Kyabje Gosok Rinpoche
Stages of Tibetan Buddhist Practice

Cultivating the Mind of Repentance

The primary focus of practice is on cultivating a sincere mind of repentance. To practice the teachings of the Vajrayana, one must first engage in preliminary practices (ngondro). The purpose is to purify karmic obscurations. Throughout countless lifetimes in the endless cycle of samsara, sentient beings have accumulated deep-rooted afflictions and karmic obscurations due to the impurities of body, speech, and mind. Only through genuine repentance can these afflictions and obscurations be purified.

The method of repentance involves confessing one’s wrongdoings sincerely before the images of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas in a temple or home shrine. Practitioners of the Vajrayana recite the Thirty-Five Buddha Confession or the Hundred-Syllable Mantra while performing prostrations as a means to purify karmic obscurations. The Hundred-Syllable Mantra possesses inconceivable merit for purifying karmic obscurations. Practitioners of the Vajrayana must complete over 108,000 prostrations and recitations of the Hundred-Syllable Mantra, as well as the practice of offering mandalas.

Offering Mandalas

The practice of offering mandalas originates from the time when the Buddha engaged in six years of austere practices in the Snow Mountains, offering everything he possessed to the Buddhas, which ultimately led to his enlightenment.

Thus, the meaning of offering mandalas is to offer the entire universe to the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. This practice must also be completed 108,000 times. Additionally, one must offer pure water to the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas 108,000 times. After completing all these practices 108,000 times, the preliminary practices are considered finished.

At this stage, a diligent practitioner of the Vajrayana who follows the Dharma has completely purified the negative karma of body, speech, and mind, and will never again engage in harmful actions.

If, after completing the preliminaries, one still harbors strong greed, anger, ignorance, pride, and doubt, then the purpose of practicing the preliminaries has been lost.

Empowerment

After completing the preliminary practices, one approaches the guru to request teachings and essential instructions. In the Vajrayana tradition, empowerments are divided into four major categories: Action Tantra, Performance Tantra, Yoga Tantra, and Supreme Yoga Tantra. After receiving empowerment from the guru, the practitioner begins to practice the associated rituals.

Unlike in the sutra tradition, after receiving empowerment in the Vajrayana, practitioners view themselves as inseparable from the meditational deity (yidam). The body, speech, and mind of the deity become their own body, speech, and mind.

Only after fully completing the preliminary practices and purifying the negative karma of body, speech, and mind does a practitioner gain the qualification to view themselves as non-different from the deity. Therefore, attaining accomplishment in spiritual practice is not an easy task.

The founder of the Gelug tradition, Je Tsongkhapa, practiced the preliminaries with great diligence. He performed prostrations on stone slabs and used a stone mandala plate instead of gold, silver, or copper ones. Despite wearing out his elbows to the point of exposing the bone, he never showed the slightest sign of laziness or fatigue.

Six-Syllable Mantra

The most commonly recited mantra in Tibetan regions is the six-syllable great bright mantra—Om Mani Padme Hum. Below is a simple explanation of its meaning:

The syllable “Om” in Tibetan is composed of the sounds A, U, and Ma. It represents the pure body, speech, and mind of the Buddha, which purifies sentient beings’ impure body, speech, and mind into the pure body, speech, and mind of the Buddha. This syllable serves as a constant reminder to purify the karmic obscurations of the three doors—body, speech, and mind.

“Mani” means “jewel,” symbolizing the jewels of compassion and bodhicitta in Buddhism. Only by possessing these two qualities can one fulfill the needs of sentient beings.

“Padme” means “lotus,” representing the wisdom of emptiness that remains unstained by defilements, just as the lotus flower rises pristine from muddy waters. Thus, “Padme” signifies the wisdom of emptiness.

The syllable “Hum” has many interpretations, but its essential meaning is “immovable” and “unchanging.” It is the seed syllable of Aksobhya, one of the Five Dhyani Buddhas, symbolizing the unchanging essence of the pure body, speech, and mind of the Buddha, the jewels of compassion and bodhicitta, and the wisdom of emptiness mentioned earlier.

When reciting this six-syllable mantra, one continuously reminds oneself to purify the karmic obscurations of body, speech, and mind, cultivate compassion and bodhicitta, and ultimately realize the wisdom of emptiness. This makes it a complete practice method, and reciting the six-syllable mantra thus carries immense merit.

Modern life is busy, and people often find themselves caught in afflictions without respite. To gain liberation from afflictions, the key lies in each person’s mind, whose essence is inherently luminous and unobstructed. In daily life, if one can take a brief moment each day to calm the mind and focus on the present, clear, and radiant nature within—without dwelling on the past or indulging in speculative thoughts about the future—this will provide immense benefit for one’s spiritual practice.

Purifying Negative Karma

The various sufferings we experience in this life are all the result of negative karma accumulated in past lives. Negative karma can also obstruct practitioners from attaining realizations at various stages of the path. Therefore, the primary task in spiritual practice is to purify negative karma.

To purify negative karma through practice, a practitioner must fully cultivate the “four powers” (reliance power, antidote power, removal power, and protective power) to achieve success.

