VAJRASATTVA KARMA MANTRA, with teaching and references ( repost )
repost from tribe: teaching yoga

Namaste. Om svasti.

I have uploaded a Sanskrit language text image for Vajrasattva mantra recitation at my tribe home ( "k t" ).

If you do not know about Sanskrit or Buddhist Sanskrit practices, an excellent book is
"Sacred Calligraphy of the East" by John Stevens.

There are online resources for Buddhist mantra in Sanskrit, including
<visiblemantra.org/>

Anyway, here is a short, casual teaching on Vajrasattva. I know, I know, it is woefully incomplete. But to actually study this teaching one needs a complete empowerment, a lot of practice, and real instruction from an authentic tantric Buddhist guru, such as commonly come from Tibet and teach in different parts of the West.

This is quite doable. I have received sixty full Vajrasattva empowerments in all different schools. I have not been to India.

Scroll down quite a bit further for several pages of classical tantric teaching. Somebody has to know how this stuff works. Back in India, this is known as "yoga", specifically "guhyamantra yoga".

As one of my many many teachers from Asia once said,
"In the final analysis, all talk is worthless. It is only the exact practice that gives a result."
He also said,
"Dharma eliminates the karma." ( You know, Dharrrrmahhh Heeeleeemeenaaates teee karrrrmmaahhh. )

All my relations! May this benefit all!

K T


Translation of the VAJRASATTVA KARMA MANTRA
( Diamond Being Action Recitation Which Is All-Accomplishing )

". . . Identical to Vajrasattva, the supreme siddhis ( powers ) are perfected in him; he attains the blissful pure land, supreme wisdom becomes his display, and he is an exemplar to gods and men; he is empowered in body speech and mind and whatever he imagines is actualized."
- - from the Thirty First Chapter of the Guhyagarbha tantra, The Chapter on Direct Perception of Vajrasattva

This mantra is quintessential to the foundational practices of Buddhist tantra ( i.e. mystical yoga ), and also is broadly and extensively used at the highest levels of Tantra, up to and including Mahamudra / Great Seal and Atiyoga/ Great Perfection.

The following text and teaching is most sacred.

Vajrasattva is the quintessence of ( all ) the Hundred Families of Buddhist tantra. It is a universal key to all the esoteric Buddhist tantric traditions of India, Tibet, China, and Japan. Vajrasattva practice distinguishes Inner Mahayana / Great Vehicle Buddhism from Outer Mahayana / Great Vehicle Buddhism, for in the latter it is either not found or very hidden.

Vajra has the sense of "indestructible, infinite, immovable, all-encompassing, timeless", ultimate awareness ( jnana ) and skillful means ( prajna ). As one of the Buddha Families it refers either to the Buddha Family of the East, or to the All Encompassing Six Families, i.e. Vajrasattva, the Five Buddha Families plus Vajrasattva.

As a ritual scepter vajra also has the sense of ultimate nobility and royal power, and the union of the Five Buddha Families and the great sacred circles ( mandala ). There are many different kinds of vajra scepters, with one, three, five, or nine prongs, and the vajra is usually part of other tantric implements such as the knife handle and bell handle. It is not realistic to practice Buddhist tantra without both a good vajra scepter and vajra bell: these are required and to be used as part of the tantric commitments.

From a practical perspective, Vajrasattva is one of the most important methods in Buddhist tantra for healing and purification on all levels of Body speech and Mind. ( Of course, no promises can be made for any specific medical condition. ) This includes purification of the practitioner to effectively practice tantra, and also to purify continuing minor infractions and even severely dangerous transgressions of the tantric commitments, which would otherwise be worse than fatal. It also includes psychic heat yoga ( Tibetan: tummo ) and in the Great Perfection full transmission, includes the quintessential precepts of Breakthrough ( dzogchen trekcho mannakde ) for direct liberation of awareness into primordial freedom and purity.

Vajrasattva is also an "All Accomplishing" ( Sanskrit: sarva siddhi ) mantra, as you can see in the translation that follows. Thus, Vajrasattva accomplishes the outer sacred circle magical activities of Purification ( Vajra Family ) , Enrichment ( Ratna Family ), Magnetization ( Padma Family ), and Eliminating Negativity and Obstacles ( Karma Family ). It also accomplishes the primary Great Work of Buddhahood ( Buddha Family or alternatively the Six Great Families, the Five plus Vajrasattva.

The most basic forms of Vajrasattva recitation are these
1) OM VAJRASATTVA AH
2) OM VAJRASATTVA HUM

There is also a basic wrathful form of Vajrasattva known as Vajrapani ( Scepter in Hand ). If one has any major Vajrasattva empowerment, this includes Vajrapani, for which the basic mantra is
HUM VAJRA PHAT
There are also variations of Vajrapani mantra, as Vajrapani is one of the principal angelic guardians ( dharmapalas ) of all the schools of Buddhist tantra across Asia, and also the Shaolin School of Ch'an Buddhist Kung-fu.

