Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. Three people eat the same poisoned food — one dies, one falls gravely ill, the third acts with instant urgency. Geshe Pema Tsering uses this image from Pabongka Rinpoche’s Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand to anchor a nearly two-hour preparatory session on the four opponent powers, delivered ahead of an upcoming Vajrasattva permission ceremony. He explains each power in sequence: the basis (refuge in the Three Jewels and bodhicitta toward sentient beings one has harmed), regret of that same urgent intensity, resolve not to repeat the misdeed, and virtuous counteraction through mantra or sūtra. The second half previews the ceremony step by step — rice and mandala offerings, bodhisattva vows, and a three-stage visualization of Vajrasattva’s white, red, and blue light purifying body, speech, and mind — closing with the daily commitment to at least seven recitations of the hundred-syllable mantra. Suited to students about to receive the Vajrasattva empowerment for the first time.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 2009 08 25 Four Opp Powers.mp3
UUID: cef83a7d-df1a-4b6b-8990-35b379517de2
Teacher: Geshe Pema Tsering
Collection: z Unallocated multiple years (Geshe Pema Tsering)
Date: 2009-08-25
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 107.7 minutes
Words: ~7,205
So I guess then instructing us to give rise to a good motivation and with the intention then of establishing your all beings in the state of enlightenment, and I myself must attain enlightenment. In order to accomplish that, I’m going to listen to these teachings, to these Dharma teachings now. And then we start with the preliminary prayers. We start with the Heart Sūtra. Thus did I hear at one time.
Just as you have indicated, even the right thought of rejoice. The Bhagavan have been thus spoken. The venerable Śāriputra in the body. Those surrounding the entire assembly, along with the world of gods, humans, asuras, gandharvas were rejoicing, highly praised that’s spoken by the Bhagavad. Then we move on to the the seven-limb prayer.
I and also around the sentient beings go for refuge with the Buddha, go for refuge to the Dharma, go for refuge to the Sangha. We prostrate to the great Madhya Prajñāpāramitā, surrounded by all the children, by the assemblies of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas of the ten directions. By depending on my prostrations to all of you, may these words of truth be actualized. In the past, the deva king Indra dispelled the maras by reflecting the profound meaning of the wisdom gone beyond and reciting the profound words in daily recitation. In that same way, I also reflect on the profound meaning of the great mother, Prajñāpāramitā, and recite the profound words in daily recitation.
May all diseases, possessions, bad conditions, all the negative directions that which happens due to past karma and immediate conditions, may all these be dispelled, may become nonexistent, may be pacified. So on the fourth of September, we will have the the ceremony for permission to practice Vajrasattva. And so Geshe was then asked to to talk about that and talk about confession together with that because that’s what the practice of Vajrasattva is about, confession, purifying. Do me a favor. On this on the back room here, in the white. Yeah.
Yeah. On the on the bottom drawer of this desk here, this is the book Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand. Take it for me, please. Testing one two three. So so, again, Geshe is explaining.
We’re gonna talk about we we are discussing today, we’re discussing the practices of confession, which are meant and, again, the practice of Vajrasattva, which are which are practices meant thank you. Which are practices meant to oppose the negativities that we have created, to oppose the the results of the negativities that have we have created. So we do we do the practice of Vajrasattva in order to purify those negativities, to eradicate those negativities. And and on on top of that, we we don’t do the practice of Vajrasattva alone. We before that, we we practice the four opponent powers.
So we give rise, produce all the four opponent powers completely in order to be able effectively purify the negativities and is in the context of of the four opponent powers that we practice of Vajrasattva. But first of all, the first thing that we have to do is recognize the negativities, learn what they are. We must understand what they are so we can recognize them and we know what we are purifying. And then we Geshe was starting starting to read from the the the chapter on the on the seven-limb prayer, the discussion of the seven-limb prayer from Pabongka Rinpoche’s book, the the limp of confession, the confession of sins, the purification of sins. We are told then that we we do not develop in our minds any new realizations we have not already developed, and those we have already developed are degenerating.
