Benefits
and Advantages of The Vajra Guru Mantra
| The Vajra Guru Mantra is the
mantra associated with Guru Rinpoche also known as Padmasambhava. This
is a draft translation of a treasure text which explains the Vajra Guru
mantra. It was originally concealed during the time of Padmasambhava in
Tibet and later re-discovered by Karma Lingpa (14 century) who brought
it forth from its place of concealment and copied it down on reams of gold.
It is simply known as "The Syllable by Syllable Commentary Explaining the
Benefits and Advantages of the Vajra Guru Mantra". It begins with an invocation
and then goes into a dialogue between Yeshe Tsogyal, the spiritual consort
of Padmasambhava, and Padmasambhava himself.
And so, Yeshe Tsogyal begins:
I, the woman Yeshe Tsogyal,
having offered to you the inner and outer mandala on a vast scale, have
the following request. Oh great teacher, Pema Jungne, you have been extremely
kind to us, the Tibetan people, leaving for us a legacy that will benefit
us now and in future lives. Your kindness is so great that we have never
experienced anything like this before, nor will we ever experience the
like in the future. In particular, you have given me the quintessential
teachings for my practice, so that now, even though I am a humble person,
I have no doubt that I will attain enlightenment. |
My
Inspiration & Faith
Guru Rinpoche
|
In the future, sentient beings
will have very short attention spans and a great many things will clutter
and occupy their minds. Their characters will be rough and difficult to
tame. They will develop many wrong views towards the sacred Dharma. In
particular, a time will come when people will cast dispersions on the Secret
Mantra teaching of the unsurpassable levels of tantra. At that time, all
sentient beings will suffer heavily from disease, famine, and war. Because
of the spread of these three calamities, in particular, China, Tibet and
Mongolia will experience the same kind of turmoil as an ant’s nest when
it is destroyed, and the time will come for the people of Tibet to suffer
greatly. Though you have spoken at length of many skillful means to salvage
what is possible from that situation, sentient beings in the future will
not have the time to practice. Even though they may have some slight inclination
to practice, they will encounter many great obstacles. Sentient beings
will experience a great deal of disharmony. They won’t be able to get along
or reach any kind of accord, and in the wake of this, their behavior will
become very impure. Bad times such as this will be very difficult to avert.
That being the case, what kinds of benefits and advantages would there
be for those beings in the future were they to rely solely upon the Vajra
Guru Mantra as their practice? I ask you to relate this for the benefit
of individuals in the future who are not able to perceive this and therefore
have to have it explained to them.
Then the great master, Pema
Jungne replied:
Oh faithful lady, what you have
said is so very true. In the future, such times will befall sentient beings
and both in a temporary and in a long term sense, the benefits of the Vajra
Guru mantra can definitely be felt. Since my spiritual instructions and
the methods of practice that I offer are immeasurable, I have hidden a
great number of treasure teachings in the water, rocks, the sky and so
forth. In these evil times, even individuals with fortunate karma will
find it difficult to encounter these teachings. It will be difficult to
bring together the necessary circumstances for these teachings to be revealed.
This is a sign that the collective merit of beings is on the wane.
However, at such times, if this
essence-mantra, the Vajra Guru mantra, is repeated as much as possible,
a hundred times, a thousand times, ten thousand times, a hundred thousand
times, a million, ten million, a hundred million times and so forth, if
it is repeated in holy places, in temples, next to great rivers, in areas
where gods and demons abound, if it is recited in these places by tantric
practitioners with pure samaya, by people with monastic ordination who
maintain their vows purely, by men and women who possess faith in the teachings,
if they give rise to bodhicitta on a grand scale and recite this mantra
, then the benefits and advantages and energy of such practice are truly
inconceivable. This will avert all of the negative forces of disease, famine,
unrest, bad harvests and all bad omens and indications in all the countries
of the world, such that the rain will fall in a timely manner for the crops
so there will always be a plentiful supply of water for agriculture and
for human and animal life, and all regions and areas will experience prosperity
and auspicious conditions.
In this life, in future lives,
and in the intermediate state between death and re-birth, these individuals
who practice in this way will meet with me again and again. The very best
of these individuals will actually meet me in their waking consciousness.
Those of middling degree of attainment will meet with me in meditative
visions, and at the very least, they will meet with me again and again
in their dreams. Gradually perfecting the different paths and levels of
their practice, they will attain to the ranks of the masculine and feminine
holders of intrinsic awareness in my pure land in the continent of Ngayab.
Have no doubt of this.
