Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 125-minute afternoon session of a karma retreat, Venerable Thubten Dondrub guides practitioners through two foundational purification practices: the Thirty-five Confessional Buddhas and Vajrasattva. He begins with a sustained teaching on patience as an antidote to anger, exploring both its ordinary disadvantages (damaged reputation, lost friendships, escalating habit patterns) and its spiritual cost—how anger destroys accumulated merit and obscures the mind, indirectly delaying one’s ability to help others. He then walks through the complete Thirty-five Buddhas practice step by step: the preparatory visualizations and refuge formula, detailed instructions on short and long prostrations (including the symbolic meanings of hand positions and body contact with the ground), the names of all thirty-five Buddhas organized by color and wisdom quality, and the Sūtra of the Three Heaps. After a break, he teaches Vajrasattva practice—visualizing the deity above the crown of one’s head, understanding the symbolism of his ornaments (representing the six perfections) and implements (vajra and bell), and the four opponent powers applied through three rounds of mantra recitation that purify negativities of body, speech, and mind respectively. Throughout, he emphasizes that both practices must be combined with genuine regret, refuge in the Triple Gem, bodhicitta motivation, and a firm resolution to abandon harmful actions. Suited for practitioners with some familiarity with Tibetan Buddhist visualization and those preparing for or engaged in personal retreat.
File metadata (for organising)
File: karma retreat pm.mp3
UUID: ac115df0-fa27-4037-ab7c-399c60ca5d10
Teacher: Ven Thubten Dondrub
Collection: DB Karma (Ven Thubten Dondrub)
Date: 2018 (exact day not recorded)
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 124.9 minutes
Words: ~10,117
Do a short meditation on cultivating patience. Oh, my. Oh, Judy, sorry. Could you get my glass my glasses? Should be somewhere in that room, otherwise there’s the in the drawer there’s a pair.
So patience is one of the six perfections. So, you know, one could summarise all the essential practices that we have to do if we want to follow the teachings as practising the six perfections of generosity, morality, patience, perseverance, concentration and wisdom. So that’s it. Oh, can you hear me? Are you Okay?
Oh, Okay. Thanks. And of all the six perfections it is said that for a bodhisattva, patience is one of the most important because, you know, patience, anger can be so destructive. You know, a bodhisattva, and we’re trying to be bodhisattvas, as Lama Yeshe used to say, we are baby bodhisattvas, trying to be baby bodhisattvas. Bodhisattvas trying to help sentient beings, not harm them, so we really need patience.
But also by developing the basic patience in relation to people, then we can develop the two other kinds of patience, which is being patient with ourself, our own, you know, problems and difficulties and our own, you know, negative mind and uncontrolled mind. And then ultimately the most important patience to develop for the bodhisattva is the patience of what is it? I don’t know the fancy word, but anyway, it’s the patience of being patient with the difficulties of practising the dharma itself. Because Bodhisattva needs to be patient with all the difficulties of all the more advanced practises and so on. So is actually this is the most important well, being patient with sentient beings is very important, but being patient with every kind of difficulty that comes in our way so that we can continue to practise the Dharma, that patience is incredibly important.
So again, we can begin with firstly sitting if you have your book open at page, what is it, three or two? The Refuge Prayer. Page two. But firstly we begin by sitting comfortably in the correct posture as much as possible. And then just briefly checking our posture moving our awareness from the crown of our head down through our body.
And then preparing our mind firstly by doing the nine round breathing exercise to establish a calm neutral mind. One can combine that with breathing out with each out breath of the cycle, breathing out all one’s negativities and so on in the form of black smoke, and breathing in all good qualities from the Buddha in the form of white light, bringing great calm and clarity into the mind. So then building on that calm neutral mind, the virtuous mind of refuge in the triple gem, visualising Śākyamūni Buddha on the lion throne, lotus, sun and moon, directly in front of oneself as the embodiment of all the Three Jewels of refuge. And then cultivating as much as one can the bodhicitta thought as one visualises all sentient beings surrounding you, trying to have that strong sense of all of these beings starting with one’s parents of this life, but all one’s family, friends, helpers, harmers, all human beings, all the beings of cyclic existence, trying to have that recognition that they’ve all been one’s mother, they’re all only kind. Essentially, the essential thing is that they are only kind, but only suffering.
So think how wonderful if I could repay their kindness, freeing them of all suffering and its causes, leading them to peerless everlasting happiness. So the only way to do that is for myself first to achieve enlightenment. That depends on following the path. To do that successfully I have to understand the path and train my mind in it. And in following the path there are so many difficulties to experience with other sentient beings, one’s own mind, the difficulties of understanding the Dharma, putting it into practice.
Practice. So I really need to develop the mind of patience. So for this reason I’ll do this practice. I go for refuge until I am enlightened to the Buddha, the Dharma and the Supreme Assembly. By my practice of giving and other perfections may I become a Buddha to benefit all sentient beings.
So thinking the Buddha is pleased with your motivation, imagine firstly the lion throne absorbing, dissolving into light which absorbs up into the lotus sun and moon. And then the Buddha seated on these comes to one’s crown and then turns facing the same direction as oneself and remains there for the rest of the session. So now make a strong determination to practice strong mindfulness for the rest of the session in order to be able to keep the mind really focused strongly in the practice by immediately detecting any of the distraction any of the obstacles, such as on the one hand the mind becoming dull and sleepy, or on the other hand being distracted. So have that strong mindfulness that detects those obstacles as quickly as possible and lets go of them. Or, for example, applying some antidotes such as remembering the Buddha on one’s crown and imagining the Buddha sending this powerful white light, this blissful powerful white light, eliminating any obstacle existing.
So then one brings the mind back to the meditation. So we can begin cultivating patience as the antidote to anger by reflecting on the many disadvantages of coming under the control of anger. So are many worldly disadvantages such as that we experience in this life, that of course it causes harm to our anger, leads us to harm other sentient beings in so many different ways. It brings many problems to myself in this life, such as gaining a bad reputation, I create many enemies, lose friends. Confused by anger, I say and do many harmful things to myself and others that can lead to an incredible sense of guilt.