Geshe-la was explaining, so this is what negativities do. They stop us. They hinder they hinder us our creating or or producing positive states of mind, virtuous states of mind, and they degenerate the ones that we have already created, the ones that we have already produced. So this is what negativity is doing, and this is what we have to recognize, identify, how we have to be able to identify. So we have to understand then how how bad, how filled to the riddle with shortcomings and and and harmful aspects and negative the negativities are.
So our sins and obscurations are responsible for this, for impeding development of of virtuous minds and degenerating ones that we have. Further, our sins will be our sins. Our our negative deeds, our non virtuous deeds, they will be responsible for all the unfortunate things in this and our next life. If we do not want these things to happen, we must expiate. We must confess.
We must purify our sins. So, again, this always so, therefore, we must engage in the purification of the sins of sorry. I I hate this choice of words. We must engage in the purification of negativities, of our the negative actions, harmful actions that we have done in the past. And in order to do that, we must do we must because we do not have any realization of emptiness, which is the one thing that can completely eradicate not only the effects of those negativities, but but the negativities themselves, the imprints and the seeds that they left themselves.
We don’t have that. So what we have to do then is engage in the practice of the four opponent powers. And by means of the four opponent powers, we are able to stop ourselves from having to experience the results of those negatives. We’re not able to eradicate the negatives themselves, but we are able to stop the fruition of those negativities, to stop the results or or from the the results of those negativities to to flourish, to bloom. So we we stop them from from I guess, I was quoting a little verse which was saying, again, we have to become skilled at eradicating the negativities.
And Geshe-la was explaining that we have then to become so proficient at at at this practice of purification, purification, this practice of confession that we immediately eradicate every negativity and so scared that we can eliminate any negativity that we create. And then and and and this is then this is the mark of a skilled person, a learned person, intelligent person, wise person. There’s one word in Tibetan that means all And then we have the mark of a stupid person, is a person who does not purify those negative performs small negativities and and let them be. And and that’s the mark of of lack of skill because those negativities then they they increase and they bring about very great suffering. So when we talk about negativities, are mainly talking about the ten non virtuous deeds.
These are the main object of of this practice. So this is what we have to and then this is what we have to recollect. And we have then, you know, covetousness, harmful intent, and we have the wrong views and all the the all the the branches of wrong views. And so there are many different branches for each one of those negativities. There are specificities to each one of them, and we have to learn about them, and this is what we have to bring to mind when we are going to practice confession, go to practice purification practices.
These are the things that we have to pay attention to, have we performed it or not? In in the practice in in confessing the negativities or in purifying the negativities, we have to rely on these powers. We have to rely on the four opponent powers. On all of them, we have to have them complete. So we have the the power of the basis, the power of regret, the power of determination or the resolve not to perform the negativity again, and the power of of the white dharma, the power of the the virtuous deed.
And so we have to have all these four opponent powers complete. And if we have all of them complete, perfectly complete, then we won’t have to experience the results of those negative deeds that we are confessing. If I and, again, if if the four opponent powers are not complete, if they are average, not so strong, this this average, then we will have to experience a diminished result, a result of the negativities with diminished strength and duration. And if the if the if the the powers are are very weak, at the very least we have stopped those negativities from proliferating, from increasing in strength and power, from growing anymore and bringing in more greater suffering results. So so again, so we have to have the four opponent powers complete.
And Geshe-la moved on to the next section of the text, which is approaching the the powers themselves in order to expiate, in order to purify a negativity, you must have the full set of the four opponent powers. Geshe-la was going through the first one. The power of the basis is recognizing exactly to whom you will make confession. However, in our tradition, it means that because you accumulate a negative deed, a harmful deed, in relation to a particular basis, the purification of that negativity relies on that same basis.
