Vajrasattva Mantra

[lian.hua]

http://www.lamayeshe.com/index.php?sect=article&id=394

 

I was wondering if anyone else has experienced chanting the vajrasattva mantra.

 

In Tibetan Buddhism, its one of the first stages of cultivation in which one purifies their negative karma.

[JustBHappy]

Great Sadhana, my favorite of all the njondro practices. Truly a beautiful and powerful practice on so many levels.

[konchog uma]

all the time

[lian.hua]

I was wondering what kind of responses have you had while chanting this mantra. I really want to reach 100,000, so I put a goal of having it completed within 2-4 months.

[konchog uma]

the responses i have had aren't really relevant. Have you received guru instruction? I am not qualified to give it to you but there are two stages of visualization that accompany the mantra in my tradition. If you look around on the internet, im sure you'll find talk about it... sorry to be vague, i'm just not qualified to give that instruction.

 

if you can do 8 mala rounds every day for 4 months, you'll achieve your goal. Thats like 4 hours of mantra recitation per day... pretty lofty goal.

 

mind if i ask, are you doing preliminaries under the guidance of a lineage master?

[lian.hua]

I understand what you mean. No worries. By 8 mala rounds you mean (8 x108)= 432 times a day?

 

Yes, I'm still in the foundations stages of my guru.

[lian.hua]

Apologies, 864 times a day. for 8 rounds

[Birch]

http://www.lamayeshe.com/index.php?sect=article&id=394

 

I was wondering if anyone else has experienced chanting the vajrasattva mantra.

 

In Tibetan Buddhism, its one of the first stages of cultivation in which one purifies their negative karma.

 

I was given it by my teacher when I called him while having a very rough time (I took KAP as a course). If memory serves, it calmed everything down. Were I to be cynical or (one could argue, 'worse', pseudoscientific) about mantra today, I could do that. But I haven't done enough IMO/IME to give it a decent run.

I didn't chant out loud.

[konchog uma]

I understand what you mean. No worries. By 8 mala rounds you mean (8 x108)= 432 times a day?

 

Yes, I'm still in the foundations stages of my guru.

 

well, first, best wishes to you, and blessings of success on your ngondro

 

secondly, i dug this up real quick

 

"Vajrasattva mantra recitation and visualization may be undertaken merely within the context of sutra practice, before

beginning any practice of tantra."

 

and

 

"Vajrasattva mantra and visualization meditation may be practiced for purification whether or not we have already received a tantric empowerment (dbang, Skt. abhishekha; initiation, “ wang”) for some other Buddha-figure. In either case, we may practice Vajrasattva either with or without thesubsequent permission (rje-snang; “jeynang”) of Vajrasattva, though we at least need oral transmission (lung) of the mantra."

 

from Berzin Archives http://www.berzinarchives.com/web/en/archives/advanced/tantra/level1_getting_started/vajrasattva_purification_basics.html

 

so in light of that, i guess you will find ample description of the visualizations. The ones i was referring to are the white Vajrasattva sitting at the top of the head, radiating white light down into and through the body as the mantra is said. Or one can visualize themselves as Vajrasattva with one face two arms, a bell and dorje, no consort, radiating white. As it was taught to me, the first is for generation stage, the second for completion stage. But if you're doing 100,000 recitations under a guru's guidance, that could apply.

 

i don't utilize Berzin Archives extensively, and it is the first i have seen HUM PHAT appended to the end of the mantra. (about 3/5 down that page) As it is commonly called the hundred-syllable mantra, i am surprised to see different versions of it with different numbers of syllables. No big deal, but can anyone clarify?

[C T]

i don't utilize Berzin Archives extensively, and it is the first i have seen HUM PHAT appended to the end of the mantra. (about 3/5 down that page) As it is commonly called the hundred-syllable mantra, i am surprised to see different versions of it with different numbers of syllables. No big deal, but can anyone clarify?

HH the Sakya Trizin chants it this way.

 

[lian.hua]

Thanks for you help everyone. I learned a lot from it. Thanks again.

[konchog uma]

HH the Sakya Trizin chants it this way.

 

thanks, i see there are several different versions

 

that berzin page mentioned a couple of them, like the heruka version HHST was reciting

 

maybe it should be called "the approximately 100 syllable mantra"

Edited February 20, 2013 by konchog uma