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Three Vajrasattva - Prince of Purity

From Tibetan Buddhist Encyclopedia
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In meeting Vajrasattva (Tibetan Dorje Sempa) in this chapter, we are encountering for the first time a Buddha who does not appear in the Mahayana sutras, only in the tantras. He is a rather mysterious, even esoteric, figure, who plays a number of important roles in Tantric practice. Sometimes he appears as a kind of reflex of the deep blue, immutable Buddha, Aksobhya. At other times he appears as the 'adi-Buddha' - pure white, naked and unadorned, in sexual embrace with a white female partner. Adi means from the beginning or primordial. This does not mean he has existed since the beginning of creation - Buddhism does not think in those terms. The adi-Buddha does not appear at a first point in time, he transcends time altogether. He represents the potential of the mind to transcend the continuum of time and space, a potential that is always available to us. When you emerge beyond these limitations of consciousness, you find you are Enlightened. Not only that; beyond time, you find you have always been Enlightened. In your essential nature you have always been a 'diamond being', have always been Vajrasattva.

This diamond nature, outside time, is totally pure. It has never been sullied or stained by any of your actions within time. Hence Vajrasattva represents the beginningless purity of your deepest nature. The path to Enlightenment of the devotee of Vajrasattva, then, is a path of everincreasing purification. One of the most important sets of meditation practices in the Tantra, used in slightly varying forms by all schools of Tibetan Buddhism, is known as the mulct, or Foundation, Yogas.18 These are often performed as preliminaries to the practice of Highest Tantra (anuttarayoga), and are in themselves extremely effective methods of self-transformation. The first, according to a common Nyingma classification,19 is Going for Refuge and Prostrations. This involves visualizing a vast assembly of Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, and other symbols of the transcendental path, and reciting a formula committing yourself to attain Enlightenment. At the same time you make full-length prostrations on the ground, and imagine all living beings reciting and prostrating with you. This recitation and prostration is repeated 100,000 times over a period of months or years. Performed wholeheartedly, this practice greatly deepens your commitment to following the Buddhist path to its endless end. The aim of the second practice is the development of the Bodhicitta, the cosmic will to Enlightenment. Again, there is a verse to be recited 100,000 times. By the time this is completed, you know that you can never be satisfied with making your own escape from the prison of samsara. You are now committed to engineering a 'mass breakout' - to helping all living beings to attain Enlightenment.

Out of the first two mula yogas comes the determination to gain Enlightenment as fast as possible, so as to help all living creatures who have been circling in samsara since beginningless time. But, according to Buddhist tradition, you too have been taking rebirth since beginningless time, and in all those lives, being unenlightened, you have presumably been piling up unskilful deeds, which hinder you from gaining Enlightenment. How on earth can you ever purify yourself? It is here that Vajrasattva comes to your rescue. The third Foundation Yoga involves repeatedly visualizing Vajrasattva and reciting his mantra once again until the number of recitations reaches 100,000. This practice is a very deep purification of all levels of your being - body, speech, and mind. It is very important to understand how this purification works. The purificatory practice is not of the same order as the unskilfulness which it purifies. (After all, if that were the case, since you have been heaping up hindrances since beginningless time it would take endless aeons to purify

them.) On the contrary, Vajrasattva's purification comes about through the realization that in your deepest nature you were never impure. Your true Vajrasattva nature is beyond time and space. It is primordially pure because it is on a level of 'existence' to which karma does not apply. That is why it can purify all your karma. Sadhanas of purification of Vajrasattva are much used in the Tantra. They are performed as part of the Foundation Yogas, and frequently as a daily practice. They are also used to repair infractions of vows, whether the Bodhisattva ordination vows or the Tantric samaya - the vows taken during Tantric initiation. There are many such sadhanas, though the differences between them are relatively superficial. In sadhanas of purification, Vajrasattva is usually visualized as white in colour, though different sadhanas may specify slightly different forms. In some he holds a vajra to his heart and a bell at his left hip or knee, in others he holds the vajra and bell crossed. In some he is a single figure, in others he appears in the form known as Heruka Vajrasattva, embracing his white Tantric consort. There are other sadhanas of Vajrasattva in which he may appear in other colours. Frequently he is a deep or sapphire blue. I know of devotees who visualize a yellow form. You also find mandalas of Vajrasattvas of the same five colours as the Buddhas: white, yellow, red, blue, and green. However, we shall concentrate here on a form of Vajrasattva meditation which is used for purification, as it is in this context, as a purifier of faults and negative karma, that he is most commonly invoked.

