Purification Of Negative Karma - The Four Component Powers

As it is extremely important to cleanse away the stains of black karmic debts and downfalls (from broken vows) tarnishing the three gateways (of your body, speech and mind), and especially (to remove) your karmic obstacles (which would prevent such rebirth), you should cherish continually devoting yourself to (applying) the complete set of four opponent powers (which can purge you of them).

With respect to refraining from negative actions in the future, you can determine to maintain an ethical discipline that will protect you from committing negative acts in future, but what about the negative actions you have already committed? The only way to deal with these is to purify them.

There is a Tibetan saying, "If there is one good thing about negativities, it is that they can be purified." However, there are different degrees of purification. One possibility is to completely eliminate the potency of a karmic act such that it can never ripen at all. Another is to diminish the gravity of a serious negative karma such that its fruition will be less damaging. A third possibility is to delay the fruition of a negative karma that cannot be entirely purified.

The four opponent powers that should be used when practising purification are:

1. The power to regret or repentance.
2. The power of reliance.
3. The power of virtuous activity.
4. The power of resolve.

Of these four, the most important is the power of repentance. From the depths of your heart, you must feel deep sense of regret for the negativities you have created as if you had ingested poison.

The second power is reliance. If you look at the many negative actions you have created, most of them are related to wither higher beings, such as the Buddha or fellow sentient beings. Therefore, you practice the power of reliance by taking refuge in the Three Jewels and generating bodhicitta, feeling strong compassion for all sentient beings.

Third, is the power of engaging in virtuous acts specifically aimed at purification. Whenever you engage in a virtuous act, you can direct it words the purpose of purifying your negative karma. In the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, the general custom is to engage in practices specifically associated with purification of which six are often cited: reciting the names of buddhas, especially in the bodhisattva's confession sutra with prostrations to the Thirty Five Buddhas; reciting certain mantra especially the one hundred syllable Vajrasattva mantra and the mantra of Vajra Akshobhya (Mitukpa); reciting sutras; meditating on emptiness; making offerings and commissioning the creation of images.

The fourth power is a deep sense of resolve that you will not indulge in such negative actions again in the future, even at the cost of your life. During this practice, you may be aware that you might not be successful in completely abstaining from all these negative actions or from a particular negative act, but while you are actually practising purification, you should generate the strong determination that you will not indulge in such acts in the future.