Download Vajrasattva Puja (Dorje Sempa)

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Vajrasattva Puja
(Dorje Sempa)
Vajrasattva is Vajradhara, the primordial Buddha and principal Buddha of the five Buddha families. The
manifest appearance is Vajrasattva but there is actually no specific separate being called Vajrasattva.
Dorje Sempa means vajra mind. This is the same as Vajradhara, Dorje Chang in Tibetan, which means
vajra heart. Vajrasattva's aspiration was that all sentient beings would cleanse their negative karma
through his practice and so instead of having a vajra heart like Vajradhara, he manifested as a deity
holding the vajra in order to help us visualize during our practice.
If possible you should recite the Vajrasattva mantra every day at least twenty-one times. If you
accumulate negative karma you should not keep it even one minute. Right at that moment you should
erase it through reciting the Vajrasattva mantra. But in the busy West there is not much opportunity to
practice in this way so we take one day in a month to practice together and cleanse our negative karma.
In this group we practice around the 30th day of the month or during the time from the day after full moon
to the new moon. We practice Vajrasattva during this time to symbolize that our negative karma is
decreasing like the waning moon. I hope that during the rest of the month all of the members are
cleansing their negative karma without delay.
Vajrasattva practice cleanses away all our negative energies, delusions and defilements. If we have
negative influences within us, when we try to meditate our mind will become foggy and dull and we will
get sleepy. However, when the subtle mind is cleansed whatever texts you read will make sense; they
will be interesting and will feel comfortable for you. When you meditate your practice will work very well.
As well, whatever you practice will be successful because you have merit. Of all the different practices
for cleansing, the purification through the visualization of Vajrasattva and recitation of the 100-syllable
mantra is the most potent.
When you have a mirror, if you want to see your reflection but the mirror is not clean obviously you do not
see your own reflection. However, when the mirror is clean you get a very good reflection of yourself. In
all the different sects of Tibetan Buddhism we believe that Buddha nature is actually within us; the
potential to be an enlightened being is within all of us. However through lifetimes of rebirths and due to
the lifetimes of delusions that we have accumulated, we do not see our own Buddha nature. If we liken
our Buddha nature to the mirror, at the moment the mirror is tainted meaning that basically our Buddha
nature is shrouded by delusions. Therefore, by engaging in Vajrasattva practice we are cleaning the
mirror and lifting up the shroud from our Buddha nature.
Through these practices we are cleansing away not only the delusions of this lifetime but of all the
previous lifetimes that we have come through. There may be certain thoughts within you that, “I have
not done anything bad in this life.” However, the range of our memories can only go as far back as our
birth in this lifetime. We cannot go back into the eons of lifetimes that we have come through. Over a
number of lifetimes we have been piling up negativities. We have in our previous lifetimes been the
worst forms of predators. We have also been in the hell realms for many lifetimes. There have been life
forms where we have caused an enormous amount of harm to others.
Even in this life, most of what we do in a day is not positive. In the morning we may meditate a little bit.
During the day we try to keep a good heart and do nice honest work in our offices. The rest of the time
we are following our mental afflictions. Over a number of eons since beginningless time we have been
doing this. In the Lam Rim it talks about how difficult it is to get this precious human life and how easy it
is to lose. When we understand the preciousness of a human life, how hard it is to receive and how
easily it can be lost, we will be encouraged to practice. Recognize that you will not get this opportunity
again and again. Today is the time to purify!
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Gaden Samten Ling Tibetan Buddhist Meditation Society
11403 - 101 Street Edmonton, AB T5G 2A9
ph: (780) 479-0014
[email protected] www.gadensamtenling.org
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Vajrasattva Puja
(Dorje Sempa)
It is said in the scriptures that our delusions cannot be washed away by the Buddhas. Buddhas cannot
shower us with divine waters and cleanse us. Nor can the Buddhas through all their divine knowledge
cleanse us of all our delusions. These delusions have been committed and heaped upon by our own
selves and therefore, because we created them, we must dissolve them.
Vajrasattva mantra recitation is also part of the preliminary practices of Tibetan Buddhism. If we do not
do the preliminary practices, despite however many years of practice we do, we may not see a result.
Even if we see a result it will only be after a number of years and the result would not be what we actually
want to see within us. In other words, the result will not be what we expect. However, after doing the
preliminary practices we will have the desire to practice spirituality much more diligently. Having that
desire, everything sort of falls into place. When we want to go for a teaching suddenly a teaching comes
up and we are able to attend it despite whatever distractions there may be. Whatever practices we do we
are able to see more tangible results within us in a much faster way.
In the Vajrasattva text we recite “dikpa thamche so sor shag” or “all sins are individually cleansed.” There
are many different ways this can be understood. One way is that each set of vows we take is received
from a specific group of individuals. Ordination and novice vows are received from the ordained
community. Bodhisattva vows are taken during initiations in front of an assembly of visualized Buddhas
and Bodhisattvas. Tantric vows are received from the vajra master who is viewed as inseparable from
the deity. For this reason, violations of these vows must be purified in front of the appropriate assembly.
Broken monks' vows must be cleansed in front of the sangha. Violations of Bodhisattva vows are to be
cleansed in front of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. Broken tantric vows can only be cleansed through
the vajra master.
Another understanding of “so sor shag” is that each negative action is committed through the means of
our body, speech, or mind. Negative karma accumulated through actions of the body must be cleansed
through physical actions such as prostrations. Harmful actions committed by the speech must be
cleansed through recitation. Negative actions accumulated through the mind must be counteracted by
generating strong regret as we do in Vajrasattva practice.
The practice of Vajrasattva consists of taking refuge, generating the altruistic motivation and then relying
upon Vajrasattva. We then use the four antidotes to overcome our negativities. These four antidotes are
the force of repentance, the force of reliance, the force of overcoming misdeeds through the antidote, and
the force of not repeating the misdeeds. Repentance is recalling the negative actions we can remember
and generating regret for having done them. The force of reliance is relying upon Vajrasattva to cleanse
us. Overcoming misdeeds is done through the visualization and reciting the mantra. To avoid repeating
misdeeds we make a commitment to refrain from these actions again for a certain time period of our own
choosing. We then dedicate the merits of the practice to the benefit of all sentient beings. We follow
Vajrasattva practice with the practice of Damtsig Dorje which is specifically for purifying broken vows.
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Gaden Samten Ling Tibetan Buddhist Meditation Society
11403 - 101 Street Edmonton, AB T5G 2A9
ph: (780) 479-0014
[email protected] www.gadensamtenling.org
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