The Protection Wheel

of Vajra Armor

Short & long practices

translated and composed by
Lama Zopa Rinpoche
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 Protection Wheel of Vajra Armor 3

Contents

The Protection Wheel of Vajra Armor (short practice) 5

The Protection Wheel of Vajra Armor Meditation 7

Practice Advice 14
4 Protection Wheel of Vajra Armor

Practice requirements
When doing the short practice, unless one has received
the empowerment of this aspect of Vajrapani, one can-
not visualize oneself as the deity. Instead, visualize the
deity in the space in front of you, of one nature with all
your Gurus.
 Protection Wheel of Vajra Armor 5

The Protection Wheel

of Vajra Armor

Herein is the Protection Wheel of Vajra Armor meditation

and recitation:

Oneself arises as dark blue Vajrapani, very ferocious, holding a

vajra and snake lasso in his hands.

His holy body is adorned with complete attire and ornaments of the
charnel grounds. With his holy feet spread widely on a lotus and sun
disc, he stands amidst a blazing transcendental wisdom fire. From
his holy body emanates fire garudas, iron scorpions, black pigs,
wind, and fire, with hurricane force winds like a violent hailstorm
destroying all disease, epidemics, spirit harms and hindrances.

HUM VAJRA PHAT!

OM PÄDMA SHAWA RI PHAT / NÄN PAR SHIG / NAGA NÄN/

TAD YA THA / SARVA BI RI TA / HANA HANA / VAJRE NA
RAKSHA RAKSHA SVAHA

Recite this as many times as possible. At the end of the recita-

tion, [blow over] water to bless it and drink. [You can also recite
the mantra and blow on cream or butter, then apply it to infected
areas on the skin.]
6 Protection Wheel of Vajra Armor

In your daily practice, blow into your nostrils.

[After you finish reciting the mantra, hold your hand in front of
your mouth and blow the air up, so it goes into your nostrils.]

At the conclusion of the session think that all disease, spirit harms
and hindrances are totally destroyed. Then, abide for awhile in the
state of meditation on the actual mode of existence [emptiness],
beyond what is to be protected and what protects [conventional
truth].

While empty, one arises again into the deity’s holy body.

Then, make prayers, dedications and prayers of auspiciousness

[such as on pp. 12-13.]

This is taken by Ghana for daily practice from the most Wrathful
Chakra of Protecting the Root Attachment.

Colophon:
Initially translated by Lama Zopa Rinpoche, March 2003 and scribed by Holly
Ansett. Edited by Kendall Magnussen, August 2011, relying on a similar transla-
tion by Ven. Thubten Pemba, May 2009. Words in “[ ]” were added by Lama
Zopa Rinpoche or the editor for clarification.
 Protection Wheel of Vajra Armor 7

The Protection Wheel of

Vajra Armor Meditation

Taking Refuge & Generating Bodhichitta

I go for refuge until I am enlightened
To the Buddha, the Dharma and the Supreme Assembly
By my practice of giving and the other perfections,
May I become a Buddha to benefit all sentient beings. (3x)

Eight Verses of Thought Transformation

Determined to obtain the greatest possible benefit
From all sentient beings,
Who are more precious than a wish-fulfilling jewel,
I shall hold them most dear at all times.

When in the company of others,

I shall always consider myself the lowerst of all,
And from the depths of my heart
Hold others dear and supreme.

Vigilant, the moment a delusion appears in my mind,

Endangering myself and others,
I shall confront and avert it
Without delay.
8 Protection Wheel of Vajra Armor

Whenever I see beings who are wicked in nature

And overwhelmed by violent negative actions and suffering,
I shall hold such rare ones dear,
As if I had found a precious treasure.

When, out of envy, others mistreat me

With abuse, insults, or the like,
I shall accept defeat
And offer the victory to others.

When someone whom I have benefited

And in whom I have great hopes
Gives me terrible harm,
I shall regard that person as my holy Guru.

In short, both directly and indirectly,

Do I offer every happiness and benefit to all my mothers.
I shall secretly take upon myself
All their harmful actions and suffering.

Undefiled by the stains of the superstitions

Of the eight worldly concerns,
May I, by perceiving all phenomena as illusory,
Be released from the bondage of attachment.