There are many images and forms of Vajrasattva, both peaceful and wrathful, and both with and without consort. The consort is for example Vajragarvi ( peaceful ) or Diptacakra ( wrathful consort of Vajrakilaya-Vajrasattva ).

Typically, the Peaceful Vajrasattva is brilliant shimmering transparent clear-white, holding a vajra ( diamond scepter ) in the right hand at the heart, and holding a ghanta ( diamond bell ) in the left hand at the left waist ( bowl up ). This peaceful Vajrasattva may then appear in union with the peaceful consort, or in the heart center of the Ultimate Wrathful Vajrasattva known as Vajrakilaya ( Diamond Dagger ).

As a ritual practice, the seed syllable ( bij mantra ) may be either HUM or AH, and there are other variants as well. The deity is visualized as oneself / an ideal being, atop one's head, and in different forms. So for example, a woman may well see herself as a female Vajrasattva, or as "Reversed Vajrasattva", i.e. as Vajragarvi in tantric union with the masculine aspect Vajrasattva.

Vajrasattva is the source deity of the Great Kalacakra mandala ( sacred circle ), and also the source deity of the Great Perfection ( Atiyoga or "dzogchen" teachings of primordial purity, the most profound, essential, and powerful awareness-yogas of the Early Translation ( Nyingma ) school.

For example, the first human teacher of Atiyoga was Joyous Vajra ( Tibetan : Garab Dorje ), a direct emanation of Vajrasattva. According to the Great Perfection / Atiyoga tradition sourced through Garb Dorje, there are six million four hundred thousand verses of teaching of Vajrasattva and the Great Perfection, of which a worthwhile fraction have been transmitted down to the present day. See for example the following
1) "The Tibetan Book of the Dead: First Complete Translation" ( i.e. the Gyurme Dorje translation and commentary ISBN-10: 0143104942 )
2) "Wellsprings of the Great Perfection", Erik Kunsang
3) many online texts, such as those available from Keith Dowman at
<www.keithdowman.net/dzogchen/>
These include
3a) Direct Perception of Vajrasattva ( The text that gave King Dza his enlightenment vision )
3b) The Exalted Spaciousness of Vajrasattva ( Garab Dorje's Source of all Dzogchen Precepts ).

Also, every key empowerment of Great Perfection Break Through ( dzogchen trekcho ), such as the renowned Patrul Rinbochay Tsik Sum Ne Dek ( Striking the Essence in Three Words ) includes the Vajrasattva Hundred Syllable mantra as a key practice. Finally, a greatly wrathful Vajrasattva practice is one of the Three Roots ( primary deity yoga practices of the Nyingma school ), either as Vajrakilaya or as Mahasri Heruka ( the wrathful Samantabhadra-Vajrasattva ).

In addition to the Tibetan Book of the Dead, a crucial and comprehensive teaching with many Great Perfection mantras including Vajrasattva as a primary practice , there is also a rare transmission of Guru Padmasambhava as Vajrasattva. This is the Red ( Padma ) Vajrasattva, which would look superficially similar to other Vajrasattva practices but which has a very different structure and orientation. It is a quintessential restricted practice and requires a specific Red Vajrasattva empowerment. Apart from this, all major Nyingma Great Perfection transmissions, such as Padmasambhava, Yeshe Tsogyel, Tara, Vajrakilaya, Troma, Bardo, etc. include a full Vajrasattva.

In the New Schools of Indo-Tibetan Vajrayana ( i.e. the Sarma, including Gelugpa, Sakya, and Kagyu ), the ultimate Buddha realization is embodied in the Dharmakaya ( Primordial Dimension ) Vajradhara ( Diamond Bearer ). This Buddha Vajradhara is the fully realized Vajrasattva, just as Vajrasattva is the ( sambhogakaya / angelic ) Buddha of the Tantric Path. They are two aspects of the same ultimate teaching, which is known as Mahamudra, the Great Seal.

So for example the great renunciate yogi Milarepa, who was Vajra Family in the Five Buddha, accomplished Buddhahood as Vajradhara. Accomplishing the deity Kalacakra-Vajrasattva also brings one to the level of Vajradhara. ( Accomplishing the deity Yamantaka or Hevajra brings one to this same level. There are many tantric paths to universal awareness. This is known as polytheism. )

There are also many variants of the Hundred syllable mantra, as for Tara Karma Mantra, Mahakala Karma Mantra, Yamantaka Karma Mantra the different Heruka Karma Mantra and so forth. I know directly from having received all these transmissions and the corresponding texts. Thus the Hundred Syllable mantra, like the Hindu Gayatri mantra, serves as a core for many or most other practices.

There are also different extensions to this mantra, including that for "Purifying the Six Realms", and other versions. Most of these are sealed by the oath of tantric secrecy, which must be upheld by all initiates. The many variants of the basic mantra can be summarized in these categories:

a) with and without the optional ending seed syllables HUM and PHAT;

b) with different ordering of phrases, such as SUTOSNYO, SUPOSNYO, and ANURAKTO BE BHAVA;

c) via substitutions of different deities ( angels ) in place of Vajrasattva ( N.B.: not a simple substitution );

d) using basic substitutions for different Buddha families ( i.e. replacing each instance of VAJRA with PADMA to focus more on Lotus Family deities such as Avalokita, Hayagriva, etc. );

e) using the Tibetanization of the original Sanskrit recitation, by substituting for example BENZA for VAJRA. This is also effective as mantra. There is a close Chinese variant of the Tibetan form which is in use by four or five million practitioners.

