Overview of The Vajrasattva Practice
DATE: 18th February to 3rd March daily
TIME: 8:30pm-9:00pm
LOCATION: Zoom
LEVEL: Buddhist Practices – All Welcome
SUGGESTED DONATION: £3
The Fifteen Days commemorate the special time when Guru Shakyamuni Buddha showed miraculous powers in order to subdue six tirthikas, or non-Buddhist teachers, who lacked faith in him, and to inspire more faith in his followers. It begins on Losar (18th February) and culminates on Chotrul Duchen (3rd March), the full moon on the lunar calendar.
All fifteen days are merit multiplying days, when the merit of virtuous actions performed on each of these days is multiplied by 100 million, according to the vinaya text Treasure of Quotations and Logic.
Come join us during this special time to develop merit and purify negative karma.
Purification means looking at our past unskillful actions which have created seeds of negative karma in our minds, and using visualisation and mantra recitation to remove those seeds in a healthy and productive way. Vajrasattva is the embodiment of all the Buddha’s cleaning and purifying energy. We all make mistakes, and how we deal with them is key to making spiritual progress. We’ll be using a short text composed by Lama Zopa Rinpoche
Practice Advice from Lama Zopa Rinpoche
Lama Zopa Rinpoche offered extensive advice for how to make the most of these great holy multiplying days. Of particular note:
Take the eight Mahayana precepts: Students can receive the lineage of these precepts from a specially produced video of Lama Zopa Rinpoche offering them in May 2020.
Recite the Sutra Remembering the Three Jewels
Rinpoche also suggested any of the following, as one is able:
Perform the Guru Shakyamuni Buddha puja. A beautiful and deeply inspirational puja. The puja text is formatted with hyperlinks for smooth navigation, so that individuals can easily do the core practice and any additional ones as their time allows. (This puja was performed with Khandro Kunga Bhuma on Vesak Day 2022 at Losang Dragpa Centre in Malaysia, with its resident teacher, Geshe Jampa Tsondu, as chant master. You can watch this online, starting at 6:10 in the video.)
Recite sutras, such as Vajra Cutter Sutra, Sutra of Golden Light, and Sanghata Sutra
Undertake Nyung Nas
Perform self-initiation, for those who fulfilled the necessary prerequisites
Perform Lama Chopa, and at either the beginning of the practice or during the lamrim section, you can meditate on emptiness
Recite other prayers, such as Chanting the Names of Manjushri, and King of Prayers
Recite the names of the Thirty-Five Buddhas, with prostrations
Recite Vajrasattva mantras
Meditate on emptiness and dependent arising
Meditate on bodhichitta
Practice tonglen
Practice rejoicing in the good deeds of others
Of course, any other meritorious activities often advised by Lama Zopa Rinpoche are also good to do on these days. If you choose to recite the Sutra of Golden Light on these or other days, please remember to report your recitations in the Sutra of Golden Light reporting page.