The Four Immeasurable Thoughts

How wonderful it would be if all sentient beings were to abide
in equanimity, free from hatred and attachment, not holding
some close and others distant.
May they abide in equanimity.
I myself will cause them to abide in abide equanimity.
Please Guru-Deity, bless me to be able to do this.
 Protection Wheel of Vajra Armor 9

How wonderful it would be if all sentient beings had happiness and

the causes of happiness.
May they have happiness and its causes.
I myself willl cause them to have happiness and its causes.
Please Guru-Deity, bless me to be able to do this.

How wonderful it would be if all sentient beings were free from

sufferings and the causes of suffering.
May they be free from suffering and its causes.
I myself will cause them to be free from suffering and its causes.
Please Guru-Deity, bless me to be able to do this.

How wonderful it would be if all sentient beings were never sepa-

rated from the happiness of higher rebirth and liberation.
May they never be separated from these.
I myself will cause them never to be separated from these.
Please Guru-Deity, bless me to be able to do this.

Tong-Len (Taking and Giving) Practice

Generate great compassion towards sentient beings and think:

“How wonderful it would be if all sentient beings were free

from all sufferings and their causes.”

Take all of their problems, especially relationship problems and

sickness. Take all the suffering and the causes of suffering, all the
obscurations – all the undesirable things – in the form of pollutions
which are then absorbed to the self-cherishing thought. The self-
cherishing thought is completely destroyed and the real ‘I’ that the
self-cherishing thought grasps and thinks is so precious, becomes
empty. Then place the mind in emptiness as much as you can.

Spend some time on taking and then some time on emptiness.

10 Protection Wheel of Vajra Armor

Also, from time to time, with loving-kindness, dedicate your own

body, possessions, and three-time merits towards others, especial-
ly to the person who hates you. However, mostly do the practice
of taking.
Destroying the Self-Cherishing Thought

What you should remember most, again and again:

These problems are the shortcomings of the self-cherishing

thought; that is who gave them to me. There is no reason why I
should experience them, so I am returning them back to the self-
cherishing thought and letting him suffer.

All the time, whenever there’s a problem, use this. Try to recognize
self-cherishing easily and then use it as a weapon to destroy itself
by giving the problem back to it.

Whenever a problem arises, instead of blaming it on the outside,

blame it on the self-cherishing thought, and give it back to the self-
cherishing thought. Continuously, keep the self-cherishing thought
as your worst enemy. In this way, keep yourself away from the
self-cherishing thought, as you would from a poisonous snake. This
way, no matter how many problems you have, even if they equal
the size of this earth, even if you have hailstorms of problems, im-
mediately they are no longer problems. This is the very essential
Mahayana thought transformation, how you can immediately stop
the problems.

Visualization
Visualize the deity, as pictured in a thangka (see description below),
in oneness with all the Gurus that you have relied upon and made
a connection with (i.e. having received teachings from them in a
guru-disciple relationship).
 Protection Wheel of Vajra Armor 11

[Dark blue Vajrapani is very ferocious, holding a vajra and snake

lasso in his hands. His holy body is adorned with complete attire
and ornaments of the charnel grounds. With his holy feet spread
widely on a lotus and sun disc, he stands amidst a blazing transcen-
dental wisdom fire. From his holy body emanates fire garudas, iron
scorpions, black pigs, wind, and fire, with hurricane force winds like
a violent hailstorm destroying all disease, epidemics, spirit harms
and hindrances.]

Mantra Recitation
As you recite the mantra, five-colored nectar comes to your five
places separately: white from the forehead, red from the throat,
blue from the heart, yellow from the navel, and green from the
secret place. This purifies the five delusions, their impressions left
on your mind and the negativities accumulated out of them; all
obscurations and negative karma accumulated from beginningless
lifetimes, as well as naga and other beings’ harms. They all come
out through the pores and lower doors of your body in the form
of dirty black liquid, like when you wash very dirty clothes or the
body. All diseases such as cancer or whatever the main disease is
that you have, come out in the form of animals, snakes, frogs and
sea animals.

