Dear Paulo Sérgio da Silva Ferreira,

I have been able to consult His Eminence the 25th Tsem Rinpoche on the questions you asked in regards to your Vajrasattva practice. Rinpoche wanted to answer the questions personally. I have typed up Rinpoche’s advice to your questions below.

1 – Does the Vajrasattva mantra have the power to purify external environments where there are negativities?

In general, any mantra is a manifestation of a Buddha’s speech. A Buddha’s speech is a manifestation of a Buddha’s enlightenment. Therefore, any mantra is a manifestation of a Buddha’s enlightenment and an enlightened being has realised emptiness, accomplished Bodicitta and fully realised omniscience. In any place where a person has realised emptiness there can be no negative energy. There can be no negative circumstances around that person.

When you recite a mantra, you are invoking upon a person or a being who has realised emptiness and by the power of realising emptiness, no interferers can remain and interferences will be cleared. Hence, if you recite Vajrasattva’s purification mantra it will definitely purify the area, purify the place, and purify the environment because it is based on Buddha’s speech which is in the form of a mantra. So, Vajrasattva’s mantra and any other mantra can purify a space.

Having said that there are certain deities and mantras that we have a personal affinity to. For example, if we have a very strong affinity to Prajnaparamita, by reciting the Heart Sutra instead of Vajrasattva, that will have more effect for us. Therefore, sometimes due to our personal affinity there will be more effect. But in general, any mantra, Vajrasattva included, will purify the external environment of negative of energy based on what I have just explained.

2. Can the Vajrasattva mantra be used to break black magic?

Any mantra that is based on the realisation of emptiness can break black magic. When we realise emptiness we are able to cut all interferes, interferences, and especially the chief ghost, the chief demon, the chief problem-maker, the chief devil which is the self, the “I”, the “me” that does not exist. So taking care of me, me, me, and not thinking of others, always focusing on I, I, I, that is your biggest demon. That makes you difficult to deal with, that makes you angry, that makes you have delusions, that makes you have fantasies, and that makes you not accomplish something meaningful in this life.

So, when you realise emptiness you remove the non-existent “I”. When you remove that non-existent “I” all interferes are banished, especially the biggest interference which is our ego. Therefore, by reciting Vajrasattva’s mantra you can definitely accomplish that goal.

3 – When, during my Sadhana, does the time come to visualize the garland of mantras (from which flow lights and nectars that purify negativities), can I imagine that this nectar and lights are falling on a person for whom I want to pray?

When you are doing Vajrasattva’s practice, at the beginning of it, you take refuge. When you take refuge you visualise Vajrasattva in the front, your mother (whether dead or alive) on your left, you visualise your father (whether dead or alive) on your right. You visualise all sentient beings behind you and you visualise all your enemies in front of you.

So, your mother is on the left and your father on your right, enemies in the front, sentient beings of the Six Realms behind you looking and taking refuge in Vajrasattva. As you recite Vajrasattva’s mantra you visualise the nectar coming from Vajrasattva entering all sentient beings around you and yourself. This purifies yourself and others. So during that time, you can especially focus on the lights and nectar going to the person in question or focus, in order to bless them. Can we do that? Yes, we can. How do we do that, follow what was just explained, especially when you take refuge.

That is how we take refuge during a sadhana. We take refuge by visualising the Buddha, on the left is our mother, whether our mother is alive or dead it doesn’t matter. We visualise her on the left to remember her kindness. Even if our mother was not kind, we still have to remember that she gave us our bodies. Then we visualise our father. We visualise all sentient beings of the Six Realms (Hell, Spirit, Animal, Human, Demi-gods and Gods). You visualise them all in the form of humans. When you visualise them you do so in the form of humans as it is auspicious for them to take human rebirth. Then they all take refuge in Vajrasattva, “Namo Guru Beh, Namo Buddhaya, Namo Dharmaya, Namo Sanghaya”. Everyone recites, so it is like a huge thunderous chorus.

Then you continue with the Vajrasattva sadhana. When you reach the part with the mantra, then you visualise the lights going to all sentient beings, not just yourself, and especially to the person that you are focusing on. And visualise all the negative karma, negative actions, all the “I”s and the gross “I”s, all the subtle “I”s, all of them going into the ground. And then we becoming purified, and that person becomes purified. So not only are you focusing on yourself during Vajrasattva practice and the person you are thinking about but all sentient beings as well.

4 – Work as a security officer in a bank branch. This makes me stand still, just watching, certain places within the bank branch. Change of position every 20 minutes. It is possible that I practice the Vajrasattva tantra while standing at my service post, in all its stages, such as Prayer of Refuge (first opposing force), Bodhicitta (Repentance – second opposing force), Seven Members, Mandala Offering , Visualization, Recitation of Mantra (Remedy – Third Opponent Power) and Dedication (Promise – Fourth Opponent Power) ??? Actually I’ve done this a few times and what I want to know is if it’s “valid”

If you are focused you can do the Vajrasattva sadhana or any sadhana wherever or whenever you want. You can even do it standing on your head if you can focus. So in an easier way to answer, yes, since you have the time and you are a security guard who is standing most of the time, you can do the whole A-Z of Vajrasattva’s sadhana quietly while you are doing your job.

This should not be an issue as the meditation is in the mind. There are certain rituals and practices that we must do privately that we don’t show people. But if we are doing it and no one knows then it is already secret. So it is fine if you do the whole Vajrasattva sadhana and A-Z practice while you are standing up because you are a security guard.

5 – It is said that it is necessary to recite the mantra of a hundred syllables at least 21 times a day to purify the negativities of that day. Can this be done only with Refuge + Bodhicitta + Recitation + Dedication, or is it necessary to be in the context of a Sadhana?

When you take any tantric initiation, every single day knowingly and most of the time unknowingly we break some of our vows. When we break our vows, once it is broken, it is not simply broken and that is it. Once it is broken it will continue to accumulate negative karma every single day until it is purified. So it increases dramatically. So to stop its increase we recite the mantra of Vajrasattva 21 times per day.

By reciting it, you are not actually purifying it, you are stopping it to increase. Basically you are stopping it from gathering interest. So, what makes the mantra more powerful and become purifying in the case of Vajrasattva is not simply reciting it. What makes the Vajrasattva mantra becoming purifying and not simply stop the increase of karma is by applying the Four Opponent Powers.

When we apply the Four Opponent Powers and then we recite the mantra, then how strongly we apply the Four Opponent Powers is how much it purifies. So if we simply recite the mantra with faith and confidence it stops the negative karma from increasing. It does not purify the negative karma, it stops it from increasing. But if we apply the Four Opponent Powers and recite the mantra, then it has the possibility to purify. But that applies to the gross karma. The subtle karma does not get purified. That can only be purified with the realisation of emptiness.

Now, do you have to do it in the context of a sadhana? Not necessarily. You can simply visualise Vajrasattva, trust Vajrasattva, think of Vajrasattva and your guru as one and then recite the mantra and apply the Four Opponent Powers. Or simply just recite the mantra, which will also be effective to stop the karma from increasing.

I wish you luck, am very happy to hear that you are doing the Vajrasattva practice and have very beautiful and powerful questions. It is a pleasure for me to answer them. Sorry it took so long, we were a little delayed.

Thank you.