Vajrasattva

Vajrasattva is the buddha of purification. Through his practice we clear away the traces of harm we have done to others and to ourselves, and repair the commitments we have broken. His Tibetan name is Dorje Sempa, "vajra being". The practice forms the third part of the uncommon preliminaries of the Ngöndro, after refuge and bodhicitta.

Why purify?

Purification is a word that can put people off. It sounds as though something about you is dirty and has to be scrubbed clean. That is not what is meant.

The teachings say the nature of mind has always been pure. What clouds it are the impressions we have piled up over the years: a sharp remark at the wrong moment, something done out of anger or greed, a promise we let slide. Karma does not simply fade away. Nor is it fixed for good, and that is what this practice is about.

Vajrasattva stands for that original purity. He is shown white, as clear as an autumn moon, holding a vajra at his heart in his right hand and a bell in his left. When you visualise him, you are really looking at your own mind as it is, without the dust on top.

How the practice works

You imagine Vajrasattva above the crown of your head. You own up honestly to what you have done wrong, without beating yourself up, and you resolve not to do it again. Then you recite the hundred-syllable mantra. White nectar flows down from Vajrasattva, filling your body and washing out everything heavy and dark. At the end he melts into light and dissolves into you.

The teachings speak of four powers that make purification work:

1. Support: trust in Vajrasattva, before whom you acknowledge your mistakes
2. Regret: genuine remorse, which is not the same as guilt
3. Resolve: the decision not to repeat it
4. Antidote: the practice itself, mantra and visualisation

Leave one out and you are left with little more than a ritual.

Within the Ngöndro the mantra is traditionally recited a hundred thousand times. That does not mean you are done with Vajrasattva once the count is finished. Many practices close with the mantra once more, to make good any mistakes or omissions. And because purification also concerns the bond between teacher and student, what the tradition calls samaya, Vajrasattva sits close to the tsok.

At Rigdzin Dzogchen Ling we practise Vajrasattva as part of the Düdjom Tersar Ngöndro, every Saturday in Hoofddorp. It is the place to learn the visualisation and the mantra in practice, alongside others doing the same.