Just as when you fall on the ground, you rely on the ground to get up again. So as you commit negativities or harmful actions in relation to either Buddhas or the Three Jewels or sentient beings, then the power of the basis is then taking refuge in the Buddhas and so on and the Three Jewels and developing bodhicitta towards sentient beings. And and then I have already explained both of these, so the refuge in bodhicitta. So Geshe-la was explaining. So there are people who say that then the basis is just the Three Jewels of refuge to whom you are confessing.
And but, again, we are told that in this tradition of ours, the basis is is is the the object towards which we have performed the negativity. So it could be either one of the Three Jewels or sentient beings. And in so in this in this in this way, we take refuge and we develop bodhicitta in relation to all sentient beings. And that that is a part of the basis. So again, because so we need in the refuge and bodhicitta, which we, Geshe-la, as I said, we’re not going through to to speak about the refusing bodhicitta per se, but, again, we have to understand that we we need to take refuge and bodhicitta because we perform negativities in relation to the Buddhas and so on or to sentient beings.
So all those negatives that we have engaged in in relation to the the Three Jewels, to the Buddhas and so on, then having taking refuge in the Three Jewels, then we confess those negativities to them. We purify those negativities with them. And then in those negatives that we have performed in relation to the sentient beings, then again, having developed produced the mind of enlightenment. And again, we say in order to attain enlightenment, in order to establish all sentient beings in enlightenment, I myself must attain enlightenment. In order to accomplish that, I will confess these negativities or purify these negativities.
And in this way in this way, we we need both. So, again, Geshe-la is just noting that we we won’t have time to go into refuge in bodhicitta tonight. We Geshe-la is always teaching about that. So you just bring to mind what Geshe-la has already taught to you about these two subjects. So and then we are told the power of repudiation, the power of repudiation, as this translator translated, the power of repudiation is regret itself.
So, again, the power the second power after the power of the basis is the power of repudiation, which is then a mind of regret itself. And in order to be able to develop regret, we must we must recollect the negative deeds that we have performed, the harmful deeds that we have performed. And then, in dependence on the recollection, we can develop a genuine sense of regret for those harmful deeds we have performed. And Geshe lah is saying, and and not just any regret.
We need a very strong, a very powerful sense of regret. And the idea of the intensity of the regret that we need is given by the form by the by the following analogy. You have three people, and they all these three people eat the same food, which is poisoned. One of them dies. The other one falls gravely ill, gets seriously sick.
And the third one then has this overwhelming sense of regret, which propels him or her immediately into action, into engaging in any and every way that he or she can find to stop him or herself from experiencing the effects of that poison. And that’s the intensity of the regret that we need. So again, the word that Geshe-la is using then is is fear. Alright? So this regret is is brings about this sense of apprehension.
In Geshe-la, the words in Tibetan are fear. It’s usually translated. I don’t know any translation for that, but. So we have this this fear because we have seen one person has died, the other person is gravely ill. And I we have eaten the same food.
So I’m going to experience the same suffering results, I must do something right now. So there’s a regret, and there is action. There is action. And and we have to do that because, again, we we we see this. We see people that are poisoned by the three poisons of attachment, anger, and ignorance.
That’s the poison. We have people who have died already and they have and they ended up in the hell realms and and and the hungry ghost realms and the animal realms and the suffering migrations. We’ve seen people there and we see and we also see people who are clearly headed in that direction. But we haven’t died yet. We’re still alive, and and still and yet we are poisoned.
We are poisoned by the same three poisons that they they are poisoned. So we must know we regret for our negative actions, for our harmful and with this intense sense of fear of apprehension, of urgency, we have to act also. And so we need then this very strong sense of regret. And if we have that, if we have this strong sense of regret, then then naturally what will follow from that is is the resolution, resolve, the determination, which is the next power, the power of resolve, the resolve not to commit those negative actions ever again. So so we have seen in the first power, the power of the basis, then the second power, the power of regret, then the power of the of the resolve, the restraint, the power of restraint, the power of of refraining from the misdeeds again.