Although anger seems like a quick easy solution to the problem and difficulties I may be experiencing, reflect that in the long run it just aggravates the problem, creates more problems. Also consider that every time I give in to my anger, come under the control of my anger, it’s just creating the imprint to become angry again. And the habit grows. It becomes easier to get angry more quickly, more strongly, more frequently. So there’s no peace in the mind.
Especially check out that we get angry in most cases as a way to push away something. It gives us it seems to give us the energy, the courage to in some way push away something or someone that is threatening my happiness, my peace of mind, and the people and things that I surround myself with that bring me happiness and peace of mind. So anything that threatens me in some way or what is mine, I use anger to protect myself and mine, to push things away. But then check up that it’s one’s very anger, the direct cause of destroying my peace of mind, my happiness, well-being, is not the supposed outer threat, But the actual direct immediate cause of what of losing my peace and happiness is my own anger. Because I can’t remain peaceful and happy and contented when anger is existing in the mind.
So it’s completely self defeating to get angry, even from an ordinary point of view. But then reflect that apart from these reasons, then the main reason to avoid anger, the greatest disadvantage is that every time we allow our mind to be overtaken by anger, then we’re generating these negative karmic imprints. And since karma is definite, then these negative imprints can only and always ripen as suffering. And since karma is expandable, when those imprints ripen as suffering, the suffering that we experience is far greater, lasts far longer than the suffering that we’re trying to avoid by getting angry in the first place. So it just doesn’t make any sense in any situation whatsoever to give in to anger.
It can be particularly helpful to reflect that, you know, worst enemy, the worst our worst enemy can do to us is end this life. But our anger to the enemy can put us in the lower realms. The outer enemy can never do that. They can take our life, but they can’t cause us to be reborn in the lower realms. It’s our anger that does that.
So our anger, our own anger, is our own greatest enemy. So then reflect that not only does our anger generate these negative imprints that bring us great suffering in the future, but also our anger destroys our positive imprints, our merit, which is not only the source of some worldly happiness while we’re in saṃsāra, but especially that merit could act as the basis of gaining the realisations that free us from saṃsāra and lead us to enlightenment. The more quickly we accumulate merit, the more quickly we achieve enlightenment. But throughout our lives, we’ve got angry and destroyed our accumulation of merit. So we remain ordinary suffering beings.
Just reflect how difficult it is to engage in the virtuous actions that create merit, and yet it’s all so quickly destroyed in a moment of anger. And particularly reflect that by my anger destroying my merit, this is not only harmful for me, harms my chances of future happiness, But it harms others indirectly. It delays my achieving the realisations that can benefit others. And also reflect that these negative imprints created from anger also add to the obscurations in my mind. The more obscured the mind is, the more difficult it is to create the causes for human rebirth.
Even if I achieve a human rebirth again with an obscured mind, it’s very difficult to meet the dharma. Even if I meet the dharma with an obscured mind, it’s very difficult for such a mind to develop faith in the dharma. Even if I develop faith with an obscured mind, it’s difficult to practise it. Even if I practise with an obscured mind, it’s very difficult to gain the realisations. So again, by creating these negative imprints obscuring the mind, it’s not only harming me, delaying my spiritual progress, it’s indirectly harming sentient beings because it’s taking me longer and longer to help them.
And with an obscured mind, I’m more likely to harm them anyway than benefit them. And finally from another perspective we can cultivate patience by trying to change the perspective from oneself, where we focus on me suffering, that someone is causing me suffering and therefore that makes them very bad and should be harmed. We try and change the focus away from what’s happening to me, to the person who seems to be harming me. Why are they harming me? Firstly, we need to again apply the understanding of karma, that if I’m being harmed, the enemy is only the condition, not the real cause.
The real cause I’ve created with my mind in the past. I have created the karma to have an enemy, to have someone who dislikes me even for a moment, who wants to insult me even for a moment. There’s always the outer condition, but there has to be the inner cause. But also reflect on the so called enemy, The only reason the enemy is trying to harm me is because they are suffering. Their mind is out of control.
Their mind is being controlled by anger or some other negative, disturbing thought. If we could focus on that, then there’s a chance to feel compassion rather than aversion. If someone hits us on the head with a stick, we don’t get angry with the stick even though it’s the stick causing the pain. We get angry with the person who holds the stick. But if we investigate further, we shouldn’t get angry with a person because they are being controlled by their own anger, just like the stick is being controlled by the person.
Rather than disliking the person, we should dislike their disturbing thoughts and feel compassion for the person. Now bring the meditation to a conclusion by making a strong determination to be more and more mindful in daily life, that when one meets an enemy, someone who dislikes oneself, criticises oneself, meets one’s situation, difficulty, to always remember, to be always mindful that that is just the outer condition. The real cause, the real reason I’m experiencing the enemy, this difficulty, is because my mind has created the cause for it. So there’s no reason to be angry. There’s no benefit to be angry, now or in the future.
So then recall the Buddha on one’s crown, imagining the Buddha very pleased with your practice. And the Buddha shows this by dissolving into blissful golden light so that that light can pour down into you, blessing your mind to be able to gain a complete transformative realisation of the mind of patience. And then we dedicate the merit. Page three. Through the merits of these virtuous actions, may I quickly attain the state of a Guru Buddha and lead all living beings without exception into that enlightened state.
May the precious body mind, not yet born, arise and grow May that born have no decline, but increase forevermore May the precious right view, not yet born arise and grow May that born have no decline but increase forevermore. Okay, thank you. So take a break, short break. This is one of the fundamental practices of all the schools of Tibetan Buddhism. It’s encouraged for people to do this practice actually on a regular basis, like on a daily practice, if one can.
There is the tradition of doing a retreat of one hundred thousand prostrations or you can do it on a daily basis or just anyway, but it is considered one of the most powerful ways to purify the mind because it’s specifically a practice for purifying broken bodhisattva vows. This is the particular method of purifying if one takes the engaging bodhisattva vows then and transgresses them, this is the particular method for purifying that. And since the bodhisattva vows are very the karma of that is very powerful, then it means that it can purify all sorts of negativities. So, I did explain Oh, we don’t have the picture. Oh, drat.
