Vajrasattva Mantra by Sangharakshita - 2
... Padmasambhava belongs to the Padma Family, Lotus Family.
Vajrasattva belongs to the Family of Akshobya, which is the Vajra Family. But I personally feel - I think I've
mentioned this before - that the Sadhana of Padmasambhava - Maybe I'll give them in the, sort of, proper
sequence, the Sadhanas of Tara, Manjughosa, Padmasambhava, Vajrasattva, sort of form a natural group,
and I quite like people, wherever possible, to get into all four of these. Yes?
Question: Manjughosa, Tara ....
Sangharakshita: Tara, Manjughosa, Padmasambhava, Vajrasattva. They seem to hang together spiritually.
Perhaps I'll work out, one day, how or why that is. But that is how it seems.
Anyway, you'll notice that there are exactly one hundred syllables in this Mantra. So the Mantra starts off
with 'Om'. 'Om' here represents the Ultimate Goal, as it were; it represents Buddhahood or Enlightenment,
represents the Dharmakaya. Sometimes it's said that the three letters of 'Om' - because, you know 'Om' is
from the A U M - AU together and pronounced as 'O' so if you spell. it out in full it's A U M - sometimes it
is said that the 'O' is the Dharmakaya, the 'U' is the Sambhogakaya and the 'M' is the Nirmanakaya - in other
words the three, so-called, bodies of the Buddha. But even if one doesn't explain it in detail in that way the
'Om' stands for the Ultimate Goal of Buddhahood in its fullness, which of course is one's object, whether
one does the Vajrasattva Practice or any other. So the 'Om' comes at the beginning, as a reminder, as it were,
of what the ultimate goal of everything that one is doing in the course of the Sadhana, actually is - that one
is doing this for the sake of Enlightenment.
Then 'Om Vajrasattva Samaya. 'Vajrasattva' is, of course, the name of the Buddha appearing as a
Bodhisattva Himself. 'Samaya' here means a sort of bond. Sometimes it's translated as 'oath'. Yes?
Vajrasattva enters into a sort of bond, or an agreement, or pledge, with you. He, as it were, pledges 'If you
do your part, I will do my part." Yes? 'If you do the practice, I will give the results'.
So, when you take up a Sadhana it's as though you enter into an agreement with the Deity - the Buddha or
Bodhisattva of that Sadhana. You undertake to do something, He undertakes to do something; there's an
agreement, a bond, a pledge, between you. This is how it is to be understood, broadly and generally.
So 'Om Vajrasattva Samaya'. You recognise that you are not just practising, yourself, in the void, as it were -
you know, 'void' in the ordinary sense, not the Buddhist sense (Laughter). The nature of things, the ultimate
nature of things, as it were, co-operates with you. There is an ultimate purity, as it were, waiting there to be
realised by you, which is your own true nature in its ultimate depth. It's not as though it's an entirely
subjective process. I mean, taking for the time being subject and object as real, taking the distinction
between them as real. There is an object out there which is, as it were, supporting your subjective quest,
your subjective effort. So if you do your bit, if you play your part, it will do its. So that is the pledge. The
nature of things is such that if you make the right spiritual effort it cannot but bear fruit. You do your part,
Vajrasattva will do His part. So you enter into this mutual agreement, as it were.
'Om Vajrasattva Samaya' - you remind yourself of that at the beginning - that there is this Ultimate Ground
of your own being, where you are primevally pure. That is there to support, and co-operate with, all your
personal efforts. In fact it makes them possible. So 'Om Vajrasattva Samaya'. 'Manupalaya'. Don't forget,
you start in a condition of alienation. Vajrasattva does represent your own true Mind - there is this 'Samaya',
this agreement or pledge in effect between you, but your present state, your present condition, is one of
alienation from your own true nature, but still, nonetheless, that true nature is there, and the fact that it is
there, gives you some hope. Not only hope, it gives you a sort of protection. So therefore 'Manupalaya'.
Vajrasattva is - it's been translated here - 'defender' or 'protector' of Man; 'Manu' is Man. It also suggests the
mind. The fact that you have, back of you, as it were, an Ultimate True Nature which is, as it were, better
than you, purer than you, truer than you, means you are, as it were, protected. Even if you don't make any
spiritual effort, that is there in the background all the time. It is your sort of better Self, your Higher Self - to
use that rather well-known non-Buddhistic phraseology. Your 'Genius', if you like, to use the classical term,
overshadowing you - it is there in the background. So it does, in a way, protect you - even from yourself.