A sadhana of purification

For this purification meditation to be most effective, it needs to be prefaced by a period of reflection in which we make a frank appraisal of our shortcomings. The path of purification begins with acceptance of the need for purification. Vajrasattva can only purify us to the extent that we honestly recognize how far we have strayed away from his diamond light. The more wholeheartedly we admit to what stands in our way on the path to Buddhahood, the more complete will be the purification. Here we are not concerned with beating our breasts, wanting to atone for the offence our sins have caused to some external deity. We just make an honest assessment of our own inadequacies, failings, or even evil, and regret the suffering we have caused ourselves and others. This is done in the context of the understanding that the beauty and strength of Vajrasattva is our beauty and strength, from which our negative actions have estranged us. That done, we allow everything around us to dissolve into a vast blue sky. Its infinite freedom stretches away in all directions. All our hopes and fears, our chains of thoughts, vanish into the blueness. Everything is still. Above our heads, out of the blue emptiness, flowers a perfect white lotus. Above it is a circle of white light, a moon mat. On this spotless throne appears a figure made of white light. He is seated serenely in full-lotus posture, wearing dazzling silks and jewels made by craftsmen in light. His right hand is held to his heart, palm upwards. Balanced perfectly upright upon it is a vajra, the diamond sceptre of the Enlightened Ones. The vajra may appear as gold or crystal. Whatever its semblance it is made of light, of Mind, of Reality itself. His left hand is at his left side, holding a vajra-bell (Sanskrit vajraghanta) a silver bell with a vajra handle. His head is crowned with a diadem of five jewels, and his body is surrounded by an aura of five-coloured light: white, yellow, red, blue, and green - symbolizing that Vajrasattva is the union of the mandala of the five Buddhas, the complete embodiment of their wisdoms. He has long black hair flowing over his shoulders, and he looks down at us with a smile that transforms our universe. It is a gaze of total acceptance. At his heart's core is another small white lotus and moon mat. On this, standing upright, is the deep-blue seed syllable hum. Around it is a circlet of white letters, like a string of pearls. These are the letters of the 'hundred syllable mantra' of Vajrasattva. As we deepen our concentration on the radiant figure above us, we see dewdrops of white light-nectar forming on the hum and the white mantra garland. These drops become heavier, fuller. Slowly they begin to fall. They flow down through the vacuous body of Vajrasattva and kiss the crown of our head. The nectar drops are very cool, very soothing, very healing. They flow into our body, drop by glistening drop. We feel more deeply refreshed than a thirsty nomad at an oasis spring. The rhythm of the falling nectar quickens. The descending drops are no longer distinguishable. They become a flowing, curative stream, pouring from Vajrasattva's heart into our body and mind. The light-stream begins washing away all our unskilful karma, all our foolish actions, all our selfishness. Even physical diseases are cleansed away. Clouds of darkness fall from us. The purification is reinforced by the turning of the letters in Vajrasattva's heart. They dance gently around the hum, chanting the sound of the mantra: om vajrasattva samayam.... One by one the hundred syllables restore us to our true home, reconcile us to our true nature. The glistening light-nectar cleanses us of even our flesh-and-blood nature, born to die. Our body becomes like a perfect crystal vase. This body-shaped light-vase is completely filled with the white nectar. We feel light, pure, and free as the blue sky. There is more to the sadhana, but perhaps this is enough to enable you to get an inkling of the sense of release and purification that successful practice of the sadhana brings about. In Tantric circles, this sadhana is known to be very strong medicine with far-reaching effects. It purifies body, speech, and mind. It is not unusual for there to be physical side-effects from its performance. Vajrasattva is sometimes referred to in the Tantra as the one who saves from hell. This is no doubt partly because his sadhana is used for repairing broken Tantric vows. (Neglecting to keep the Tantric vows is considered very unskilful karma, which will have unpleasant consequences.) His meditation is considered to be particularly efficacious as a preparation for death, or when performed on behalf of someone who has died. The meditation is a very good antidote to irrational guilt, or self-hatred. It is effective in overcoming unhelpful self-views which, sadly, people sometimes pick up from some aspects of their Christian conditioning. Through this meditation you can realize that you are not a 'miserable sinner', but pure in your essential nature. In contrast to the doctrine of original sin, Tantric Buddhism asserts original purity - an unquenchable purity that has lain hidden since beginningless time. In meeting Vajrasattva you find once again the indestructible, pure essence of the mind.