I might want a good old Judy, in the room, could you get a copy of the large thirty five Buddhas? Yeah, they still there. Oh, no, you took them. So maybe I’ll just explain firstly how to prostrate, in case you don’t know yet how to prostrate properly. I’ve hardly ever explained it And I do notice that some not necessarily saying people here, but I do see people not doing it properly.
Different traditions have different ways of doing it, so there is the Tibetan way of doing it. Right. Oh, that’s very good. Right, so the basic prostration is this one, the Anjali Mudra, of paying respect to people and Lama Zopa Rinpoche says, It’s very good every time you come into a room where there’s an image of the Buddha, it’s good to do this. Or if they’re everywhere, just go around like that.
Skies of merit. So, yeah, so that’s the basic one. So, if you’re finding it difficult to do actual physical prostrations now or at any time, it’s okay just to sit down like that and do it. Of course, every time we say refuge, it’s very good to do this mudra at that time as a sign of respect. So, the basic prostration is the short prostration where you go, you put your hands here, forehead, neck, heart and then you prostrate, which I’ll do and show you in a minute.
So according to Geshe Lama Konchog Kyab, who was one of the great realised Lamas who lived at Kopan Monastery, he explained once that the two hands represent wisdom and method, which are the two main things to bring about enlightenment and then putting your hands together is bringing them together, the unification of wisdom and method, and you have your hands, like, cupped a little bit to create the space, so the space represents emptiness or symbolises emptiness, the nature of reality, the actual nature of reality, the space like empty nature of reality. And then also it is said it’s not auspicious to make an empty offering to the Buddhas, so you put your thumbs inside to represent an offering, a jewelled offering to the Buddhas, and then you have your fingers slightly apart, so this is said to create the cause, to remember but also to create the cause, it’s a very subtle cause, to achieve one of the signs of a Buddha’s body which is that the Buddha has these rays of light between the fingers. So, yeah. So then you put your hands to the crown of your head, which is a particular way of paying respect and is creating the cause to achieve the Ushnisha of a Buddha.
So the Ushnisha is this bit, this part, the gold part above the head, which is actually part of the Buddha’s crown, you know, growing above the hair or appearing above the hair. So this is said to be the most difficult of the thirty two major signs of a Buddha to create the cause for and the main cause to achieve that sign is having pure devotion to the Guru and always thinking of the Guru on the crown of one’s head. So you do that, then you place your hands at the forehead, so this here you think of, may I be able to purify my negative imprints of body and achieve the pure body of a Buddha, may I be able to purify the negative imprints from speech and achieve the pure speech of a Buddha, and may I be able to purify the negative imprints of my mind and achieve the pure mind of a Buddha. Okay? So I’ll just keep this on, as a monk you’re supposed to take this off a bit, but anyway.
So this is what you do, so then you put your, you keep your hand, when you prostrate down on the ground you keep your fingers together, not spread out, but together, or bunched up, try to avoid that, straight like that, and then you so you put your hands on the ground and then your knees and then your forehead. I knew something had to go wrong. It’s pretty good for me actually. Yeah, so the forehead should touch the ground, okay, forehead touches the ground, as soon as your head touches the ground you get up, you start to get up and reasonably quickly but this old gentleman is not able to do it so well anymore. Oh, now I was lost, oh, good grief.
One gets up elegantly. Lama Zopa Rinpoche says, It should be done nicely, you know, not sloppily because you’re paying respect to the Buddha, so one should do it properly. And often, and Rinpoche has also criticised a lot of Tibetan monks because if you see them, especially the young ones, they, when they get up, they only get halfway up and then they prostrate because it’s quicker and easier. And he said, That’s very wrong, that’s very disrespectful. You have to stand up completely.
And then do the next one. So three prostrations. So that’s the standard prostration in the Tibetan tradition. Can I just ask you, why do you have your fingers together when you I wish you hadn’t asked that? Cause now I have to explain.
I’ll ask him this. No. Well according to the Tibetan Lama’s, if you do like this or like that, you’re creating the cause to be born as an animal, cause they have, you know, glory, hoofs and things, so you avoid that. So that’s the standard one but for doing prostrations to the thirty five Buddhas ideally one does long prostrations. So long prostrations, although this practice is actually from the Sūtra tradition of the Buddha, from one of the general sutras, long prostrations are from the tantric tradition and were kind of invented by the great Mahasiddha Tilopa.
Tilopa, Naropa, one of those. Naropa, Naropa, who was the guru of Marpa, was the guru of Milarepa. If you know anything about these people. So long prostration is you do the same thing here and then you put the hands on the ground, sorry, knees, and then like that, and then like that. Well this bit is an optional extra, you can do that.
And you Get up. Okay. That is a long prostration. And this pit you try to cover when you try to cover as much territory with your arms because in the Sūtra from where this practice comes it says, however much ground, atoms of the ground your body covers, that many eons of negative karma you purify. So Rinpoche always makes jokes that if you’ve got a very long body or quite chubby body then you create much more merit.
Or he says if you’ve got long hair then you spread your hair all out on the ground and then that purifies more. So as we know, what we do is we visualise the Buddha and then from the Buddha’s heart these five rows of Buddhas appear. Firstly a row of six Buddhas that are blue in colour, then the four rows of seven Buddhas. And in each row the colour of the Buddhas is the same and the Mudras is the same. Except the one exception that I forgot to mention before is this third Buddha here who is the King of Naga Lords or the King Lord of the Nagas, who has a white head and also has these Nagas, the snakes, as like a halo at the back of his head.
And although all the other Buddhas have, are in the Mudra, the same Mudra as Śākyamūni Buddha, except they’re not holding the begging bowl, this Buddha, the King of Naga Lords, he has an extremely complicated Mudra, which is something like that. Something like that. I didn’t know it, I’ve lost, you know, in a way it’s something like that at the heart. This is the one that Je Tsongkhapa, when he did a hundred thousand prostrations to each of the Buddha on this rock at a place called Wolka, this is the first of the Buddhas that he saw, directly perceived, not visualised but he actually, that Buddha appeared to him. And then one can also visualise the Medicine Buddhas as well but that’s separate but this is the main practice of visualising those.