These different permutations and combinations are all classical and valid, not mistakes in the various publications or traditions you may encounter. Nevertheless, the basic form accomplishes all aspects of spiritual purification and realization.

It is typical for committed practitioners of Buddhatantra to complete a commitment of 100,000 recitations of this long Vajrasattva mantra as a basic daily purification ( 21 x daily or 100x daily ) and as a preliminary to major empowerments and to complete many deity practice sessions ( usually 3x per session to mend mistakes ). Some people do basic Vajrasattva purification practice each full moon, others do extensive retreat entirely focused on this deity, such as for Red Vajrasattva.

Once the basic 100,000 long recitations have been completed, it is possible to go further and perform basic mandala activities ( enrichment, etc. ) or perhaps psychic heat practice or Great Perfection practice ( at some point ). Typically the advanced practices will not even begin to work without completing the long recitations first. I have completed 250,000 long Vajrasattva recitations and intend to do more. It is said that in Tibet good tantric practitioners of different schools quite commonly completed 200,000 long recitations, so this is a major practice for basically every serious tantric yogi.

An excellent text on Vajrasattva in New School Indo-Tibetan Vajrayana is
"The Tantric Path of Purification: The Yoga Method of Heruka Vajrasattva"
by Lama Thubten Yeshe, ISBN-10: 0861710207
This specific mantra authorization ( as well as the one given here ) is included in essentially all major New School Tantric empowerments, such as Kalacakra, Cakrasamvara, Hevajra, Vajrayogini, Yamantaka, Milarepa, Mahakala and so forth. However, the Heruka forms also vary between deity yoga lineages, and the Nyingma versions of Vajra Heruka vary as well.

This translation is partially based on that of the great Nyingma scholar / Dzogchen master Khetsun Sangpo Rinbochay, and also that of the great Dzogchen master Terton Sogyal Tulku Rinbochay. Khetsun Sangpo has provided an excellent commentary which brilliantly summarizes Vajrasattva practice and all the esoteric preliminary practices from the standpoint of the Old School ( Nyingma ) tradition: see
"Tantric Practice in Nying-ma"
by Khetsun Sangpo Rinpoche, ISBN-10: 0937938149

Because Vajrasattva is so important in all schools and all levels of Buddhist tantra, it is quite helpful to have both these books.

The Sanskrit phonetic text following is broken out on a phrase by phrase basis without punctuation. The English interpretation follows between each phrase.

I have provided some clarification and elucidation, mostly within the parenthesized parts.

Translation follows:

> > > Begin Translation > > >

Om vajrasattva samayam anupalaya
Om Vajrasattva ( Diamond Being )! Protect the sacred commitment.

Vajrasattva tvenopatistha
Vajrasattva abide in me.

dridho me bhava
Make me firm.

sutosnyo me bhava
Grant me complete satisfaction.

suposnyo me bhava
Fulfill me ( increase the positive within me ).

anurakto me bhava
Make me compassionate ( or: be loving towards me ).

sarva siddhim me prayaccha
Grant me all siddhi ( powers and attainments, both relative and transcendent ).

sarva-karma su ca me chittam sriyam kuru
Manifest for me all ( noble ) actions. Make my mind wholly virtuous.

"hum"
"hum" ( the bijmantra, the essential vibratory wave-particle of Vajrasattva )

"ha ha ha ha"
"ha ha ha ha" ( the Four Joys, Four Immeasurables, Four Levels of Tantric Empowerment, the Four Dimensions of Sacred Being - Dharmakaya, Sambhogakaya, Nirmanakaya, Svabhavivakaya )

"ho"
"ho" ( exclamation of joy at accomplishing these sets of four )

bhagavan sarva-tathagata-vajra
Transcendent Lord who embodies ( or: who is together with ) all the Indestructible Realized Buddhas !

ma me munca
Do not abandon me.

vajri bhava maha-samaya-sattva
Make me indivisible, Great and All Encompassing Pledge Being ( great angel of angels ).

"ah"
"ah" ( release into vast primordial pure wisdom-dimension beyond all limitations and obscurations )

(optional : hum phat! )
(hum phat!) Hum here means manifest great diamond power! Phat! has the sense of strike / cut through all confusion, grasping and negativity! I.e. by prajnopaya, the Union of Wisdom and Skillful Means.

< < < End Translation < < <

Sarva mangalam! Siddhi rastu.

In partial fulfillment of my received responsibilities as vajrayana guru, this was set down one as casual chatter by the inner medical tantrika and dagger priest K T, who is of the Vajrasattva ( Sixth of the Fivefold ) family.

AHHH AHHH

Tistha vajra! Samaya ho!