Prostration Instructions, Mantras, and Meditation

Lama Zopa Rinpoche gave some instructions regarding prostrations, including some changes to the preliminary holy name mantras, and also dictated a new meditation.

12 pages, 2020 edition.

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Confession of a Bodhisattva’s Downfalls to the Thirty-Five Buddhas and General Confession

The practice of making prostrations is commonly recommended as a daily practice to students for the purpose of purifying negative karmas and obstacles to spiritual practice. This text features everything necessary to make the practice complete, including a typical motivation by Lama Zopa Rinpoche, the visualization of the Thirty-Five Buddhas and the Seven Medicine Buddhas, additional holy name mantras to make the practice more powerful, a translation of the main practice, and the final General Confession. The text also includes meditation instructions from Lama Zopa Rinpoche to support one’s prostrations.

32 pages, 2020 edition.

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The Preliminary Practice of Prostrations

Prostrations to the Thirty-five Confession Buddhas with recitation of the Bodhisattva’s Confession of Moral Downfalls from the Sutra of Three Heaps, is one of the most powerful methods available to purify harmful actions we have done in the past. By doing this practice mindfully, we can prevent unwanted sufferings from occurring in the future. In addition, this practice clears away obstacles to our practice and opens the mind to gain realizations on the path. It is said that if you do this practice first thing in the morning, all your other prayers and activities of the day will be empowered.
This recently revised version contains extensive commentary on the practice by Lama Zopa Rinpoche (from the Lama Tsongkhapa Retreat, ILTK, Italy, in 2004), as well as teachings on karma, options for extended practice, and instructions on how to complete a 100,000 prostration retreat.

Contents Include:

• The Practice of Prostrations to the Thirty-five Confession Buddhas
• Putting and End to Suffering: A Teaching on Karma by Lama Zopa Rinpoche
• The Benefits of Making Prostrations
• Commentary on the Practice of Prostrations to the Thirty-five Confession Buddhas by Lama Zopa Rinpoche
• Options for Practice
• Guidelines for Completing the Preliminary Practice of 100,000 Prostrations to the Thirty-five Confession Buddhas
• Appendix: How to make Prostrations
• Helpful Resources

“There is so much hope in our lives. Our lives are so full of opportunity. It is so easy to purify, so easy to become free from samsara and achieve enlightenment. Even with just prostration, we can achieve all of this.” – Lama Zopa Rinpoche

97 Pages. 2011 Edition.

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Thirty-Five Buddhas: The Flowing Water of the Ganga

Translated by Ven. Gyalten Lekden, additions by Lama Zopa Rinpoche.

Ngulchu Dharmabhadra’s The Flowing Water of the Ganga: A Thorough Praise of the Thirty-Five Sugatas is a versified homage to the Thirty-Five Confession Buddhas, which has been expanded by Lama Zopa Rinpoche to include the recitation of the names of the Medicine Buddhas, as well as the confession prayer from Confession of a Bodhisattva’s Downfalls to the Thirty-Five Buddhas.

Several authentic lineages for visualizing the Thirty-Five Confession Buddhas exist within the Gelug tradition. These include: a system stemming from Nagarjuna and Taranatha; a system stemming from Lama Tsongkhapa; and a system taught by teachers such as Sakya Pandita and explained by Phabongkha Dechen Nyingpo in Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand. This latter system of visualization as taught by Phabongkha, which is based on the five types (or families) of buddhas, is the commonly practiced version in the FPMT.

The Flowing Water of the Ganga, on the other hand, describes these buddhas according to Nagarjuna’s tradition of visualization. The text also describes the color of the buddhas, their hand implements, the pure lands in which the buddhas reside, as well as the specific negative karmas that the recitation of their names purify.

28 pages, 2018 edition.

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Bodhisattva’s Confession of Moral Downfalls Poster

The Preliminary Practice of Dorje Khadro

Making burning offerings to Dorje Khadro (Vajradaka) is considered to be “a golden Dharma” passed directly from Manjushri to Lama Tsongkhapa. It was one of Lama Tsongkhapa’s heart practices and, as such, has a special connection with the Gelug lineage of Tibetan Buddhism.