Vajrasattva as spiritual protector

In the case of some Buddhas and Bodhisattvas there is, as we have seen, a particular myth or archetypal pattern that serves as an approach to experiencing them. For Vajrasattva that myth is the myth of the return journey. A story in the Saddharma Pundarika gives a good example of this. A young man leaves his father's house and wanders from place to place, finding work where he can. Over the years he travels to many distant countries, but he is always poor, surviving on the most menial work. Meanwhile, his father has been amassing a great fortune, and longs to find his son and share his happiness with him. After many years the son in his wanderings comes upon a great mansion with a man sitting outside displaying his wealth in the ostentatious Indian fashion. He starts to move away, but the rich man - who is of course his father - sees him in the crowd. Though his son does not recognize him, his father recognizes him at once. He sends messengers hurrying after him, but the son assumes he is in trouble, and evades them.

At this point the rich man realizes that his son has become so used to his low status that he is deeply scared of the rich and famous. So he sends servants, dressed in old clothes, to see his son. They offer him a job, just working in the grounds of the mansion. The son accepts. His first task is to clear away a large mound of earth. Gradually, though, he is promoted until he becomes used to entering the mansion. His promotion continues until finally he becomes the rich man's steward and treasurer, accustomed to handling his great wealth. Only at that point does the rich man reveal that his steward is his lost son, and that the fortune he is administering is his own inheritance. The myth of Vajrasattva is echoed in all stories in which the hero or heroine is lost and finally returns to their homeland. We are all alienated from our essential nature, and hence wander through the world believing ourselves poor and worthless. Through the practice of Vajrasattva, we contact our true nature, our spiritual inheritance, and become possessed of riches beyond our dreams. This movement from alienation to discovering and identifying with our true nature is exemplified by the developing movement within the 'hundred syllable mantra' of Vajrasattva. The mantra begins: om vajrasattva samayam anupalaya - 'Om Vajrasattva! Preserve the bond!' The word samaya means bond, or contract. When you are initiated into the practice of a particular Buddha or Bodhisattva, it is as though there is an agreement made. You for your part agree to perform the practice faithfully, to invoke the Enlightened experience regularly in the form of that particular Buddha or Bodhisattva. The Enlightened Mind for its part - and of course we are speaking metaphorically here - agrees to bestow on you the fruits of the practice. So it is as though, before we begin the mantra, we are in a state of alienation from our essential nature. This alienation is usually experienced emotionally. Vajrasattva's shining figure may appear mysterious, distant, even cold and aloof, like some far-off snow peak. However, through recalling our bond with Vajrasattva, we realize that we are linked to him, a connection exists between us and Enlightenment, and through spiritual practice we can close that gap. Vajrasattvatvenopatista - 'As Vajrasattva stand before me.' Here we begin to see that, however far we may have strayed away from it, we are in a sense still protected by our diamond nature. We begin to see Vajrasattva as a spiritual friend. We realize that in the depths of our being is a tremendous spiritual power which, if summoned, will come to our aid. We could see the mantra as a magic spell. With it we conjure Enlightenment to appear before us in the form of Vajrasattva. Alternatively, upatista could be translated 'stand by me'. This suggests an image of being in a battle, surrounded by enemies, and losing ground. At the end of your strength you remember that long ago, you cannot recall when, a great hero vowed that if you called on him he would come to protect you. So you invoke Vajrasattva. The next thing you know, a diamond warrior has appeared from nowhere, standing shoulder to shoulder with you. Drdho me bhava - 'Be firm for me.' He covers your weaknesses. At the sight of him, eyes cool and clear, dauntless and resourceful, your attackers fall back. He is that higher aspect of yourself which will always stand firm, unshakeable as the diamond thunderbolt in his hand. Sutosyo me bhava, suposyo me bhava, anurakto me bhava - 'Be greatly pleased for me. Deeply nourish me. Love me passionately.' Now the relationship becomes much closer. Vajrasattva is no longer a distant protector; he has become an intimate friend. His radiance has become a white fire, melting with its love everything that keeps you standing cold and aloof from truth. Sarva siddhim me prayaccha, sarva karmasu ca me cittam sreyah kuru hum 'Grant me siddhi in all things, and in all actions make my mind most excellent. Hum.' The relationship between you is now so close that Vajrasattva can have a deeply transforming influence on you. With these lines you open yourself completely to him. Ha ha ha ha hoh - Having confessed and let go of everything negative which distanced you from Vajrasattva, the last millimetres of separation from him disappear. You become Vajrasattva, eternally pure, and as soon as you do so you see that you have always been Vajrasattva, pure and Enlightened since beginningless time. The joy and release of this experience is expressed in a peal of laughter that echoes through eternity. The five syllables of that laughter represent total penetration of the wisdoms of the five Buddhas. Bhagavan sarva tathagatavajra ma me muhca - 'Blessed one! Vajra of all the Tathagatas! Do not abandon me.' Vajrasattva is the vajra of all the Tathagatas, inasmuch as he represents the primordial purity and intuitive realization of Sunyata which is the essence of all Enlightened experience. Having gained the Enlightened perspective of Vajrasattva, not only do you realize your essential unity with the insight of all the Buddhas, you also see clearly that the essential nature of all beings is also pure and empty. To emphasize this, in some Vajrasattva sadhanas you visualize all other sentient beings being transformed into Vajrasattva, just as you have been.