Protection Wheel Vajra Armour (Dorje Gotrab) Mantra

OM PÄDMA SHAWA RI PHAT / NÄN PAR SHIG / NAGA NÄN/
TAD YA THA / SARVA BI RI TA / HANA HANA / VAJRE NA
RAKSHA RAKSHA SVAHA

With each mala recited purify oneself for 87 recitations and other
sentient beings for the other 21. Blow on the water after that.
Another method is to bless the water by visualizing different col-
ored nectar beams emitting from Vajra Armor and going into the
boiled water, which is in a big jar, bucket, or any container in front
of you. Again, blow on the water.
12 Protection Wheel of Vajra Armor

Generate faith that the water becomes nectar of the highest tran-
scendental wisdom, understanding, infinite compassion for all sen-
tient beings, and perfect power to immediately purify and pacify all
diseases such as cancer or whatever you have, and all defilements.

After one round of the rosary, blow on the water. In this way, do
however many sessions a day – maybe three or four. Each session
do one to one and a half hours or more of recitation. Keep going
like this, purifying yourself and blessing the water.

Concluding visualization
At the end of the session, all those negative karmas and diseases
that came out in various forms are piled up like mountains around
you, covering the whole earth. A crack appears beneath you, nine
stories below. The Lord of Death appears and opens his mouth.
Then all this goes inside his mouth and is transformed into nectar.
The Lord of Death is completely satisfied and his mouth becomes
sealed with a golden vajra. He then returns to his own place, which
is far away and from which it is impossible to return, and the earth
closes up. This way it becomes a method for long life.

Dedication
JANG CHHUB SEM CHHOG RIN PO CHHE
MA KEY PA NAM KEY GYUR CHIG
KYE PA NYAM PA ME PA YI
GONG NÄ GONG DU PHEL WAR SHOG

Due to all the three times’ merits accumulated by myself, buddhas,

bodhisattvas, and sentient beings,
May the precious bodhichitta, the source of all happiness, not yet
generated be generated
And may that which has been generated never degenerate, but
always increase.
 Protection Wheel of Vajra Armor 13

Meditate on making charity of one’s own body, speech and mind,

possessions, and three times merits, as well as all the resultant
happiness – including enlightenment – to every hell being and so
forth, to all sentient beings.

Whatever suffering sentient beings have, may I experience it.

Whatever merit and happiness I have accumulated, may others
experience it.

Due to all the three times’ merits accumulated by myself, buddhas,

bodhisattvas, and sentient beings, In whatever life I am in, may my
actions never cause even the slightest harm to any sentient being.
Instead, may they only bring the greatest benefit.

Whatever suffering or happiness I experience, may it always be

only the cause for all sentient beings to achieve enlightenment as
quickly as possible.

Due to all the three times’ merits accumulated by myself, buddhas,

bodhisattvas, and sentient beings, however many sick sentient
beings there are, who have cancer and so forth – all diseases – and
those who have the karma to become sick, may they be liberated
from these. From now on, may they never experience sickness again.

Due to all the three times’ merits accumulated by myself, buddhas,

bodhisattvas, and sentient beings, which are empty from their
own side; may the I which is empty from its own side; achieve the
guru-deity’s enlightenment, which is empty from its own side; in
order to lead all sentient beings, who are empty from their own
side; to that enlightened state, which is empty from its own side;
by myself alone.
14 Protection Wheel of Vajra Armor

Practice Advice
It is good to continue at least one session a day, but do more
sessions a day, if you can. Drink three, four, or five mouthfuls of
blessed water at the end of each session. Think that every disease
is purified as well as its cause: negative karma, delusions and defile-
ments. After drinking the water, think that you have received omni-
science, perfect power and infinite compassion embracing all living
beings, and all the infinite qualities of a fully enlightened being.

This is one of the most powerful mantras to cure cancer. It is also

commonly used for any disease, black magic and spirit harm. If you
recite it many times every day, you can become a great healer,
helping other people. You can give others the water blessed with
this mantra to drink and, in this way, heal them.

Colophon:
Composed by Venerable Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche, in Genting, Malaysia,
April 1997. Typed and slightly edited by Ven. Jampa Lundrup. Further editing
by Kendall Magnussen, August 2011. Words in “[ ]” for the description of the
deity were extracted from the short practice and added here for convenience.
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