Vajrasattva Practice

This is the 36th entry from my fieldwork diary. The original date is 28.10.2010.

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Drupon Sangyas:

"There are hundreds of different practices and all of these practices give different results. Vajrasattva is a very powerful and profound practice. Everyone needs this, even those who have no knowledge on dharma. Even the Dalai Lama does this practice on a daily basis.

Vajrasattva purifies the mind, sins, previous life karma and negative emotions or thoughts. We have negative karma due to the fact that we are not yet enlightened. So we need to meditate and practice. The aim is to become more compassionate, like a bodhisattva, arhat or yogi.

Buddha said that everybody has Buddha-nature mind. For example, if there are ten people here in this room, then there are like ten different buddhas.
If you're hostile towards another person you create negative karma for yourself. And if you're jealous of someone, it's like being jealous of a buddha. Likewise, if you hurt a sentient being, you are hurting a buddha because everyone has Buddha-nature.



Buddha also said that if you trust yourself you can attain buddhahood. For example, H.E. Garchen Rinpoche said that we have different realms of existence. Yet only humans can see the human land because they have done good deeds. When we take a look at a river we can see its clear water but hungry ghosts see dirt and muddy water, and hellbeings see flowing lava. Gods and demi-gods see the water as golden nectar.
A person whose mind is highly developed (bodhicitta mind) can see the water as nectar. H.E. Garchen Rinpoche and other high yogis and lamas see people in the same way.
But we are not able to see other people that way because we haven't achieved that state of mind yet. We haven't purified ourselves ,and that is why we choose and pick the people we like, that is why we have such preferences.

So Vajrasattva makes your mind pure and peaceful. We accumulate karma through the body, mind and speech. If we have no control over ourselves, it's easy to accumulate negative karma. Thinking or having thoughts such as "I don't like that person" already makes you suffer. That is how the mind accumulates negative karma. The mind acts like a king and the body like its servant.
Speech can have even worse results if it's negative because it comes back to you, the karma that speech can create is twice as bad.
For an instance, if your mind tells you "I want to eat meat" and your physical body goes into the forest to hunt for an animal, you are creating negative karma.

When the mind is ignorant, unbalanced and uncontrolled, it makes us suffer. But if you had a pure mind you'd still be happy, even if you were poor.
When I was in retreat I had no material things compared to some of my friends but I was still happy.

Buddha gave teachings on how to eliminate our ignorance, anger etc. He also said that it's very important to practice patience. If you get upset too easily then you're being impatient. People expect miracles in meditation and practice but the best method is not to expect anything. All miracles come spontaneously.

If we let negative things take control over us we are not able to understand even the simplest things. So enjoy and appreciate the practices in order to make them powerful. If you practice with doubt in your mind it won't work.
If you recite even just one Vajrasattva mantra deeply from the heart and the mind, it destroys all negative karma, including the karma accumulated in past lives.

VAJRA - invincible
SATTVA - to become enlightened

Everyone has their own sinful secret, something that they do not wish to tell other people. So through the Vajrasattva practice we can confess and purify ourselves. Sometimes during a practice you may even cry or feel pain - this is due to purification of the karma, it is a sign that it is working.

When you meditate without thoughts in your mind and chant the mantra of Vajrasattva, you receive its blessing.
Visualize that you have a pure mind. With this blessing and this pure mind you can make an offering to Vajrasattva or pray for other sentient beings.
It's also important to share this positive feeling that you get from these practices. Sharing makes it even more powerful, especially if you do it with an aim to free all beings from suffering."

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*Important side note: These diary entries do not reflect every word the teacher said, and there may be some mistakes or misunderstandings, for which I am sorry and accept responsibility. In a few instances, I have interjected my own interpretation or explanation.