The practice of Dorje Khadro comes highly praised for its power to purify negative karma in general, but especially for its ability to purify obstacles caused by broken vows and samaya related to highest yoga tantra. It also assists us in assembling the most conducive conditions for success in long retreats.

This practice is encouraged as a powerful way to help those who are sick or dying and as a method to readily clear the mind of challenging disturbing emotions.

The collection provides everything one needs to be able to do the complete ngöndro of Dorje Khadro, the recitation of the principal mantra 100,000 times coupled with extensive visualization and prayers. The book’s practice section includes the Dorje Khadro practice text, Lama Tsongkhapa Guru Yoga and lam-rim and dedication prayers. In addition, the book contains teachings that contribute to a student’s understanding of how to best engage in this practice.

A precise commentary from Geshe Lama Konchog, an inspiring teaching from Lama Zopa Rinpoche based on a commentary written by Panchen Losang Chökyi Gyältsen, and a unique teaching from Lama Yeshe comprise the commentary section. The book’s advice section includes guidelines for how to use the materials to complete the preliminary practice, either as a full-time retreat or as a daily practice.

“Offering the burning puja to Dorje Khadro is one of the very profound practices for purification, regarded as a golden Dharma, a precious one. It is Lama Tsongkhapa’s heart practice, and his followers practice it knowing it to be extremely beneficial.” – Lama Zopa Rinpoche

148 pages, 2012 edition.

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The Four Dharmakaya Relic Mantras

This PDF contains six strips with the four dharmakaya relic mantras to fill statues and stupas. In The Four Dharmakaya Relic Mantras and Their Benefits. Lama Zopa Rinpoche teaches:

“The four dharmakaya relic mantras are a sacred relic. They are the highest relics of Buddha, relics of the dharmakaya. Other relics, the ones that we normally see, such as relics of the robes or parts of Buddha’s holy body, are secondary relics. These four mantras are the

highest relic. After I learned about the unbelievable benefits of each of these mantras, I had them written down and we printed many. These are normally what we should put inside stupas, statues, and so on. These very special mantras give unbelievable power.

“If you have put these mantras inside a statue, the devas will come to worship that holy object three times a day. By putting these mantras inside a stupa, even a bell that is offered to the stupa brings unimaginable benefit. For example, the negative karma of all sentient beings who hear the sound of that bell is purified. They are liberated from the lower realms. Their negative karma is purified and they receive a good rebirth. In that way, there is unbelievable benefit. It makes it so easy for sentient beings to purify negative karma and reach enlightenment.

“Also, if you circumambulate a stupa that has these mantras inside even one time, it purifies the negative karma that causes you to be reborn in all the eight hot hells. The negative karma that causes you to be born in all the eight hot hells—from the lightest down to the heaviest, most unbearable suffering hell realm—is completely purified by going around a stupa with these mantras inside just once.”

1 page, 2020 edition.

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A Short Practice of Mitrugpa, The Immovable Buddha

According to Lama Zopa Rinpoche, “Mitrugpa is very powerful in degenerate times in purifying negative karma, particularly the negative karma of having broken vows, such as the eight Mahayana precepts, lay vows, or the vows of nuns and monks. Even if you believe in karma and reincarnation and do not generate heresy, you create the cause to be born in the animal realm as a naga if you break or degenerate your vows.”

Mitrugpa Long Sadhana

The translation and the Tibetan text consist of two parts. Part one is the sadhana portion of The Complete Rite for the Sadhana and Mandala of Bhagavan Vajra Akshobhya – “Opening the Door to the Pure Land of Superior Delight”. Part two is Prayers and Benedictions for Bhagavan King Akshobhya (both by Panchen Losang Chökyi Gyältsän.)

Note: This practice is restricted to those with the appropriate tantric empowerment. If you are unsure whether you are qualified or not, please email us at education@fpmt.org. By downloading this text, you confirm you have received the appropriate empowerment.

Samayavajra (Damtsig Dorje) 

Samayavajra (skt.) or Dam Tsig Dorje (tib.) is a purification practice, a powerful method of purifying broken samaya (sacred words of honor), especially negative karmas created by disciples with their gurus and each other.

