Om Vajra Sattva Hum is a mandatory practice for every Vajrayana practitioner. It is usually chanted 100,000 times with the goal of purifying the negative karma of the individual chanting it.
The Vajrasattva Practice of the Four Preliminary Practices is the primary tool for the eradication of bad karma.
”To meditate on Vajrasattva is the same as to meditate upon all the Buddhas. His hundred-syllable mantra is the quintessence of all mantras.” – Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche
Bodhisattva Vajrasattva is the prince of all Buddhas (His name means “Adamantine Being”), whose 100-syllable mantra can dissolve all the bad karma which one has accumulated throughout all time. The Bodhisattva is made of radiant, blissful white light. He is your root guru manifesting in this aspect for your benefit.
Iconography
Vajrasattva is commonly depicted with different consorts, Dharmadhatvishvari, Ghantapani (“Bell Bearer”), the peaceful one Vajragarvi aka Vajrasattvatmika (Tib. Dorje Nyema), the wrathful one Diptacakra, Vajratopa, Vajrabhrikuti, and others.
Vajrasattva is illustrated in pure white in color and is sometimes known as the Prince of Purity. Vajrasattva is always represented seated, wearing the five-leaved crown and the dress and ornaments of a Dhyani-Bodhisattva. He usually holds the vajra against his breast with the right hand, but the vajra may be held in the hand or balanced on its point in the palm of the hand.
Chanting Om Vajra Sattva Hum (Om Benza Satto Hung) mantra benefits:
Vajrasattva’s mantra is a potent purification mantra that invokes the mind-streams of all the Buddhas.
“By reciting the 100-syllable mantra at the end of each practice, all mistakes or omissions made during the purification practice will be corrected and brought to perfection, like the brilliance radiating from a full moon. One will be forgiven by the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. A regular chanting of this mantra gives the significance of repentance, eradication of karmic obscurations, curbing the numerous evil thoughts and nipping evil thoughts in the bud, subduing all maras and evils and causing them to flee, destroying all worries, and increasing one’s merits and virtue.” – Gautama Buddha
Additionally, in Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhist practice, Bodhisattva Vajrasattva is used in the Ngondro, or preliminary practices, in order to purify the mind’s defilements, prior to undertaking more advanced tantric techniques.
Purification practice
Vajrasattva Bodhisattva purification sadhana is an immensely powerful practice. As a Mahayana practice, it is undertaken with a bodhicitta aim to purify all our negative karma in order to reach enlightenment as quickly as possible in order to be best able to help all sentient beings.
We should practice purification on a daily basis because of the deep realization of the psycho-mechanics of negative karma, particularly its 4 fundamentals: negative karma is certain to bring suffering; it multiplies exponentially; if eradicated, it cannot bring its suffering result; and once created, it never simply disappears.
Note
“Purification of karma” is literally an abbreviated way of saying “purification of karmic aftermath.” In this context, “purification” means eliminating the likelihood of our experiencing the karmic results that would come about from the ripening of these aftermaths.