If this mantra is recited a
hundred times a day, merely a hundred times a day without interruption,
one will become attractive to others and will effortlessly come by food
and wealth and the necessities of life.
If one recites it a thousand
or ten thousand times on a daily basis, one is able to literally overwhelm
others with one’s brilliance, in the sense of becoming very charismatic
and influential in exerting a positive influence over others, and one will
gain unhindered force of blessings and spiritual power.
If one repeats it a hundred
thousand or a million times on a regular basis, one will become capable
of effecting an immeasurably great benefit for beings, exactly as one would
wish to.
If one recites the mantra three
or seven million times, one is never separate from the buddhas of the three
times and one becomes inseparable from me. All the gods and demons of existence
will attend to one and offer their praises.
In the most excellent of cases,
individuals will attain the rainbow body, the final level of attainment
in this lifetime. On a more middling level, at the moment of death, the
mother and child aspects of radiant luminosity will meet. At the very least,
individuals will behold my face in the bardo state and all the appearances
of the bardo state will be free in their own ground such that these individuals
will be reborn on the continent of Ngayab and from that vantage point,
be able to accomplish an immeasurable amount of benefit to beings. Thus
the Guru replied to Yeshe Tsogyal.
She responded saying:
"Oh great master, it is extremely
kind of you to have spoken of these vast and immeasurable benefits and
advantages of the spiritual energy of this mantra. For the benefit of sentient
beings in the future however, a detailed explanation of the Vajra Guru
mantra would be of enormous benefit, and so I would ask you to speak in
a brief way about the different syllables of this mantra.
To which the great master replied:
"O daughter of good family,
the Vajra Guru mantra is not just my single essence mantra, it is the very
essence or life force of all the deities of the four classes of tantra,
of all the nine yanas, and all of the 84,000 collections of dharma teachings.
The essence of all of the buddhas of the three times, all of the gurus,
yidams, dakas and dakinis, dharma protectors etc., the essence of all of
these is contained and is complete within this mantra. How, you may ask,
does this work? What is the reason for all these being complete with this
mantra? Listen well and hold this in mind. Read it again and again. Write
it out for the benefit of sentient beings, and teach it or demonstrate
it to beings in the future.
OM AH HUNG VAJRA GURU PEMA SIDDHI
HUNG
OM AH HUNG are the sublime,
essence of the principles of enlightened body, speech, and mind
VAJRA is the sublime essence
of the indestructible family
GURU is the sublime essence
of the jewel family
PEMA is the sublime essence
of the lotus family
SIDDHI is the sublime essence
of the activity family
HUNG is the sublime essence
of the transcendent family
OM AH HUNG VAJRA GURU PEMA SIDDHI
HUNG
OM is the perfect splendor
and richness of sambhoghakaya, the manifest body of splendor
AH is the total unchanging
perfection of dharmakaya, the manifest body of absolute reality
HUNG perfects the presence
of Guru Padmasambhava as the nirmanakaya, the manifest body of emanation
VAJRA perfects all the heruka
deities of the mandalas
GURU refers to the root and
transmission gurus and the holders of intrinsic awareness
PEMA perfects the assembly
of dakas and dakinis
SIDDHI is the life force of
all the wealth deities and the guardians of the treasure teachings
HUNG is the life force of the
dharmapalas, the protective deities.