And then we have the last power, the power of the white dharma, as we just translate this, the power of the white seed. And we are told there are said to be six main types of such power. These are the actual means of purification, to purify the actions that caused your regret. So this power is any action done in relation to the names of the to any mantra, to any sūtra, meditation on making offerings, and anything done in relation to images. So again, you can hear what Yashi is saying.
So having having these these practices that are being told here, again, we we engage in them having developed this strong strong sense of regret and having made a resolution not to engage in those misdeeds again. Then we say in order to purify and not oppose those neg the results of the negative deeds doing in order to oppose those negativities, then you can say even So, again, one can engage, one can recite the mani mantras, one can recite the mantras or engage in the practice of any deity that one has already a relationship with or any sutras or any text. And, also, we can engage in the practice of Vajrasattva. So having taken received the empowerment of vajra Sarva, having received the permission to engage in the practice of Vajrasattva. One engages in the sadhana of Vajrasattva, the hundred syllable mantra, which is then a method specifically created in order to oppose the negativities themselves, and one would then be able to to oppose them by this means.
So so again this practice of Vaishra AVajrasattva again is a practice that has to be done having received the empowerment or the permission to practice it. So and this and this is why that we need them to talk about the the rituals of the process of attaining the permission, attaining the empowerment of Vajrasattva. So so in in in the beginning, before engaging in the before the commencement of the the ceremony itself, then the the students or the disciples, they have to wash their mouths and and their hands with the saffron water that’s provided. They then take a seat, arrange the seat, and they offer flowers and mandala. And these, these flowers that one is collecting, again they will be represented by rice.
We will be given a handful of rice, and at one point in the ceremony one froze the rice as offerings, but then they they are a basis for our visualization of flowers instead. So so then the one one person, if I wasn’t saying, one person will be then giving the rice to everybody. And then after the rice has been given, that person will be then receiving the rice back and just throw the rice at that person. Or not that person, but, you know, at the the the hands. Did you you have experience with empowerments and all that, don’t you?
So you remember that. Right? Yes. Then? Hello.
So that rice that you receive, half of it you keep and you lay down because you use for the mandala offering and then the other half you The other half you throw back, you give back. You And then so then we offer the mandala then and then we repeat, we will be repeating after the Geshe then we’ll be giving the preliminary talks and preparatory talks on general and the specific benefits of this meditation and recitation of Vajrasattva. So then having then the the preceptor or the the the the vajra master, in this case, having them explain all the benefits and the advantages of this practice of Vajrasattva. Then, again, we are told the instructions of the ritual go on to tell us then, bearing all this in mind, then one needs to practice this meditation and recitation of Vajrasattva. In order to be able to practice it, one must at first receive the profound permission, which is the ripening permission.
We refer to it as the ripening permission, the permission that ripens the mind stream of the disciple. One must in in order to receive that, one must request that permission. One must respectfully request that permission from from the vajra master. And then having been explained that this we are going we’re going exactly through all this in that day itself. So then we have we have been we’re gonna be told to repeat after the preceptor or the vajra Master.
The words that are being said, we are repeating after him. We’re repeating we are saying, you know, all all knowing embodiment of wisdom, Vajrasattva, destroyer of all the veils of saṃsāra. Today, in this in this today, in this auspicious day, please show us your principal kindness. Geshe is explaining each one of those little verses. Saying the first one is talking about the embodiment of the the wisdom of of the the enlightened wisdom of the omniscient of the omniscient ones.
And Geshe-la is explaining this is making reference to the fact that the perceptive, the vajra master here is is to be seen, to be understood as the embodiment of all the wisdom, of all the enlightened qualities of all the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. Even though because I was explaining, even though the the preceptor is not actually that, one has to give rise to the notion in one’s mind that that is the case. The preceptor, the vajra Master is the embodiment of all these qualities. And then again, which is then the the the cycle of existence, the destroyer of the cycle of existence. So the destroyer of saṃsāra, the destroyer of cycle.