And as I mentioned one recites the name of each Buddha. So each Buddha purifies very specific negativities but also all sorts of negativities in general, but it takes too long to explain all the particular and also for periods of time the various these different Buddhas purify so many eons. You know, this Buddha of that many eons and another Buddha, you know, another, like that. So as Rinpoche says it’s really good to recite the name as many times as possible because each time one says the name, if one has faith, it’s purifying so much negativity. Especially if one can if one can do the visualisation.
So one tries to do the visualisation of the Buddha and as you’re prostrating, you imagine that light is coming, white light is coming from that Buddha purifying you of all negative karma or whatever particular karma you’re trying to purify. But then when your body fully touches the ground, you imagine that a replica of that Buddha dissolves into you. And then the idea is once your body, particularly your forehead, touches the ground, you try to get up quickly. At least you start to get up quickly. You can take a bit more time afterwards if it’s getting difficult.
But the idea is you imagine that you’re trying to get out of saṃsāra as quickly as possible and it’s helping. And as I mentioned before, to make it more effective you try and think of all your past bodies that created negative karma prostrating with you and especially your mum and dad and family and friends and everybody prostrating with you and particularly thinking because I’m prostrating and purifying, they are prostrating and purifying. So if I stop, they stop. So I’ve got to keep going. But if you find it difficult to physically do it, it’s okay, just do what you can.
But I would really encourage at least, if you’ve never done it before to try to do it. So as I’ve mentioned, the ideal way is as you prostrate, you make one prostration to each Buddha and recite the name as many times as possible. So you do, and ideally in one session you do at least, you do three full rounds, right. But we’ll just try one round and of course to prostrate to one, you know, to each Buddha then it takes quite some time. But what I’ll do is I’ll just recite the names fairly quickly so you won’t have to do thirty five Buddha’s prostrations but just some.
Because the Tibetans have a wonderful way of, they have a sort of an accordion way of practising everything, which is you can pull an accordion out a very long way, Tibetans can make any practice as long as they like, with lots of additions or do it very slight chant things extremely slowly. Or they can do it in a very short, quick way. So this could be done in a very long, slow way, which of course is the best way where you do many prostrations and recite each name carefully and so on. Or often what the Tibetans do is they recite the names extremely quickly and prostrate extremely quickly so they don’t actually do thirty five prostrations. But it’s still, one is still prostrating to the Buddhas and saying their names so it’s good to do.
Am I making any sense? Is that clear? Okay, since I’ve run out of steam trying to prostrate and say the names, and I have done this before, I’m making an excuse that I won’t do it today. I’ll just read it and you can try to do it if that’s okay. Should we try and read it along the media?
Well, what you can try and do is just recite the name with me. Yeah. Actually maybe what I’ll do, I’ll see how it goes, I’ll try maybe I’ll recite each name three times quickly so that you might so if you can at least think the name or try and say it if you can pick the name up. Okay. I don’t think Rinpoche will mind.
It’s not going to stay up. You might like to put something under your knees when you’re doing the practice. Don’t have to. Firstly there’s the practice of we have to combine this with the four opponent powers. So the first is the power of regret.
So, generate the mind of regret for all the negative actions of body, speech and mind that one has done in this life that one can remember. Understanding that if not purified, these negative imprints from those actions are definitely going to ripen as great suffering. But also right now those imprints are obscuring the mind, making it more difficult to follow the Mahāyāna path, making it longer, therefore delaying my ability to benefit those sentient beings. So generate strong regret, thinking how unfortunate that I’ve created, I myself have created so many causes of suffering for myself, and have created so many obstacles for myself to do the very thing I want most to do, which is to benefit others. So I also particularly think that through the logic one can understand that in past lives I’ve also engaged in every conceivable kind of negative action.
So some of the imprints from those negative actions have already ripened, but still so many remain. So I really need to purify them while I’ve got the chance, before death comes. So how can I purify my mind? By taking refuge in the triple gem, to generate that strong refuge in the triple gem, understanding that the triple gem of Buddha, Dhamma, Sangha has the power to free one from the suffering of the lower realms, of all suffering in fact. And particularly generates strong refuge in this particular practice of the thirty five Buddhas.
And combine that mind of refuge with the bodhicitta thought wanting to purify one’s mind, not just simply to avoid suffering for oneself now in the future, but in order to free the mind of obscurations so that one is able to practise the Dharma more effectively, achieve realisations more quickly in order to free sentient beings of suffering more quickly. So then think in response to thinking in this way of having regret, refuge, bodhicitta from the formless Dharmakāya state, out of great compassion, Guru Śākyamūni Buddha appears seated on a magnificent throne held up by eight white elephants adorned with many strands of pearls. And from his heart rays of light go out, and on the tips of these rays of light are the other thirty four Buddhas of confession. Firstly, the row of blue Buddhas. Each Buddha is seated on the back of a pure white elephant adorned with many strands of pearls.
Then a row of seven Buddhas that are white in color, then the row of Buddhas that are yellow in color, then the next row are red in color, and finally the last row are green in color. So think how incredibly kind it is of the Guru Buddha to appear in this way so that I can quickly and easily purify my mind. So firstly we’ll do the mantra that increases the power of the practice. And as you’re reciting this mantra, if you can, to make the three long prostrations. So now we recite the refuge formula three times.
It’s not necessary to prostrate at this point. And so it says I and then you should say your name, so if you have a refuge name you can say your refuge name at this point, otherwise just say your ordinary name. I throughout all times take refuge in the Guru, I take refuge in the Buddha, I take refuge in the Dharma, I take refuge in the Sangha. I throughout all times take refuge in the Guru, I take refuge in the Buddha, I take refuge in the Dharma, I take refuge in the Sangha. I throughout all times take refuge in the Guru, I take refuge in the Buddha, I take refuge in the Dharma, I take refuge in the Sangha.
