Obstacles, and a Treasury of Mantras

At that time Vajrapāṇi again questioned the World-Honored One Mahāvairocana, speaking this verse:
"How, at the time of practice, is every obstacle purified and cleared away, so that a mantra practitioner suffers no harm or affliction? How should mantra be upheld? And how does its fruit come about?"
Having been thus asked, the World-Honored One Mahāvairocana praised him, saying: "Excellent, great being, well have you spoken these words; according to what your heart has asked, I shall now disclose it in full. An obstacle is born from one's own mind, following an old habit of stinginess; to remove its very cause, hold bodhicitta in mind. Skillfully removing false discrimination, which arises from the mind's own thinking, and holding bodhicitta in mind, the practitioner leaves every fault behind. One should constantly, in the mind, contemplate the great being Acala, and, forming his secret seal, thereby remove every obstacle. Lord of Secrets, listen further: to bind and remove the wind of distraction, take the letter A as your own body, hold the gateway of the letter A in mind, coat the ground with fragrant paste, and form there the point of great emptiness; relying on the direction of wind, close it with the syllable HA, and hold in mind that very vessel — the great mind's own Mount Sumeru, ever present above it. The letter A and the point of great emptiness, as the buddhas of old have taught, are able to bind even the great wind. Great being, listen closely: to guard against a driving rain, contemplate the gateway of the letter RA, the color of great and mighty flame, its blazing garland fierce and wrathful, wrathfully holding argha water; wherever the rain arises, work the ground and raise a shading cloud, and cut it off with the seal of the wisdom-sword — the obscuring gloom will at once disperse. With a fearless mind, the practitioner may also fashion a kīla peg, sharp as a sword, using it as a vajra stake, and everything becomes, thereby, one with the vajra itself. Furthermore, I shall now explain how to still every obstacle entirely: hold in mind the mantra of the greatly fierce, immovable, mighty one, and, dwelling within one's own maṇḍala, the practitioner, whether seated at its center or elsewhere, should contemplate that very image, crowning the head with the samaya-seal of his very feet — every obstacle will thereupon be purified, stilled, and will no longer arise. Or, using orpiment finely blended together, the practitioner may fashion his image, and anoint the body with it; every one of those who grasp and cling, on account of this very antidote, will have their own faculties set ablaze — give rise to no doubt about this; for even Śakra and Brahmā themselves, should they fail to follow my teaching, would still be burned by it, how much more so any other being."

At that time the World-Honored One said again to Vajrapāṇi in verse:
"As with the teaching of mantra, so with the accomplishment of its fruit: one should attune oneself, letter by letter, and phrase by phrase, in just the same way; making the mind's own visualization, one recites, resting well at one hundred thousand repetitions. The first letter is bodhicitta; the second is called sound; the visualized phrase is the deity contemplated (本尊), made present in its own proper place. Know that the second phrase is itself the supreme phrase of every buddha: the practitioner contemplates and dwells within it, a perfectly round and pure disc of the moon, and, sincerely visualizing within it, the letters arranged in due sequence, placing the syllable at its center, contemplates purifying the very life-force there — that life-force being the breath, held in mind as it moves in and out. Once these have been purified, one takes up the prior method of recitation; one who well abides in mantra should then recite for one full month, the practitioner's own prior skillful means penetrating each and every phrase, upheld first under the name of every buddha's own great renown. One should next, with whatever one has, make offering of scented paste and flowers, dedicating the merit toward one's own bodhi, for the sake of accomplishing true awakening. In this way, over two months, one becomes fearless in mantra. Once this second month is complete, the practitioner enters into recitation proper — upon a mountain peak, or in a cattle enclosure, or at a riverbank or sandbar, at a crossroads, in a solitary chamber, or in the hall of a spirit or a great deity. That maṇḍala site becomes, in every respect, a vajra palace; there, having bound and protected the place, the practitioner brings about accomplishment. Then, in the middle of the night, or at sunrise, the wise should know that signs such as these will appear: the sound HŪṂ, or the sound of a drum, or the earth itself may shake, and one may hear, from within the sky, words spoken in a pleasing voice — know that signs such as these mean that siddhi has been attained, exactly as wished. The buddhas, most honored among the two-footed, proclaim this very fruit: whoever abides in this mantra conduct will certainly attain buddhahood. One should, according to every kind of being, constantly hold mantra in mind and uphold it — this the buddhas and great sages of old have taught, and so it should be held always in remembrance."

Then Vajrapāṇi said to the Buddha: “World-Honored One! As I understand the meaning of what the Buddha has said, I know it likewise: that the holy ones, abiding in their own stations in the maṇḍala, have majestic power because they abide so. The Tathāgata’s command can be concealed by nothing. Why so? Because the World-Honored One is the samaya of all mantras — which is to say, because he abides in his own lineage-nature. And therefore bodhisattvas practicing the bodhisattva conduct by the gate of mantra should also abide in their own stations and perform the various works.”

“And further, Lord of Secrets: when the colors are declared, and the stations of those holy ones in the maṇḍala, and the forms and aspects of the honored ones — know that it is likewise, and that this is what the former buddhas declared. Lord of Secrets! In a future age, beings of weak wisdom and without faith, hearing this said, will not be able to believe and accept it; and being without wisdom, their doubts will grow. They will only hold firmly to what they have heard without practicing it, and injuring themselves and others they will speak thus: ‘The non-buddhists have such a teaching as this; it is not what the Buddha declared.’ Such is the faith and understanding those people without knowledge will arrive at.” Then the World-Honored One spoke this verse: “The World-Honored One of all wisdom, sovereign over all dharmas, according to what he has penetrated, delivers living beings by skillful means. These are what the former buddhas declared, for the benefit of those who seek the Dharma; but that foolish one does not know the dharma-aspect of the buddhas. I declare that of all dharmas, every aspect is empty; abide always in mantra, and perform the works well and with decision.”

…Then the vajra-holders with the Lord of Secrets at their head, and the assembly of bodhisattvas with Samantabhadra at their head, bowed to Mahāvairocana Buddha and, each with his own voice, entreated the World-Honored One: “We wish that, for this great king of maṇḍalas born of the Womb of Great Compassion, and according to the pure gateway of the dharma-realm he has penetrated, the phrases of the mantra teaching be declared.” Then the World-Honored One, by an empowerment that is the indestructible nature of things, said to the vajra-holders and the bodhisattvas: “Good men! I shall declare, according to the dharma-realm penetrated, the true words that purify the realm of living beings.”