Mahamudra Teaching - Dharma Media

But when we develop devotion to and confidence in the lamas, by the power of devotion, some tears
come into the eyes. These are a sign of genuine great confidence in and devotion to the lama. And
that becomes a special method or factor that receives the blessings. For example, when a baby cries,
the mother has to pay attention. Similarly, when the tears come by the power of devotion, we are
assured to get Buddha’s blessings. But that does not mean that the Buddha is not with you; he is
always with you.
The blessings of all the Buddhas are always with every single sentient being. But without the
condition of our devotion, it is difficult to receive the blessings. For example, when Asanga went into
retreat for twelve years until he got a genuine and powerful compassion to the dawn, he couldn’t see
Buddha Maitreya. As soon as he got such a powerful compassion to dawn, an unconditional
compassion, that served as the cause to dispel all of his delusions and obstacles which had acted as
hindrances to seeing the Buddha Maitreya. At that time Buddha Maitreya said, “I was always with
you, during all of these twelve years. But at this time you got to see me because of the power of your
great compassion.” So like that, compassion and devotion, are such a powerful factor by which to
experience the Mahamudra realization of the root and lineage lama.
After receiving the blessings of the lama, which dissolve into you, then meditate in that state of the
all-equipoise nature. When you are finished with this, then do the dedication.
The Practice of Vajrasattva, Indestructible Pure Being
This text includes a short Vajrasattva practice, which is the single most effective method of
purification. Why do we need to do purification practice? We need to do this because it is obvious
that we have some negative karma and obscurations as we are in samsara and we are experiencing all
kinds of suffering. It is said that non-virtue has no good qualities but it has one quality of note in that
it can be purified. If we practice purification then the fact that it can be purified becomes the one good
quality of non-virtue. We got this precious human life due to the great accumulation of virtue and
merit from other lifetimes. It is a result of such extremely good virtue. It is only through such good
causes that we got this precious human life. Now to continue this trend in the rest of the life we need
to also purify all the non-virtues and the negative karmas. Otherwise, although we got this human
life through virtuous action, it is possible that this life ends with a non-virtuous action, which would
not be so good. Therefore, in order to ensure that we complete this life in a virtuous way, repeatedly
doing the practice of Vajrasattva becomes very important. So sometimes visualize and supplicate the
lama, and then meditate and receive the blessings. And then sometimes do Vajrasattva, reflect, do the
purification, and receive the blessings.
Some of you participated this past Friday in the Vajrasattva empowerment and you received those
blessings. Some of you may not have. Those of you who have the Vajrasattva text can refer to this.
[Khenpo: If you don’t have a copy of this, our center here has the text, and if you can get that you can
refer to it. Or there’s a Mahamudra text too.] According to this, we will briefly explain the practice
and its visualization. By this you will at least get a glimpse of what it looks like.
Visualize that you yourself as a regular person have on the crown of your head a lotus and a moon
disk. On the center of the moon disk is a white HUM syllable. That white HUM syllable transforms
into Vajrasattva. Vajrasattva has a white complexion, with one face and two arms. The right hand
holds the vajra at the heart level; the left hand holds the bell at the waist. He is sitting in the half-lotus