You see, the destroyer of all the negativities and afflictions and so on. That’s the that preceptor, that lama is the destroyer of all that. And in this in this today, in this this precious occasion in which you will teach, and I guess I was explaining this. It’s a very abbreviated form of virtue, but in this today, in this precious occasion in which you will be teaching, you will be giving us this permission of Vajrasattva, be teaching us about Vajrasattva. So please then give us your kindness.
Show us your kindness. Then again, meaning, please, give us this this permission. So then we we we this is the request, and we are told that we have to repeat after the after the preceptor. We repeat repeat this request three times. And then we are told that we we we shouldn’t see the place that we are going to take this permission as an ordinary place.
We should perceive it to be as a pure land, a pure field. We should give rise to this notion in our minds. This is a pure land. We should think like that. A natural pure land.
Oh my god. Also the torma, the little ritual cakes that will be in front of us, because we’re going be standing there. We should actually give rise that torma is again is the actual Vajrasattva itself. And also the the lama also we have to give rise to the notion that the lama also is Sarvara himself. Also we give rise to the notion in this manner that in the space in front of us we have a gathering of all the roots and lineage lamas, all the deities, all the buddhas, all the bodhisattvas, the heroes and heroines, all the the protectors, all the Dharma protectors, they are all collected in clouds gathered in in the space in front of us, and they are all present in front of us.
And we have also to give rise to this notion that they are there. And then and then I then in front of all of them, then we have to take the bodhisattva vows. And then we have to repeat the prayer of the bodhisattva vows, of taking the bodhisattva vows, which is a long prayer. I will give I will give the prayer to you in English. But we have to repeat this long prayer after the.
Oh, yeah. I’m sorry. So we have to take the bodhisattva vows and and also. And not only that, we have to make also the special request, the uncommon request. We have to repeat also after the Geshe in which we are saying that all the Buddhas and we’re requesting the preceptor, the venerable preceptor who is in the essence of of who or in the very nature of all the buddhas of the three times We are asking him please please give us this unmistaken, undeceptive method of of the Give us give us this unmistaking method, this permission to to practice then To to practice this and be the sorry.
How can I translate that? Complete method of permission of the body, speech, and mind of the glorious hero, Vajrasattva. And the is the male and the female of the couple. And then then there’s the whole section of the text after that which And then there’s a large section of the text which Geshe was going through right now, which is a section that is for the preceptor only. So he will be reciting this and he will be mainly what the preceptor will be doing is generating himself as Vajrasattva.
Then we then we we have to understand that the preceptor is then Vaishra Sattva. So we have to the lama is gonna be generating himself as Vajrasattva. We have to see, and we’ll have to give rise to to the notion. We have to visualize the syllable om in the third eye here, the syllable ah at the throat chakra, and the syllable at the heart chakra of the preceptor. You see that on on the on the preceptor himself.
The the over the consort on top of the preceptor’s head. And, again, we visualize also in that the white syllable om at the third eye of both the yabium, and the red syllable ah, and the dark deep blue syllable hum at the heart chakra of the. And and we visualize the hundred syllable mantra around each one of those in the respective colors of white, red, and blue. And then we we we see this, we see this, the om and the hundred syllable mantra around the om in the color white and emanating white, how to say, light rays towards the ten directions and towards touching then all the Buddhas, all the Lamas, the Buddhas, all the Bodhisattvas, all the deities in gathering all their blessings of their holy bodies. And then again coming back, And then they gather they gather all these blessings of the holy bodies and their powers and their capabilities and their potentials.
All of it in white light and white nectar. Then again we visualize them coming gathering coming back gathering in this way and then melting on on the crown of of the head of. So let’s just step back one step back here. The preceptor that visualizes himself is gonna generate himself as the deity, and then we have the deity on top of of the perceptual head. And, also, we give rise to the notion of the deity on top of our own heads.
