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EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION In Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand, Pabongka Rinpoche explains how the great Atisha would purify any negativity, no matter how small, immediately. Even in public or when riding his horse, as soon as he noticed a breach of his ethics, he would stop what he was doing, drop to one knee and then and there, purify it with the four opponent powers—the powers of dependence, regret, remedy and restraint. Of course, compared to us, Atisha may not have had that much to purify. Still, he would say, “I never break my pratimoksha vows; I rarely break my bodhisattva vows; but my tantric vows—I transgress those like falling rain.”
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.
Thus, we can be like the great Atisha—whenever we notice we have broken a vow or created any other kind of negative karma, we can whip out our little Vajrasattva book and purify that negativity with the four opponent powers without a second’s delay.
THE POWER OF DEPENDENCE (A):
THE POWER OF REGRET First recall the definition of negative karma—any action that results in suffering, usually an action motivated by ignorance, attachment or aversion.
Worst of all, I have created the heaviest of negative karmas in relation to my virtuous friends—getting angry at them, generating wrong views, having non-devotional thoughts towards them, harming their holy body and disobeying their advice. Having these negative imprints on my mental continuum is unbearable. It’s as if I’ve swallowed a lethal poison. I must practice the antidote right away and purify all this negative karma immediately, without a second’s delay.” In this way, generate strong feelings of urgency and regret. REMEMBERING IMPERMANENCE AND DEATH “Many people my age or younger have died. It’s a miracle that I’m still alive and have this incredible opportunity to purify my negative karma. Death is certain but its time is most uncertain. If I were to die right now, I would definitely be born in the lower realms. Because I could not practice Dharma there I would remain in the lower realms for countless eons. Therefore, how unbelievably fortunate I am to be able to purify my negative karma right now, without even a second’s delay, by practicing the Vajrasattva meditation-recitation.”
THE POWER OF DEPENDENCE (B): GENERATING BODHICITTA “But I am not practicing this Vajrasattva purification for myself alone—the purpose of my life is to release all hell beings, pretas, animals, humans, asuras, suras and intermediate state beings from all their suffering and its causes and lead them to unsurpassed enlightenment. In order to do this I must first reach enlightenment myself. Therefore, I must purify all my negative karma immediately by practicing the Vajrasattva meditation-recitation.”
“Vajrasattva is my root guru, the holy mind of all the buddhas, the dharmakaya, who out of his unbearable com-passion, which embraces me and all other sentient beings, appears in this form to purify me and all others.” In this way, your mind is transformed into guru devotion—the root of all blessings and realizations of the path to enlightenment. “On a moon disk at Vajrasattva’s heart stands a HUM encircled by a garland of the hundred syllable mantra. A powerful stream of white nectar flows from the HUM and mantra garland and I am cleansed of all sickness, spirit harm, negative karma and obscurations.”
“In emptiness, there is no I, creator of negative karma; there is no action of creating negative karma; there is no negative karma created.” Place your mind in that emptiness for a little while. In this way, look at all phenomena as empty—they do not exist from their own side. With this awareness of emptiness, dedicate the merits.
AI Summary
Daily Purification by Lama Zopa Rinpoche presents key insights from the Tibetan Buddhism tradition. The 9 passages above capture the essential teachings.
Core Themes:
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Key Passages: Highlights 1, 3, and 9 are particularly representative.
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