Cultivating Reliance Power

The objects toward which we commit negative karma are none other than our guru, the Three Jewels, and sentient beings. Therefore, to repent of negative karma, one must take refuge in the guru and the Three Jewels with unwavering faith, trusting in their inconceivable merit to eventually purify the boundless negative karma of the practitioner. Additionally, practitioners should generate compassion and bodhicitta toward sentient beings. If these two elements are present, the practitioner’s repentance will possess immense power.

Cultivating Antidote Power

After cultivating reliance power, the practitioner must engage in the cultivation of antidote power to gradually purify negative karma. There are two main methods for practicing antidote power:

(1) Reciting the Thirty-Five Buddha Confession and performing prostrations—this is a method for purifying negative karma in the sutra tradition. When performing prostrations, practitioners can adjust the speed according to their physical condition and need not match the pace of reciting the names of the Buddhas. This practice is also known as The Sutra of the Three Heaps or The Confession of Downfalls of Bodhisattvas , and it is an extremely powerful method for repenting of negative karma.

(2) Reciting the Hundred-Syllable Mantra of Vajrasattva—this is a tantric method for purifying negative karma. It can be combined with prostrations, or it can be practiced without prostrations by visualizing Vajrasattva and reciting the mantra. The Hundred-Syllable Mantra of Vajrasattva has immense power to purify negative karma. Therefore, practitioners of the Vajrayana tradition should recite the mantra at least twenty-one times daily to fulfill the purpose of repentance.

Cultivating Removal Power

After diligently practicing reliance power and antidote power, if the practitioner can deeply regret the negative actions committed in the past, this will make the practice of repentance more firm and powerful.

How does one develop such regret? A classic analogy explains this: Imagine three people who have eaten poisoned food (committed negative karma). One person has already died (fallen into the lower realms), another is suffering immensely due to the poison’s effects (on the verge of death and about to fall into the lower realms), and although the poison has not yet taken effect in oneself, seeing the tragic fate of the other two will undoubtedly cause deep regret for having consumed the poison and a strong desire to find an antidote.

By meditating in this way, practitioners can remove their negative karma and achieve the goal of repentance.

Cultivating Protection Power

Although the negative karma created in the past may be purified, if the practitioner does not resolve to stop committing further negative actions and continues to engage in harmful deeds, the negative karma will never be completely purified. Therefore, one must cultivate protective power to guard against committing further wrongdoings.

This goal cannot be achieved overnight. Practitioners must constantly examine their thoughts to avoid continuing to create negative karma. If they have already committed negative actions, they should generate a strong sense of regret and gradually eliminate bad habits. In this way, they will surely achieve the goal of no longer creating negative karma.

Accumulating Merit

Another important aspect of spiritual practice is the accumulation of merit. To attain perfect Buddhahood, practitioners must accumulate both the merit of virtue (accumulation of merit) and the merit of wisdom. If the accumulation of merit is incomplete, the accumulation of wisdom cannot be perfected either.

In the four preliminary practices, the practice of offering mandalas is an exceptional method for accumulating merit and purifying negative karma. In The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment , it is mentioned that if one combines the practice of offering mandalas with the seven-limb offering, one can accumulate exceedingly great merit.

Teachings from the Kadampa Masters

The Kadampa master GompaWa once became so absorbed in deep meditation that he neglected external offerings, allowing his mandala plate to become covered in dust. When master DromTonpa saw this, he scolded him, saying: “In the past, when Master Atisha practiced meditation, he still made mandala offerings three times a day. Do you think your meditative state surpasses that of Master Atisha? Why have you allowed your mandala plate to gather dust?”

After hearing this, GompaWa felt deeply ashamed and from that point onward, diligently practiced offering mandalas every day. Eventually, he attained extraordinary accomplishments.

Mandala Offering Practice

When practicing the mandala offering, one first holds the mandala plate with the left hand, ensuring that the palm contains gems or grains (never empty), and uses the base of the right wrist (where the bodhicitta channel resides) to rub the plate outward three times (clockwise) to purify negative karma. Then, one rubs it inward three times (counterclockwise) to receive the blessings of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas.

The ritual of offering mandalas can be divided into three types: the thirty-seven heap, twenty-five heap, and twenty-three heap offerings. The twenty-three heap offering was transmitted by Je Tsongkhapa.

Regardless of which mandala offering ritual one practices, the amount of merit accumulated does not depend on the size or value of the offering materials but rather on the practitioner’s mindset and intention.

For example, during the time of Shakyamuni Buddha, King Ashoka, who supported Buddhism with great devotion, was once a child during the era of Vairocana Buddha many eons ago. One day, as Vairocana Buddha passed by, the child wished to make an offering but had no possessions to offer. He then scooped up a handful of sand, visualized it as gold, and made the offering with sincere devotion. Due to this act of pure sincerity, the child later became the most devoted king supporting Buddhism during the time of Shakyamuni Buddha.

Therefore, when practitioners engage in the practice of offering mandalas, they should correct their intentions and motivations, making offerings with sincere devotion and a vast mind. In doing so, they will surely accumulate immense merit.

The above is a translation from our Chinese webpage, based on original Tibetan teachings.