And then we visualize we make this visualization of the light rays emanating towards the ten directions from the syllable om and the all the hundred syllable mantra Om emanating light rays. This light rays touch then all the Lamas, all the Buddhas, all the Bodhisattvas, all the deities, and then they come back as as light rays and as as white nectar, and then they melt and they melt. And, again, this is happening with the preceptor. The preceptor is visualizing that, and we’re realizing that help happening with us. It is melting, and it is entering our bodies through the Brahma aperture on top of the on top of the head.
And then we we we visualize that nectar, that light rays, then entering our bodies and filling up all the energy channels, all the main energy channels, you know, the central channel and the two, the lunar and the solar channels, and all the secondary channels of the body, filling filling the entire body. And then we, we we we give we continue visualizing and that this this nectar and this light this white light is is purifying all the negativities, all and all the contraventions that we have accumulated by means since beginningless time through our bodies, through our physical bodies. So we see all that being purified. And, also, we visualize that we are attaining all the blessings of the holy bodies of all the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, and that we have attained the the hundred thousand powers or qualities or attainments. So we visualize all that.
We give rise to all these notions that we have attained all these qualities of the holy bodies of all the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. And then so then we we and then we would with that, having visualized that, we do one recitation of the hundred syllable mantra. And then, again, we have that that representation of the Vajrasattva. And then we we visualize from the red ah on the throat chakra and the and the hundred the red hundred syllable mantra around that ah syllable. Again, we imagine light rays emanating to all the ten directions and, again, touching all the lamas, all the deities, all the buddhas, all the bodhisattvas.
And then gathering, bringing back with them all the blessings of the holy speech, of all these deities, of all these holy beings, and all the powers and all the qualities and all the powers of those holy speech gathered into in in light and, nectar, red light and nectar. And, again, it it collects onto that red ah at the throat of the visualized Vajrasattva with yabum with consort. And it it it melts again, and it drops and starts feeling again, it feels our our entire body. Body. And then it it it it feels the the incise completely feels the incise of our of our body, but, specifically, it especially, it feels the the the the red chakra, the the the throat chakra in in our throats.
It fills our whole bodies, but especially the throat chakra. And, again, and that then purifies all the negativities and all the contravention that we have accumulated by means of speech since time immemorial, since beginning of this time. And then we we attain, and not only it purifies all the negativities, but then we attain all the blessings and all the the powers of of the holy speech of all these holy beings. And then and then we do one recitation of the hundred syllable mantra again. And one more time, we we, from that, visualize Vaishra sattva on the top of our heads and the and the head, we see again from the the the the deep blue syllable hum and the hundred syllable mantra around that hum, we see this deep blue light rays emanating towards the ten directions.
Again, touching all the Buddhas, all the Lamas, all the deities, all the Buddhas, and all the bodhisattvas, all of the ten directions, and then bringing back they gather back again, bringing in bringing in with them in form of dark blue light rays and nectar, all the blessings of the holy minds of all these holy beings and all the powers and the capabilities of the the holy mind of these holy beings. And, again, it gathers on the heart of of of the visualized deity on top of our heads, and it melts again entering our bodies through the the Brahma aperture. This this this dark blue nectar and life rays, they enter our body. And then it fills our entire body, but, again, especially, it it fills our heart chakra, and it purifies with it.
It purifies all the negativities and all the contraventions that we have accumulated by means of our thoughts, of our of our minds, and it’s we and then it endows us, accomplish them, we attain them all, all the powers and all the blessings of the the the wisdom, the holy wisdom consciousness of the holy minds. And again, we recite the hundred syllable mantra one more time. And and then again, one more time, we’ve from, again, that visualize Vajrasattva, we we we visualize the light rays emanating from the three centers of the deity, from the three syllables with the three garlands of of the Vajrasattva mantra in the three different colors of of white, red, and dark blue, we visualize this light rays again emanating towards the ten directions. And, again, they touch again all the the all the all the deities, all the buddhas, all the bodhisattvas of the ten directions, and they bring back with them and they gather back in the in the three centers of the visualized deity, all the blessings and all the powers and all the the the the capabilities of of the holy body, the holy speech, and the holy minds of all those deities.
