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Vajrasattva appears in the far distance as sparks of brilliant sunlight on water. He throws a tiny diamond that opens like a flower, with a thousand petals. Each petal contains information. The opened flower relays the following sadhana practice.

The practice of the Diamond Body is a visualization. The practitioner must first learn the medical knowledge of his or her time and culture, and be aware of what is inside of the physical body.

Then layer by layer, each surface must become translucent, then transparent, then invisible. Each exterior surface and then each interior surface must become like clear crystal. Every hair, every nail must become clear.

One proceeds from outside in. First the physical body must be made as clear as a diamond. The skin, the blood, the internal organs, all must be made clear like crystal. Then the spiritual bodies one after another must be made perfectly transparent. No body or body part must remain as an obstacle.

When they all have been made clear, let the gates of memory open. Each surface will reflect the most intense events the person has experienced. Every surface becomes a mirror of memory.

Each surface of the exterior and interior bodies must be purified by having memories appear and then be released. Anything that is seen, true memory or false, must be perceived and released. No emotional bond should remain to any memory.

This can be a long process, but it is necessary. The poisons wash away in a great river of black and dark green. All poisons that have been swallowed in this life and others must be released. Every crystalline surface after purification shines brilliantly, like a diamond with infinite facets reflecting a light like a magnesium flare.

This is the diamond body, which has been purified both by human effort and by opening to the grace of the bodhisattvas. Its reflections fill the skies, shining like a rainbow. Its human framework remains, but it is filled with celestial light.

This is the body that can enter the paradises of Buddhas and bodhisattvas. People should not be too lazy to perform this purification process, a sadhana which is rarely practiced. The awareness of the diamond body will continue through life, and after death.

Vajrasattva Commentary

The seeker can perceive me at three levels. At the earth level, you have the jewels or the thangka image. At the middle level, you have my visualized celestial form, in a paradise of brilliant light, seated on a lotus throne. At the highest level, you have a diamond with an infinite number of facets, radiating dazzling beams of light through infinite awareness. It reflects perfect freedom.

In a sense, the practice of the diamond body moves through these levels. First the lowest, material body is purified of physical dirt, then the spiritual body is purified of memories and desires that cling like mud. Then the body of awareness is open to the light of freedom. It is a ladder of attainment.

Memories weigh down the spiritual body. The memory is brought to the surface of consciousness, and viewed from many angles. Imagine it is like a top with many sides to show as it spins. Each side must be perceived and understood, its lessons learned, its secrets revealed. The practitioner thinks, I have learned what is necessary from this memory. I do not need to repeat it. The memory is honored as a source of knowledge, whether joyful or painful, and cast out of awareness. There is a great river of memory that flows through the universe, where rejected memories flow in currents. In Greek myth, the underworld waters of the river Lethe take away memories. These waters are comparable.

You cleanse each surface of memory or aspect of the spiritual body carefully, making sure that bits of dirt do not remain hidden. These impurities can expand as you travel to deeper states and obstruct your perception.

During this process, it helps to worship a bodhisattva. You must clean your own vehicle, but once it is purified, it needs divine light to turn it into a shining lantern, one suitable for visiting a paradise, or lighting the way to freedom for future wanderers.

Memories hold suffering, with desire, and hatred, and ignorance. The goal of this path is not infinite cosmic memory, but rather awareness that is cleansed of memory. One's past is the sacrifice that allows passage on the road to liberation.