So now one can begin doing the prostrations: To the Founder, Bhagawan, Tathāgata, Arhat, perfectly completed Buddha, glorious conqueror, Śākyamūni Buddha, I prostrate. To the Founder, Bhagawan, Tathāgata, Arhat, perfectly completed Buddha, glorious conqueror, Śākyamūni Buddha, I prostrate. To the founder, Bhagavan Tathāgata Arhat, perfectly completed Buddha, glorious conqueror, Śākyamūni Buddha, I prostrate. Now the six Buddhas, blue in color: Tathagatas thoroughly destroying with vajra essence I prostrate. Tathagatas thoroughly destroying with vajra essence I prostrate.
Tathagatas thoroughly destroying with vajra essence I prostrate. Tathāgata radiant jewel, I prostrate. Tathāgata radiant jewel, I prostrate. Tathāgata radiant jewel, I prostrate. Tathāgata king, lord of the nagas, I prostrate.
Tathāgata dual moonlight, I prostrate. Te tadagara meaningful to see I prostrate. Te tadagara meaningful to see I prostrate. Te tagatah meaningful to see, I prostrate. Te tagatah dual moon, I prostrate.
Te tagatah moon, I prostrate. Te moon, I prostrate. Tathāgata pure one, I prostrate. Tathāgata pure one, I prostrate. Tathāgata bestowed with purity, I prostrate.
Tathāgata bestowed with purity, I prostrate. Now the Buddhas yellow in color. Tathāgata water God, I prostrate. Tathāgata water God, I prostrate. Te tathagara water God I prostrate.
Te tathagara deity of the water God I prostrate. Te deity of the water God I prostrate. Deity of the water God I prostrate. Te tathagara glorious goodness I prostrate. Tathāgata glorious light, I prostrate.
Tathāgata sorrowless glory, I prostrate. Tathāgata sorrowless glory, I prostrate. Tathāgata pure light rays, clearly knowing by play, I prostrate. Tathāgata pure light rays, clearly knowing by play, I prostrate. Tathāgata lotus light rays, clearly knowing by play, I prostrate.
Tathāgata lotus light rays, clearly knowing by play, I prostrate. Tathāgata lotus light rays, clearly knowing by play, I prostrate. Tathāgata glorious wealth, I prostrate. Tathāgata glorious wealth, I prostrate. Tathāgata glorious wealth, I prostrate. Tathāgata glorious mindfulness, I prostrate. Tathāgata glorious mindfulness, I prostrate. Tathāgata glorious name, widely renowned, I prostrate. Tathāgata glorious name, widely renowned, I prostrate.
Now the Buddhas that are green in color: To Tathāgata, king holding the victory banner of foremost power, I prostrate. To Tathāgata, king holding the victory banner of foremost power, I prostrate. To Tathāgata, king holding the victory banner of foremost power, I prostrate. To Tagoda glorious one totally subduing, I prostrate. To Tagoda glorious one totally subduing, I prostrate.
To Tagoda glorious one totally subduing, I prostrate. To Tagoda utterly victorious in battle, I prostrate. To tuggerna, utterly victorious in battle, I prostrate. To tuggerna, utterly victorious in battle, I prostrate. To tuggerna, glorious transcendence through subduing, To tadagata glorious transcendence through subduing I prostrate.
To glorious transcendence through subduing I prostrate. To tadagata glorious manifestations illuminating all I prostrate. Tatagara glorious manifestations illuminating all, I prostrate. Tatagara glorious manifestations illuminating all, I prostrate. Tatagara all subduing jewel lotus, I prostrate.
To Tadagara all subduing jewel lotus I prostrate. To Tadagara all subduing jewel lotus I prostrate. To Tadagara arhat perfectly completed Buddha, King of the Lord of mountains, firmly seated on jewel and lotus I prostrate. Tuttagara arhats, perfectly completed Buddha, King of the Lord of mountains, firmly seated on jewel and lotus I prostate. Tuttagara arhats, perfectly completed Buddha, King of the Lord of mountains, firmly seated on jewel and lotus I prostate.
And now the seven medicine Buddhas. To the Bhagawan, Tathāgata, arhat, perfectly completed Buddha, renowned glorious King of excellent signs, I prostrate. To the Bhagawan, Tathāgata, arhat, perfectly completed Buddha, King of melodious sound, brilliant radiance of skill, adorned with jewels, moon and lotus, I prostrate. To the Bhagawan, Tathāgata, arhats, perfectly completed Buddha, stainless excellent gold, illuminating jewel, who accomplishes all conduct, I prostrate. To the Bhagawan, Tathāgata, arhat, perfectly completed Buddha, glorious Supreme One, free from sorrow, I prostrate.
To the Bhagawan, Tathāgata, arhat, perfectly completed Buddha, melodious ocean of proclaimed Dharma, I prostrate. To the Bhagawan, Tathāgata, arhat, perfectly completed Buddha, clearly knowing by the play of supreme wisdom of an ocean of Dharma, I prostrate. To the Bhagawan, Tathāgata, arhat, perfectly completed Buddha, medicine guru, king of stars, sapphire light, I prostrate. So now we can all read together the Sūtra of the Three Heaps which is on page nine, if you’d like to sit down and recite this. Page nine.
Actually, if you have a pen of any description, there was just one correction which I missed, which is on the bottom of page eight It says, To the Bhagawan, Tathāgata, Arhat, perfectly completed Buddha, Medicine Guru, King of Lapis Lazuli Light. So Lama Zopa Rinpoche says Lapis Lazuli is the wrong translation, it should be Star Sapphire. Bottom of page eight, not in this oh, the sorry, in this little thirty five Buddha booklet if you’ve got it. Because that’s the main Medicine Buddha, this one, the central figure is the medicine guru, King of stars, sapphire light. Okay, so we’ll read this.
It’s called the Sūtra of the Three Heaps, it’s part of the practice. Page nine of that book. All you thirty five Buddhas and others as many Tathāgata, arhats, perfectly completed Buddhas as there are existing, sustaining and residing in all the world systems of the ten directions all you Buddha Bhagawans, please pay attention to me. In this life and in all states of rebirth in which I have circled in saṃsāra through our beginningless lives, whatever negative actions I have created, made others create or rejoiced in the creation of, whatever possessions of stupas, possessions of the Sangha, or possessions of the Sangha of the ten directions that I have appropriated, made others appropriate or rejoiced in the appropriation of whichever among the five actions of immediate retribution I have done, caused to be done or rejoiced in the doing of, whichever powers of the ten non virtuous actions I have engaged in, caused others to engage in or rejoiced in the engaging in, whatever I have created being obscured by these karmas causes me and sentient beings to be born in the hell realms, in the animal realm and in the preta realm, in irreligious countries, as barbarians or as long life gods, with imperfect faculties, holding wrong views or not being pleased with Buddha’s descent.