So here, you see that though you are in a state of alienation from your own true nature, your own true nature
does, as it were, stand behind you - even does function as a sort of protector. You can always turn to it, if
you so wish, for help - it's up to you. So there is a sense in which the alienation is not complete.
So then, 'Vajrasattva Tvenopatishta'. Before, Vajrasattva was sort of just standing behind you, maybe in the
far distance, you know, as a sort of distant protector, just barely there; but now you're invoking Vajrasattva
to stand beside you. The alienation is beginning to be overcome, but you're still quite external, it's Him and
you, side by side, shoulder to shoulder. Yes? Not even face to face. So the relationship is, as it were, quite
external. Do you see what I mean? But you've come a bit further, you've invoked Vajrasattva now to stand
beside you.
Then you say 'Drdho Me Bhava', 'be firm for me'. If you've got your own true Vajrasattva nature standing
beside you, you feel that it's there, even though you're still quite alienated from it, that gives you a certain
strength, a certain firmness. Yes? You're more centred.
And then you say 'Sutosyo Me Bhava', 'be glad for me'. Now you see the alienation is beginning to be really
overcome - there is a sort of warmth between you. The distance or the gulf between you and your own true nature is being overcome. When you're alienated from your own true nature it's as though your own true nature is alienated from you. It's even hostile to you. If you dislike somebody you tend to think that they
dislike you, if you're alienated from them they're alienated from you. So before there might have been the
feeling that your own true nature, Vajrasattva, was quite distant, even cold, even hostile. But this is
beginning to be overcome and you feel a sort of gladness, a joy, a warmth, coming from Vajrasattva to you -
and therefore from you to Vajrasattva - the distance is being overcome, there's a bit of emotional rapport
between you; you're being truly reconciled to your own true nature, you're beginning to be in touch with
your own intrinsic purity.
Then, not only that - 'Suposyo Me Bhava', 'be pleased for me'. Your own true nature is beginning to approve
of you, to like you, because you're becoming more like your own true nature, your impurities are being
reduced, there's more harmony and agreement and similarity between you. So Vajrasattva is pleased with
you, you're invoking Vajrasattva to be pleased with you.
And then you say 'Anurakto Me Bhava', which is translated as 'love me deeply'. 'Anurakto' is more like
'passionately', 'madly' 'violently', - in a positive spiritual sense. You're appealing to Vajrasattva to, as it were,
rush together with you. You want to be completely absorbed in each other; you want to be completely
reconciled with your own true nature; you want to
completely overcome the sense of alienation from your own true nature. So you appeal to Vajrasattva, 'love
me deeply', or 'love me passionately'.
This is a very important Tantric term, 'Anurakto', or 'Anuraga'. It means just 'passion'. Sometimes 'Maha-
Anuraga' 'great passion'. The great passion of the Tantra where all your emotional energies are directed
towards something transcendental.
So, now there is a sort of complete accord between you and your own true nature.
So, therefore you say next, 'Sarva Siddhim Me Preycha', 'accord me all perfections'. 'Siddhi' means, literally,
'fruit', 'success'. A spiritual perfection. Sometimes it's used in the sense of 'magical powers' - it's a very
Tantric term. It has both connotations - both as spiritual perfections and, sort of, magical powers. So
Vajrasattva, as the embodiment of Buddhahood, has all these. He's endowed with all possible spiritual
perfections. So when Vajrasattva and you become united, what happens? You take over all those perfections.
They become yours because you are that now. So you, as it were, appeal to or invoke, Vajrasattva to that end
- 'accord me all perfections'. Now that we have become one, let all your perfections, all your Buddha
attributes become mine.
'Sarva Karma Sucha Me'. This is sometimes said to be the crucial clause. 'Purify all my Karma'. You're
basically concerned with purification. Because we have become one, because I have taken over all your
spiritual qualities, all your transcendental attributes, all your Buddha attributes; well, there's no room for my
impurities, for my impure karmas, my sins. So, purify them, take them away'. In other words, the last
vestige of impurity is removed - you realise, completely, that you are primevally pure.
Then you say 'Chittam Sreyah Kuru Hum'. So, having purified all one's karmas, you say ...