And, again, gather as as light and nectar, thank you, of of the three colors of white, red, and dark blue. And and then from it gathers on the three centers of visualized deity, and from then, it starts to melt. From there, it starts to melt again, and it starts to drop. What is it? Number thirty four.
And and as this nectar then starts to drop, this white, red, and dark blue nectar starts to drop and enter again through the Brahma aperture. It enters our bodies. So, again, filling up all the the energy all the energy centers of of our body. Body, again, in this case, the head, the heart the the throat, and the heart, and filling up the entire body. Filling up the energy centers, filling up the entire body, and then purifying at the same time all the negativities and all the contraventions that we have performed commonly that are commonly that are that are common to the three doors to body, speech, and mind since time immemorial.
And also, we then attain then all the blessings and all the the four types of powers of of the the qualities, the holy qualities and the the holy enlightened activities of the holy body, the holy speech, the holy mind of all the Buddhas and bodhisattvas and so on. So then we recite again the hundred syllable mantra of Vajrasattva. And then we can we can either have And then and then we have we have then the the tormas that we visualize at Vaishra Vajrasattva in the beginning of the ceremony again. So we then, again, bring bring that conviction again that that torma is the actual Vajrasattva with consort themselves. And then we if we are told in the text, if if the if there are very few people, then, each one of these people can be touched on top of the head by that.
And the and then the visualized Vajrasattva with consort in essence has become the actual thing. That’s how we visualize it. That’s how the conviction that we give rise to. If there are many people, then the the lama is gonna just to sort of indicate that in general. And we we have to generate the conviction in ourselves that that this has been blessed and have we have attained that.
And then so then when when the Geshe does that, then we we are told the ritual that the Geshe is bringing to us. We’re told that you then have to give rise to the to the conviction, very strong conviction of with much respect and aspiration and veneration towards this Vajrasattva on top of your head. And then with that, great respect, very strong conviction, very strong respect, very strong aspiration, then we’d repeat after the Geshe. Then we we are told there’s a a few lines of verse that we have to repeat. Okay.
Then we are we are given we are made to repeat a a prayer of of request in which we are in which we are requesting the blessings of this Vaishra Sattva, which is then the collection of all the blessings of all the Tathagatas, which has in it is in essence all that. And we say from this moment all the way until I attain enlightenment, until I attain the state of Vajrasattva, always abiding mainly as this deity. I will always seek the enlightened enlightened I will always seek enlightened blessings of this deity. So I want to make a commitment to this deity, to Vajrasattva.
And then and and that one will and one is is making this prayer of aspiration. One will always seek this this blessings of this deity, and one will that may one accomplish all the the supreme and the common siddhis, the supreme and common powers, or in the enlightened powers, in the ordinary powers of such deities. And so. So and so I beseech you. I I I I I pray pray, grant me those blessings.
And then having having made this request in this manner, have made this commitment in this request in this manner, then one, on the basis of this request, the the Vajrasattva on top of our head becomes very happy. It’s very, how to say, delighted with our request and our commitment. And then it itself it’s it’s it melts and and enters our bodies. And then and then our our the the disciple’s body speech and mind and the holy body, speech, and mind of Vajrasattva then become inseparable, become one and inseparable. And then we we say, So then again and then the the preceptor is gonna do the same thing again with the whole visualization.
It melts into the preceptor and all that. So, Geshe-la is just explaining. So we have then gone through the the we have attained permission then of of the body, of the speech, and the mind. We have done that already. And, again, the permission of the three also.
And we have done we have done through all the visualizations. And now the next part of the text is is explaining the qualities and the meaning of not the qualities, but all the powers and the qualities of the Vajrasattva mantra, which contains all the the powers of the holy speech of Vajrasattva, which then has the power to purify and eliminate obscurations and and and eradicate the negativities. And then we we are told that, and we are told them to repeat after after the preceptor. We’re gonna be told to repeat the the mantra itself. We are going that’s the moment in which we are given the mantra itself, the transmission of the mantra itself.
