajrasattva is very happy with our resolve,

So he melts into white light,

And this light absorbs into us through our crown.

So we attain complete union,

Complete oneness with Vajrasattva's energy.

And so we think and feel my body,

Speech and mind,

Vajrasattva's body,

Speech and mind,

And the body,

Speech and mind of my spiritual mentor,

My guru,

Are completely one.

And we just rest in that awareness for a short while.

And then to conclude the practice,

We dedicate the energy of our meditation to the highest aspirations that we have,

The goals with which we began the practice,

Including full awakening for the benefit of all beings,

And the benefit of those beings here and now,

Their immediate liberation from suffering,

War,

Disease,

Famine.

Anything that might be oppressing them and preventing them from realizing their highest potential.

With this,

We slowly conclude our meditation.

And relax.

Reviews

So grateful 🙏🏼 thank you

Thank you, Michael🙏Thank you Vajrasattva🙏🌟 Great practice

Great purification meditation session. Merci beaucoup

I found this very powerful. My aim is a new beginning and this Vajrasattva purification has helped me move on from the negative thoughts and actions of the past towards a better ‘now’ and ‘next’.

Perfect

Excellent practice that I like to repeat often, supporting emotional and physical well-being - thank you!

Thank you for sharing this profound practice of great lineages. May you carry-on guiding us, and bring well-being to all sentient beings.

Geateful for receiving this wonderful purification, meditation ✨🙏🏼 thank you Venerable

Calm and centering practice.

Thank you for this wonderful meditation teaching. 🙏🏾

Transformative

Very simple yet profound. Blessings!

Wonderful

Very powerful cleansing thank you

Humbled and grateful to find Ma Taras teachings by you 🙏🏾🙏🏾💕

Thank you for this learning experience. Much needed. Namaste.

Wonderful meditation! Thank you so much.

Its’s beautiful. Thank you. Lamala would you please do a Chenreizig sadhana? Tashi Delek. 🙏

First time I have meditated to this, a wonderful guided teaching