Vajrasattva questions

[heart]

Funny that this thread has been revived since y opened eat a few years back and now i have a doubt that unfortunatly cant consult with my lama right now.

I have finished ngondro accumulation but i keep doing the daily 21 recitations. I was wondering, what do you usually visualize in this short period of time, whats the emphasis on?

You do the same thing as during accumulation, but fast.

/magnus

Well if you have a visualization for purifying all three gates at the same time, you can do that. Or 5 beads for each and an extra one. I think the whats and the hows vary by sadhana and the teacher's instruction. Unless you have explicit instructions to recite it fast, i think you can experiment with the tempo.

The best advice i got regarding any Yidam work is not to get too sidetracked with adding an additional layer of 'mental-gymnastics' trying to keep all of the elements in place. Some recitations will naturally accompany a clearer visualization, non-distracted state of mind and some degree of clarity and some will be dull or distracted. As far as i was taught, the goal should never be to add another layer of conceptual fabrication on top of what's already being done with the visualization and mantra.

You do the visualisation fast because TaTa do only 21 recitations.

/magnus

[Malcolm]

Here's a question I've never seen answered. When we visualize Vajrasattva above our heads, is he facing us and a little out in front, or is he directly on top of our crown and facing the same direction as we are?

Above our heads, facing the same direction we are.

[pueraeternus]

Bumping this thread as i didn't want to start another topic.

I'm looking for information about the root Tantra of Vajrasattva and the origin of the 100 syllable mantra and i'm strugling to find any original texts or detailed accounts other than the root tantra's name, Dorje Gyan, or Vajra Ornament.

Anyone have any leads?

Vajrasattva comes from the Sarvatathāgatatattvasaṃgraha, the root tantra of Yoga tantra. It is also found in the Vajrapañjara Tantra and other HYT tantras.

Thanks, Malcolm.

In East Asia, this tantra is titled the Vajrasekhara Sutra. You can find it translated in BDK's Two Esoteric Sutras: http://www.bdkamerica.org/book/two-esoteric-sutras

[Malcolm]

Vajrasattva comes from the Sarvatathāgatatattvasaṃgraha, the root tantra of Yoga tantra. It is also found in the Vajrapañjara Tantra and other HYT tantras.

Thanks, Malcolm.

In East Asia, this tantra is titled the Vajrasekhara Sutra. You can find it translated in BDK's Two Esoteric Sutras: http://www.bdkamerica.org/book/two-esoteric-sutras

No. the Vajrasekhara Tantra (Sūtra) is a different text.

[pueraeternus]

Thanks, Malcolm.

In East Asia, this tantra is titled the Vajrasekhara Sutra. You can find it translated in BDK's Two Esoteric Sutras: http://www.bdkamerica.org/book/two-esoteric-sutras

No. the Vajrasekhara Tantra (Sūtra) is a different text.

From the BDK link, the Sanskrit name matches though:

Skt. Sarvatathāgata-tattvasaṃgraha-mahāyānābhisamaya-mahākalparāja. Translated into the Chinese by Amoghavajra as Jinggangding yiqie rulai zhenshi she dasheng xianzheng dajiao wang jing (金剛頂一切如來眞實攝大乘現證大教王經). 3 fascicles.

[Malcolm]

In East Asia, this tantra is titled the Vajrasekhara Sutra. You can find it translated in BDK's Two Esoteric Sutras: http://www.bdkamerica.org/book/two-esoteric-sutras

No. the Vajrasekhara Tantra (Sūtra) is a different text.

From the BDK link, the Sanskrit name matches though:

Skt. Sarvatathāgata-tattvasaṃgraha-mahāyānābhisamaya-mahākalparāja. Translated into the Chinese by Amoghavajra as Jinggangding yiqie rulai zhenshi she dasheng xianzheng dajiao wang jing (金剛頂一切如來眞實攝大乘現證大教王經). 3 fascicles.

Sarvatathāgatatattvasaṃgraha-nāma-mahāyāna-sūtra (D 479). Translator(s):Śraddhākaravarman, Rin-chen-bzang-po

Vajra-śikhara-mahā-guhya-yoga-tantra (D 480). Translator(s):Karmavajra, Gzhon-nu Tshul-khrims

It appears that in Shingon, the former is known by the name of the latter. According to Weinberger:

During the first quarter of the eighth century the Compendium of Principles and texts associated with it were transmitted to China. These south Indian traditions organized the texs into an eighteen-part tantric corpus called the Vajraśekhara Yoga system.

and:

In 723 CE the Indian master Vajrabodhi (641-741) produced the Recitation Sūtra Extracted from the Vajraśekhara Yoga.10 This text, in four fascicles, is not a translation proper; rather, it is Vajrabodhi’s introduction to the Compendium of Principles and a larger system of eighteen tantras, of which the Compendium of Principles was the most prominent member.

Vajraśekhara then refers to a system which includes both the Vajra-śikhara and the Sarvatathāgatatattvasaṃgra.

M