In the presence of the Buddha Bhagawans who are transcendental wisdom, who are eyes, who are witnesses, who are valid and who see with omniscient consciousness, I am admitting and confessing all these negativities. I will not conceal them nor hide them and from now on in the future I will abstain and refrain from committing them again. All Buddha Bhagawans, please pay attention to me. In this life and in all other states of rebirth in which I am circled in saṃsāra throughout beginningless lives, whatever roots of virtue I have created by generosity, even as little as giving just one mouthful of food to a being born in the animal realm, roots of virtue I have created by guarding morality, whatever roots of virtue I have created by following pure conduct, roots of virtue I have created by fully ripening sentient beings, whatever roots of virtue I have created by generating bodhicitta, and whatever roots of virtue I have created by my unsurpassed transcendental wisdom, all these assembled and gathered, combined together, I fully dedicate to the unsurpassed, the unexcelled, that higher than the high, that superior to the superior. Thus, I completely dedicate to the highest perfectly complete enlightenment.
Just as the previous Buddha Bhagawan’s have fully dedicated, just as the future Buddha Bhagawan’s will fully dedicate, And just as the presently abiding Buddha Bhagawan’s are fully dedicating like that, I too dedicate fully. I confess all negativities individually, I rejoice in all merits, I urge and implore all Buddhas to grant my request. May I receive the highest, most sublime, transcendental wisdom to the conquerors, the best of humans, those who are living in the present time, those who have lived in the past and those who will likewise come, to all those who have qualities as vast as an infinite ocean with hands folded I approach for refuge. So now we’ve covered three of the four opponent powers: the power of regret, the power of reliance on refuge and bodhicitta, then the power of remedy. So now to complete it, we apply the power of resolution.
So make a strong commitment in front of visualising all these Buddhas in front of you, then make a strong commitment to them to avoid, especially think of the negative actions of body, speech and mind that you engage in regularly. And so make strong resolution to avoid these for whatever period of time you feel confident that you definitely can avoid those negative actions. So think that all the Buddhas are extremely pleased and because of that they begin to dissolve into light. So firstly the Medicine Buddhas dissolve up into the row of Green Buddhas, then the Green Buddhas dissolve into light which absorbs up into the row of Red Buddhas, they dissolve into light which absorbs up into the row of Yellow Buddhas, they dissolve into light and that absorbs up into the row of white Buddhas. They dissolve into light, which absorbs up into the row of blue Buddhas.
They dissolve into light and that light absorbs up into Guru Śākyamūni Buddha. And then the elephant throne that the Buddha is seated on dissolves into light absorbing up into the lotus sun and moon. And then the Buddha seated on these comes to one’s crown, he turns facing the same direction as oneself, dissolves into blissful golden light, that pours down into you, blessing your mind. So think your mind is blessed, or your whole being is blessed, so it becomes more and more difficult to engage in negative actions of body, speech and mind, more and more easy to engage in virtuous actions of body, speech and mind. And make just strengthen one’s resolution to avoid negative actions as much as possible, thinking make this strong, right now, concentrate strongly thinking, I have now definitely, there’s no question, I have definitely purified my mind by doing this practice.
So now I don’t want to pollute this mind again, I need to practice mindfulness in my daily life, becoming aware of disturbing thoughts that lead to negative actions that harm myself and others. So then we can altogether do the dedication on page eleven. Due to the three time merits accumulated by myself, all the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas and all sentient beings which are completely empty of existing from their own side, may the eye, which is completely empty of existing from its own side, quickly achieve the state of full enlightenment, which is completely empty of existing from its own side, in order to lead all sentient beings who are completely empty of existing from their own side to that state by myself alone who is completely empty of existing from its own side. Due to the three time merits accumulated by myself, all the Buddhas and bodhisattvas and all sentient beings, May the precious supreme enlightened thought, bodhicitta, letting go of self and cherishing others, which is the source of all success and happiness for myself and all sentient beings, immediately be generated within my own mind and within the minds of all sentient beings. May that which has already been generated never decline but increase more and more.
Okay, so that’s the practice of purifying the mind of body, speech and mind through relying on the thirty five confessional Buddhas. So I would really encourage people to try and do this practice as much as they can. If, you know, it’s really good to try and do it every day if you can. Whenever you find the time. Traditionally this is done in the morning and Vajrasattva at night, but you can do it at any time.
If you can’t manage to do it every day, at least try and do it sometimes, especially when you know you’ve really blown it and done some negative action and to try and purify it as quickly as possible by doing this practice. All of Vajrasattva, but this one is good. Really, that would be great. And even if you can’t, if you find it difficult to do the long prostrations, try the short prostrations. If you can’t do the short prostrations, at least still read the practice, sit down with your hands together and because even reading it, you visualise and read it with the four opponent powers, is good, is powerful, is purification.
So that one can definitely do every day if you’ve got the time. Right? We have the precious human rebirth, the optimum chance to purify our mind, accumulate merit, develop great compassion and wisdom. It’s just up to us what we do. So we’ll take a short break now for ten minutes.
So as I’ve mentioned, Vajrasattva practice comes from the tantric tradition, so it’s particularly for purifying broken tantric commitments. So tantric commitments, the karma associated with tantra is, of course, the heaviest of all. So since Vajrasattva can purify broken tantric commitments, it means it can purify any kind of negative karma action. So it’s very powerful. So this is a very nice, simple, beautiful description.
There are slightly different versions of deities, there are three or four versions of Vajrasattva. This is the simplest and for those people without an initiation, this is the one suitable to visualise, the simple form. So Vajrasattva has a, as I mentioned before, a hollow body of white light and he’s holding a vajra in his right hand. So this is a vajra that has many meanings, but in tantra and mahayana. Basically it symbolises at a basic level it symbolises the mind of bodhicitta, so that’s held at the heart.