OM AH HUNG VAJRA GURU PEMA SIDDHI
HUNG
OM AH HUNG are the life force
of the three classes of tantra
VAJRA is the life force of
monastic discipline and the sutra class of teachings
GURU is the life force of abhidharma
and kriya (action) yoga, the first level of tantra
PEMA is the life force of the
charya (conduct) tantra, the second class of tantra, and yoga (joining)
tantra, the third class of tantra
SIDDHI is the life force of
the mahayoga and anuyoga classes of teachings
HUNG is the life force of the
ati yoga, the Natural Great Perfection (Dzogchen)
OM AH HUNG VAJRA GURU PEMA SIDDHI
HUNG
OM AH HUNG purify obscurations
arising from the three mental poisons -- desire-attachment, aversion, and
ignorance
VAJRA purifies obscurations
which stem from anger
GURU purifies obscurations
which stem from pride
PEMA purifies obscurations
which stem from desire and attachment
SIDDHI purifies obscurations
which stem from envy and jealousy
HUNG in a general way purifies
obscurations which stem from all emotional afflictions
OM AH HUNG VAJRA GURU PEMA SIDDHI
HUNG
Through OM AH HUNG one attains
the three kayas
Through VAJRA one realizes
mirror-like pristine awareness
Through GURU one realizes the
pristine awareness of equalness
Through PEMA one realizes the
pristine awareness of discernment
Through SIDDHI one realizes
the all-accomplishing pristine awareness
Through HUNG one realizes the
pristine awareness of basic space
OM AH HUNG VAJRA GURU PEMA SIDDHI
HUNG
Through OM AH HUNG gods, demons
and humans are subdued
Through VAJRA one gains power
over the malevolent forces of certain gods and demons
Through GURU one gains control
over the malevolent forces of the Lord of Death and the cannibal demons
Through PEMA one gains control
over the malevolent influences of the water and wind elements
Through SIDDHI one gains control
over the malevolent influences of non-human forces and spirits bringing
harm and exerting negative control over one’s life
Through HUNG one gains control
of the malevolent influences of planetary configurations and earth spirits
OM AH HUNG VAJRA GURU PEMA SIDDHI
HUNG
OM AH HUNG accomplishes the
six spiritual virtues
VAJRA accomplishes pacifying
activity
GURU accomplishes enriching
activity
PEMA accomplishes magnetizing
activity
SIDDHI accomplishes enlightened
activity in general
HUNG accomplishes wrathful
enlightened activity
OM AH HUNG VAJRA GURU PEMA SIDDHI
HUNG
OM AH HUNG avert all imprecations
and curses
VAJRA averts the negative consequences
of breaking one’s samaya with the deities of pristine awareness
GURU averts the negative influences
of the eight classes of gods and demons in samsara
PEMA averts the negative influences
of worldly gods and demons
SIDDHI averts the negative
influences of nagas and earth spirits
HUNG averts the negative influences
of gods, demons, humans, samsaric gods
OM AH HUNG VAJRA GURU PEMA SIDDHI
HUNG
OM AH HUNG defeat the army
of the five mental poisons
VAJRA defeats anger
PEMA defeats desire-attachment
SIDDHI defeats envy and jealousness
HUNG defeats the armies of
gods, demons and humans
OM AH HUNG VAJRA GURU PEMA SIDDHI
HUNG
OM AH HUNG brings about spiritual
accomplishments or siddhis
VAJRA brings about the siddhi
of the peaceful and wrathful deities
GURU brings about the siddhi
of the awareness-holders and the lineage gurus
PEMA brings about the siddhi
of the dakas and dakinis and dharma protectors
SIDDHI brings about the mundane
and supreme siddhis
HUNG brings about the siddhi
of accomplishing whatever one wishes
OM AH HUNG VAJRA GURU PEMA SIDDHI
HUNG
OM AH HUNG transfers consciousness
to pure realms of experience
VAJRA transfers consciousness
to the eastern pure realm of Manifest Joy
GURU transfers consciousness
to the southern pure realm of Glory & Splendor
PEMA transfers consciousness
to the western pure realm of Great Bliss
SIDDHI transfers consciousness
to the northern pure realm of Excellent Activity
HUNG transfers consciousness
to central pure realm of Unwavering
If a physical form could demonstrate
the benefit of even one recitation of OM AH HUNG VAJRA GURU PEMA SIDDHI
HUNG, the entire earth would not be sufficient to contain the merit. All
sentient beings who see, hear or remember this mantra will definitely be
established in the ranks of the masculine and feminine awareness-holders.
If it is the case that these words of truth of the Vajra Guru mantra do
not accomplish for sentient beings what they wish to accomplish just as
I have promised, then I, Pema, am truly deceiving sentient beings. But
I have not deceived you, so you should practice according to my instructions.
Even if you are not able to
recite the mantra for whatever reasons, you should mount it on the top
of a victory banner, even when the wind touches it, and that wind touches
sentient beings, it will free them without doubt. Alternatively, you may
inscribe it in clay or carve it in stone. This will also guard the path
upon which these syllables are placed and guard that region from malevolent
effects. You may also write this mantra out in gold ink on dark blue paper
and wear it as an amulet. When you die, if this amulet is burned with your
corpse, rainbows will be seen and your consciousness will be transferred
to the realms of Supreme Bliss. The benefits of writing out or reading
or reciting this mantra defy any accurate measure or defy any standard
of measurement that could be applied. Having established this for the benefit
of beings in the future, I am hiding this treasure. May it meet with a
fortunate child of mine in the future who has good karma.
Samaya. Sealed. Sealed. Sealed.
The
Eight Manifestations of Guru Rinpoche
Vajra
Seven Line - Prayer Commentary
Lamrim
Yeshe Nyingpo