Vajri bhava mahasamayasattva ah - 'Be the vajra bearer, being of the great bond! ah.' Under certain circumstances the syllables hum phat are added to the end of the mantra. They are not really translatable. The hum is usually appended when the mantra is being recited for the benefit of someone who has died. The phat is considered by Tibetan tradition to be efficacious for subduing demons. Looking at the mantra section by section, we see that it recapitulates the myth of the journey home to rediscover our essential nature. In this way it follows the typical Tantric procedure of taking the goal as the path. Through what begins as an imaginative union with your Vajrasattva nature, your innate purity, you come to discover that purity directly.

Vajrasattva's purity

We have seen that contacting Vajrasattva through his visualization and mantra recitation leads us towards an experience of primordial purity. It is this experience which Vajrasattva promises us as his side of the samaya bond. We can help him to help us by considering the characteristics of purity. We talk of many things as pure. Young children (at least pre-Freud) were thought to be pure; virgins are pure. We also speak of pure alcohol when it is 175 degrees proof (in the UK, 200 degrees in the American system). Sometimes purity is associated with naivety, or even with a rather anaemic goodness. So it is important, if we are to develop a strong emotional connection with Vajrasattva, that we recognize the qualities of his purity. In this section we shall consider two of them. The first quality of purity particularly appropriate to Vajrasattva is that when something is pure it is unadulterated. It is not diluted or watered down, not mixed with anything extraneous or inessential. This kind of purity certainly is not weak. You only have to think of the phrase 'pure dynamite'.... strength, completely concentrated, essential. To unite with him we need to live in a way that is 'full strength', totally authentic, with all the inessentials - everything weakening or diluting - thrown away. It is something of these qualities that is suggested by Vajrasattva sometimes appearing naked and unadorned. This kind of purity, of true, authentic being, has nothing weak about it. In this sense, too, Vajrasattva represents pure unadulterated consciousness, a mind not diluted by chasing after its reflections in mundane experience. Our minds usually move outwards toward sense-experience, and in this way the brilliant light of consciousness is dissipated. Vajrasattva's white intensity is a symbol of the experience of a mind totally focused, absorbed in the contemplation of Reality, just as Vajrasattva holds the diamond-sceptre of Reality to his heart. It is this pure, undifferentiated experience that is true purity. This line of thought perhaps explains Vajrasattva's special connection with death. Death is the time when our past actions, skilful or unskilful, rise up in our minds. Our future rebirth is determined by our skilful and unskilful karmas.23 Thus death is the time when the need to purify our negative karma becomes most apparent. More than this, at death consciousness is withdrawn from the body and its senses. It is as though the expanding universe of consciousness - tending to scatter itself in all directions amongst sensory experience - had reversed its trend. The mind once again focuses itself into an everincreasing intensity. In the Tibetan Book of the Dead this centripetal movement of consciousness is said to culminate in the experience of the 'Clear Light of Reality'. For a brief moment undifferentiated consciousness shines, subjectless and objectless. Usually this experience is too much for us, and consciousness at once begins objectifying itself again, in the forms of the visions of the bardo. You could say that Vajrasattva represents the experience of that totally concentrated consciousness, the encounter with the clear light when it is accepted, when instead of running from it, you hold that experience to your heart. The second quality of things that are pure is that they are new, fresh, unstained by experience. Advertisers talk of pure new wool, for example. The experience of purity is the experience of newness. Purification is always purification of the past. If you succeed in purifying yourself completely, then, in a sense, you have no past. To become a vajra being, you have to try to see everything as new, including yourself. This is the final stage of purification. You forget about whatever you did that needed cleansing, and you begin anew. In practising the third Foundation Yoga, and reciting the Vajrasattva mantra 100,000 times, one of my strongest experiences was of the freshness and newness of the world into which the meditation led me. I could see why, when he is not seen as a sixth Buddha, or adi-Buddha, Vajrasattva is regarded as a kind of reflex form of Aksobhya, the Buddha of the East. Not only do they share the vajra as their emblem. Aksobhya is associated with dawn - the dawn of a new day, a fresh morning, a unique arising of the light of the world. This newness aspect of purity again relates to Vajrasattva's association with death. It is only with the death of the old that the new can be born. The old, stale personality dies and in its place appears a Vajrasattva, completely spontaneous, because every moment is new. Vajra as 'what is'