And then the bell So the sound of the bell arises depending on many factors. There’s this thing and this thing and then someone holding it and then moving it, and because of that a sound exists. So the sound doesn’t exist inherently from its own side, the sound arises depending on all these many, many factors. So that illustrates the ultimate nature of all things, that they are empty of existing in dependence upon their own side, but actually the only way they exist is dependently. Just like it said in the previous prayer, the Buddha doesn’t exist from its own side, I don’t exist from my own side, all these things, they exist, but they don’t exist independently, inherently.
So Vajrasattva is holding his bodhicitta and wisdom, which are the two essential qualities of the enlightened mind. So he’s seated with his legs crossed in the vajra position, he’s seated on the lotus. Here’s, see artists do all sorts of things, but the lotus should be pure white, but artists like to do fancy things so it’s multi coloured, but it should be pure white lotus, then a white moon disc, and then the body is a pure, radiating white light, a hollow body. So the legs crossed in the vajra position, and then the jewelled ornaments. So first, like the hair is tied up in knots and decorated with jewels, and some of the hair is hanging over his shoulders.
And then there’s a five pointed crown which symbolise the five wisdoms of a Buddha, none of which I can remember, but there’s the wisdom of equality and the wisdom of what? There’s the wisdom of equality. One day I’ll know these things, there’s anyway, the five wisdoms of a Buddha. And then there’s the jewelled earrings and then there’s three strands normally this Buddha’s missing one normally there are three strands of jewels, jewelled necklaces, one sort of very close to the neck, and then one at like the level of the breast, and then one goes right down to the navel. And then there are these jewelled armlets and bracelets and jewelled anklets.
So all of these jewels symbolise these six perfections of the enlightened mind, which I mentioned of generosity, morality, patience, perseverance, concentration and wisdom. I think I forgot the jewelled earrings there. So then at Vajrasattva’s heart is a little moon disc and standing around that, upright, white in colour, are the hundred syllables of the mantra that we recite. Okay. Highly recommend you purchase one of these if you want to be a Mala Tibetan Buddhist, one Mala.
Everyone needs a Mala to recite Vajrasattva every night, or Mani Padmi hum during the day, many mantras to recite. So it’s really good to have a mala. So I’ll go through this. I won’t necessarily say the words that are exactly here, but at least if you have the text open at just the first page, because that’s where the mantra is. And firstly the mantra is written according to Sanskrit phonetics, but then below that is the more common way of pronouncing it according to tradition.
Because of the nature of the Tibetan alphabet and things, are certain things that Tibetan, you know, the Tibetan language doesn’t have particular sounds like vuh, like vajra. Tibetans haven’t got a v sound in their alphabet. So vajra has been turned well, it’s not in this in here, but they pronounce vajra benza. It’s got turned into benza just like we Australians are turning Tibetan into pronouncing it in strange ways. The Tibetans must think it’s really hilarious.
Okay, anyway, so remember with all purification, you know, Vajrasattva is there are many different purification practices but they’re all the differences are in relation to the power of remedy. You know, there’s only one purification practice, remember, which is the four opponent powers, one of which is the power of remedy, and there you can do the thirty five Buddhas, Vajrasattva, reciting Sutras, reciting mantras, etc, etc. Right. So for Vajrasattva practice to work it has to be combined with all the four opponent powers. So again we begin by sitting comfortably in the correct posture and then just briefly reflecting on recognising that in this life we have engaged in negative actions of speech and mind.
So try to remember especially those that one can remember, but also one can by logic understand that in past lives I’ve been born in conditions where it’s been possible to engage in every possible kind of negative action. So fortunately some of that negative karma has already ripened but negative but some still exists and I have no idea when it could ripen, could ripen today at the time of death. So generate strong regret for all that negativity, realising that how unfortunate it is that I’ve created the cause myself for so much suffering, future suffering. And I myself have obscured my mind by engaging in these negative actions, making it so much more difficult to practise the dharma and gain realisations. So generate strong regret for that.
So then think, how can I be free of all this suffering? Only by taking care of my mind, avoiding negative actions, purifying them, And to do that I need to rely on a perfect method. This is why I can take refuge in the Buddha, the Buddha’s teachings and the great practitioners of those teachings. So try and generate that mind of refuge as much as possible and combine it with the bodhicitta thought, wanting to take refuge and purify the mind, not simply to avoid suffering for oneself, but in order to purify the mind so that one can quickly proceed along the path to enlightenment and therefore be of quickly be of great benefit to all mother sentient beings. So this is the power of reliance.
So then think as a result of one’s regret and generating the power of reliance from the formless dharmakaya state out of great compassion all the Buddhas appear in the form of Guru Vajrasattva, appearing directly above the crown of one’s head. So imagine that just a few centimetres above the crown of one’s head there appears this incredibly beautiful white lotus of transparent radiating light. Above it, a little bit smaller in diameter, a pure white moon disc. And then seated directly above the centre of the moon disc is an incredibly beautiful form of Guru Vajrasattva, with a hollow body of pure white light, legs crossed in the vajra posture, the right hand at his heart holding the vajra, the left holding the bell with a hand resting on the left knee. Vajrasattva’s body, the lower body is adorned with a beautiful silk like robe of many different colours.
His upper body is bare, although adorned with the different jewelled ornaments symbolic of the six perfections. And also silk like scarves over his shoulders. Imagine Vajrasattva’s face as extremely beautiful, peaceful, youthful, smiling at oneself, looking directly at oneself with great love, great compassion. The lips are a deep red colour, the eyes are somewhat long and narrow in shape, the irises are deep blue. Vajrasattva’s hair is also a deep blue colour, some of it tied in knots above the crown of his head and some hanging loosely over his shoulders.