And then so we’re gonna we have to repeat the Vajrasattva mantra three times after after the preceptor. Just something. Geshe-la was just saying, and then everybody’s familiar with the Vajrasattva mantra. And then, and then we’re gonna make offerings again to the preceptor, and, and then we’re gonna have to repeat some concluding, prayers, which is just a very just a little bit. Just a few more lines like this.
And and that would and that would then conclude we will conclude then with dedication prayers. Would dedication prayers. So Geshe lah is then just saying, because Geshe-la was noting the time, Geshe-la is then just saying, in the day of the, permission, we are going to go through all that again. And I will have all papers in order, so I won’t be lost searching for them. And and so so what what Geshe was giving us today is something for you to prepare.
So this is what we are gonna do that day, exactly what we’re doing here, but with the papers in order. That’s all. And so you have something that in that day, when you come, you know already what’s gonna happen. You’ll be able then to visualize and think properly of what every step of what’s happening. Okay?
According to that, it’s seven. Seven PM. So the commitment is at least seven recitations of the Vajrasattva mantra, of the hundred syllable mantra. Not lost not less than seven. And they are daily daily daily recitations.
So not not anything less than seven recitations. But if you can recite more, all the better. Alright? Pretty easy. And then one has to recite them again with the the idea that one is opposing the negativities that one has created in order to oppose the negativities.
And then so one and one goes through all these visualizations that we’ve been through here whilst one is reciting that. If one can do that, of course, one does whatever one can do. So if one can whilst one is reciting the mantra, one goes through those visualizations. You know? The white om, the the red ah, the blue, and then all three together going back and forth, emanating back and forth, then melting and purifying our bodies, and then melting, becoming one with the body, speech, all that.
Alright? No. No. No. What you can eat whatever you like.
Yeah. So the one this this permission is for the for the both. The consort. One can visualize without the consort if one wishes anyway. But the the consort, the female consort usually represents the great bliss of the wisdom mind.
The the the the bliss aspect of the realization of wisdom. And then this and then we get into a lot of tantric technicalities with Geshe was saying, but it represents that, the bliss of of the subtle wisdom mind. So Geshe-la is just explaining that the the consort herself, both of them are to be understood to be Vajrasattva. The consort herself is Vajrasattva. It’s the two aspects of or, you know, two sides of the same coin.
That’s how they are sort of they are to be seen. So and and and it doesn’t matter. Again, it doesn’t matter if you visualize it with the consort or without the consort. You should always explain. It’s all Vajrasattva.
That’s what we have to bear in mind. It’s all Vajrasattva. This one. Is that right? Yeah.
Yeah. There is no there is no there is no such stories about Vajrasattva. But Geshe-la was saying that the Buddha Śākyamūni himself taught about Vajrasattva. So, again, the Buddha himself talked about Vajrasattva, taught Vajrasattva. Is that alright?
Yep? Yes. By many a lot of Oh, we have to buy many biscuits. And then That works. And then then, yes, there there are preparations that have to be done, but there’s a Yes.
We can talk to Jamil also about that. But there’s a lot of for a good couple of hours, at least, Geshe will will will have to be alone in here. So we have to do that before. So if the initiation is at a seven, then, you know, he will be arriving here around five. And so whatever is that we can do, we have to do before then.
Yeah. Just put in some fresh offerings, and we have to just gather, you know, the rice and that we’re gonna use, which is all in there. Most of what we need is all in there. Just making nice, you know, vacuum cleaning the place. That would be lovely.
You know? That’s a respectful thing to do. Big tank of over there, brother. Behind that yellow curtain there. Yeah.
We we we can we can do that. We we we do that, don’t we? We do that. We put it we put it in in the back, can we? Just behind.
In the back. Oh, we have a trolley? Okay. Good. Good.
Is that alright? That Friday. You wanna do the dedication? Okay.