Vajrasattva sits serenely holding the vajra to his heart. His left hand clasps the vajra handle of a bell. The bell is usually said to symbolize wisdom; the vajra symbolizes skilful means (Sanskrit upaya) - the infinite ways in which an Enlightened One, out of compassion, shares his wisdom with the world. Together the vajra and bell symbolize the fusion of all polarities, including masculine and feminine qualities, in one Enlightened experience. The vajra also represents Reality. In the Tantra things are given the prefix 'vajra' to remind you of their essential nature, which is Emptiness. In a Tantric ritual you might offer not a flower, but a vajra-flower, not incense but vajra-incense. Even the most ugly or disgusting experiences are 'vajra' for the Tantra. In this way, everyday experiences are seen as expressions or manifestations of one non-dual Reality.

However, to begin with at least, this explanation of vajra as Reality will be somewhat abstract. It will not really move us. So how can we begin to approach the experience of vajra on the level at which we find ourselves at present? Perhaps a good starting point would be just to think of vajra as 'the facts', just as what is actually happening. Vajra is what is. Vajra is what has happened, so there is no point in arguing with it. Vajra is whatever is taking place right now - so there is no sense in denying it. I mean this on a quite simple, everyday level. It may not seem very exalted, or spiritual. However, if we look at our lives, we find that we spend much of our time arguing with what has happened or what is going on. There might be a large pile of washing-up squatting by our sink, and we don't want to do it. We never liked the shape of our nose, and wish it were different, and so on. I had a useful experience a few years ago, when I was learning karate. As well as teaching us techniques, the sensei, or instructor, also ensured that we did plenty of fitness exercises. There was one particular combination of exercises: so many jumps with knees to the chest, so many press-ups, and other things, that I found particularly excruciating. All through the class I was dreading the moment when the sensei would launch us into this painful and exhausting sequence. When the awful moment came, I would sometimes do it complaining to myself; at others I would try to adopt a positive attitude. One day I realized that all this was wasted effort. The simple fact was that sometime during the class I would just do so many press-ups, etc. I could complain to myself, sulk, scheme, go numb, be exultant, or even manic. It made little difference. I would still be there, sweating my way through the sequence. The easiest way to do it was just to do it. It is a good beginning to see vajra as objective reality in this quite basic way -just as 'the facts', what is happening. If you really accept things in this way then craving and aversion disappear. You waste no energy. I found just doing the karate exercises was even easier than trying to be positive about them. If we accept things in this simple, everyday way, then, in a sense, everything becomes perfect. A grey, rainy day is a perfectly grey, rainy day. A leper is a perfect leper, a corpse a perfect corpse. Ego could be defined as 'the non-acceptance of things as they are'. Ceasing to fight objective reality is a movement beyond ego. Vajrasattva holds the vajra to his heart. He accepts things as they really are. Therefore, for him, they are perfectly pure. He accepts you as you are. He sees you as perfect. That is why he can purify all your faults. As Seng Tsan, the third patriarch of Zen, wrote in his Affirming Faith in Mind, 'The Great Way is not difficult for those who do not pick and choose.' In talking about accepting 'the facts', things as they are, I am not advocating passivity. Unless you begin by accepting what is, you cannot change it. Accepting things as they are is a powerful, active experience, simple and direct. Through doing this you become one with life, and then you can really help to transform it. Until then, you are standing apart from it. This practice of not fighting what is there is the spiritual equivalent of grasping the nettle. To become one with Vajrasattva, to become a vajra being, you have to take up the vajra and hold it to your heart. That involves giving up hopes, expectations, and fantasies. You even have to relinquish ideas of what is perfect and imperfect. Then everything will be perfect, just as it is. Everything will be pure. The path of Vajrasattva, the path of purity, begins with acceptance of what has happened. We have to accept objectively all our failures, our unskilful thoughts, words, and acts - even, perhaps, our wickedness. We accept who we are at present. This becomes very much easier to do once we have faith that in our deepest nature we are still completely pure. Relying on the samaya, the link we have made, we call on that secret diamond nature. The response is instantaneous. The smiling figure of Vajrasattva, our spiritual protector, rains down healing nectar upon us. Through reciting his mantra we steadily close the gap between him and us. Finally, we are Vajrasattva, holding the diamond sceptre of Reality to our heart. The last fact that we have to accept is that we are eternally Enlightened, beyond space and time. We are, and have always been, completely pure.


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