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A Short Vajrasattva Meditation: Purification with the Four Opponent Powers

Students can use this practice text to purify negative karmas with the four opponent powers: the powers of regret, reliance, remedy, and restraint. The practice is performed in dependence on Vajrasattva, a buddha considered particularly powerful for the purification of negativities.

As it is taught that even small negative karmas can grow exponentially until they are purified, Lama Zopa Rinpoche encourages students to engage in purification practices every day.

Note: Anyone can do this practice. However, you are permitted to do the visualization of Vajrasattva together with his wisdom mother only if you have received the highest yoga tantra initiation of Vajrasattva with Wisdom Mother. Otherwise, you should visualize the solitary form of Vajrasattva above your head.

16 pages, 2020 edition.

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Heruka Vajrasattva Tsog Offering

This Heruka Vajrasattva Tsog Offering was written by Lama Yeshe. About the practice he said, “What follows is a tsog offering ceremony specifically designed to be performed in conjunction with the highest yoga tantra aspect of Vajrasattva. The Tibetan term tsog, which is often left untranslated, literally means “collection,” or “assembly,” and in the following practice it is often rendered as “pure offering.” However, the actual tsog is one’s meditation on transcendental, blissful wisdom.

The entire purpose of offering the tsog ingredients is to generate the experience of this blissful wisdom within oneself and to overcome the ordinary appearance and conception of sensory objects. Thus, it is extremely important that from the very beginning of this practice you prevent ordinary appearances and conceptions from arising. Because the offering of tsog is a profound method for transcending mundane thought, the entire practice should go beyond your ordinary experience of subject
and object.”

Note: You must have received the appropriate empowerment of Vajrasattva from a qualified master in order to engage in the self-generation of the deity. However, it is permitted to do this practice without such an empowerment as long as you do not generate yourself as the deity. Instead, you should generate the deity on the crown of your head or in front of you.

32 Pages.  2012 Edition

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The Preliminary Practice of Vajrasattva

Doing Vajrasattva retreat is not simply about reciting the mantra and saying some prayers; it is about making the practice effective for your mind, making it the quickest, most powerful way to transform your mind.

Experienced meditators have advised that, in general, it is more important to put our everyday life’s effort into the practice of purification – this is the way to attain spiritual realization. This eBook contains the short and long practice of Vajrasattva as well as Vajrasattva tsog. It also contains commentary, retreat advice, altar set-up, and retreat preliminaries by Lama Thubten Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche.

Contents Include:

• Heruka Vajrasattva Retreat Sadhana Torma Offering
• Abbreviated Heruka Vajrasattva Sadhana
  
• A Short Vajrasattva Meditation
  
• Heruka Vajrasattva Tsog
  
• Dedication Prayers and Long Life Prayers
  
• Multiplying Mantras
  
• Rituals for Commencing the Retreat
  
• A Simple Vajrasattva Practice (without Consort)
  
• Explanation of the Meaning of the Mantra
  
• Breathing Exercise
  
• How to Purify During Mantra Recitation
  
• Burning Offering to Dorje Khadro
  
• Benefits of Purification with Heruka Vajrasattva
  
• Motivations for Practicing Vajrasattva
  
• Introduction to the Heruka-Vajrasattva Tsog
  
• The Meaning of Tsog
  
• Guidelines for Completing 100,000 Vajrasattva Mantras
  
• Vajrasattva Retreat Procedures

Note: You must have received the appropriate empowerment of Vajrasattva from a qualified master in order to engage in the self-generation of the deity. However, it is permitted to do this practice without such an empowerment as long as you do not generate yourself as the deity. Instead, you should generate the deity on the crown of your head or in front of you.

171 Pages. 2010 Edition.

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Vajrasattva Small eCard

Vajrasattva Mini eCard

This sacred image of Vajrasattva with Wisdom Mother is perfect for your purse or wallet. Or, simply put it on your altar or desk to add “a little” beauty and inspiration to your environment. 

A brief explanation of the deity with his corresponding mantra is on the back.

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