His crown is adorned with a five pointed jeweled crown. Sorry, his head is adorned with a five pointed jewel crown. He’s wearing jewelled earrings, armlets, bracelets, three rows or strands of jewelled necklaces, and then jewelled armlets, bracelets and anklets, and a jeweled belt. At his heart, at the Heart Chakra in the centre of his chest, is a white, small white moon disc standing around the edges of it, upright, white in color, the hundred syllables of the mantra. So make a strong heartfelt request to Guru Vajrasattva for one’s mind to be completely purified of all the negative imprints generated from negative actions of body done in this and all previous lives, particularly of killing, stealing and sexual misconduct.
So then Vajrasattva happily responds as we recite the mantra, sending this blissful white light and nectar from the syllables that goes down through his body, then pours into us through the crown of our head. And as it fills our body, it pushes all the negative imprints leave the body or leave the mind in the form of black liquid and then are pushed out from the lower part of our body, completely disappearing, becoming non existent. So that at the end of the recitation, imagine, feel one’s whole being in the nature of this blissful white light radiating energy. Om Vajrasattva So now I’ve completely purified all the negative actions done in this and past lives with my body, especially of killing, stealing and sexual misconduct. So then generate a heartfelt request to Guru Vajrasattva for one’s mind to be completely free of all the negative imprints generated in this life and all past lives when one engaged in negative actions of speech, of lying, divisive speech, harsh speech and meaningless gossip.
So think the Buddha Vajrasattva happily responds as we recite the mantra, sending again this blissful white light and nectar from all the syllables of the mantra that pour down through his body, then come out and enter our body through the crown of our head. And as it fills our body from the lower part upwards like a cup being filled, those negative imprints created from negative actions of speech manifest in the form of this black liquid that floats above the white nectar and light and is pushed out through the crown of our head. Again it completely disappears, becomes non existent and our whole being again becomes in the nature of this blissful radiating white light energy. So then just concentrate on generating strong faith that one has definitely purified one’s mind of all the negative imprints created from engaging in negative actions of speech. So then make a heartfelt request to Guru Vajrasattva for one’s mind to be free of all negative imprints generated in this past lives when one engaged in negative actions of mind itself, especially generating thoughts of covetousness, ill will and wrong views.
So again, think Buddha, Vajrasattva happily responds as one recites the mantra by sending blissful sorry, this time as one recites the mantra, then these intense flashes of light like bolts of lightning radiate out from each of the syllables of the mantra. And as that happens, then all those negative imprints are instantly eliminated from the mind. And again at the end of the recitation think one’s whole being is in the nature of blissful radiating white light energy. So then think that from the crown of your head, Guru Vajrasattva says to you, child of the noble race, your negativities, obscurations, and broken and damaged pledges have now been completely purified. So generate strong faith that all of these negativities are completely purified, just as Vajrasattva said.
So now apply the fourth opponent power of remedy, sorry, resolution, thinking of the negative actions of body, speech and mind that one tends to do habitually still in this life, then make a commitment to Vajrasattva, who is one with all the Buddhas, that I will avoid this particular action for this period of time, and this action for this period of time. Whatever you realistically feel, you can definitely avoid that action for that period of time. But do it with the thought that this is part of the process of eventually being able to stop these actions completely, forever. So then think that Guru Vajrasattva is extremely happy that you’ve made this commitment, And because of that Vajrasattva melts into blissful white light that pours down into you. And you then think that your body, speech and mind become inseparably one with Guru vajrasappa’s holy body, speech and mind.
So then if one can, one can briefly reflect that in the state of emptiness, when one is directly experiencing the true nature of things, there is no inherently existing I that creates negative karma. In emptiness, in the experience of emptiness, there is no inherently existing action of creating negative karma. And in emptiness, there is no inherently existing negative karma created at all. So now before we dedicate the merit, we can spend just a little time, and now having purified our mind of negative actions, we can rejoice in the good things that we have done today, especially doing this retreat, to rejoice that we did this course on karma, but also to think of all the other good things that we’ve done with our body, speech and mind in this life. And by logic there’s many good things we’ve done in past lives.
And we can also rejoice in our dharma friends who have done this course with us, who have done this retreat today with us. And we can rejoice in the virtue and good actions that many other ordinary beings like myself have done in the path, are doing in this life, will do in the future. Think how wonderful that all these good things have been done by myself and others, that we’ve accumulated this merit that, at the very least, can ripen some ordinary happiness while we remain in saṃsāra, but even more importantly can act as that merit can act as the basis for the realizations that free me from saṃsāra and eventually bring about my enlightenment. So think, how fantastic, how wonderful. Lift up your heart, allow your mind to become happy that all this goodness exists and causes of goodness.
I also rejoice that there are people more advanced than ourselves in their practice, they’ve been practicing longer, there are those who practiced practice more strongly, more sincerely. And because of that, there are people who have renounced this life. There are those who have renounced saṃsāra completely. There are those who have achieved nirvana. Just think how amazing that is, how wonderful.
That despite all the horrors that exist in our world, all the terrible things that happen, that there are people doing such wonderful things. How amazing, how wonderful. And particularly rejoice that there are those very special beings who have renounced seeking nirvana for their own sake, and being more concerned with sentient beings, generated bodhicitta, determined to achieve enlightenment in order to repay the kindness of all mother sentient beings. These people, these beings are engaging in such amazing, wonderful actions, beneficial actions. So think how wonderful, how wonderful.
And rejoice that some of these Bodhisattvas have completed the path and have achieved enlightenment. So how amazing. And then rejoice that most wonderful of all is that from that enlightened state, that pure, perfect enlightened state, the Buddhas manifest back in the world in what appears to our confused minds in an ordinary form as our spiritual masters teaching us the Dharma, guiding us into and along the path to enlightenment, themselves being perfect embodiments of the bodhisattva ideal, teaching us in a way that fits our mind exactly, bringing the Dharma alive for us. So think how amazing, how wonderful. So now we can dedicate all that merit to quickly achieving enlightenment by realising the profound truth of the law of cause and effect.
Through the merits of these virtuous actions, may I quickly attain the state of a Guru Buddha and lead all living beings without exception into that enlightened state. May the precious body mind not yet born arise and grow. May that born have no decline but increase forevermore. And may the precious right view not yet born arise and grow. May that born have no decline, but increase forevermore.
So that’s it. Great.