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Has anyone got any good mantras?
TheEccentric
Hampshire, UK Veteran
The only Buddhist Mantras I know at the moment are "Om Mani Padme Hum" and "Om Muni Muni Maha Muni Shakyamuni Ye Soha" also a bunch of Vietnamese I think mantras which aren't relevant to me as my practice is mainly Tibetan.
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Comments
Tara works well for others particularly she promised to take special care of Lamrim practitioners.
I would make an exception for mantra-like words or phrases that are not centred around a bija-mantram. " Buddho" for example can be used by anyone with the breath. Breath out on "Budd " and in on "ho".
I don't remember ever reading anything about the Buddha being against mantras.. but I've not seen where he taught them either. That being said I'm not downing mantras, I just have no use for them so far in my practice.
You are correct that it is not technically a mantram. By definition mantra have to contain a bija mantra. Bud-dho falls into category of words or phrases that are used LIKE mantras.
Within Buddhadharma bija mantras are found in the Vajrayana including Shingon. I am not sure that any other schools use them.
In fact there are schools of Buddhism that use mantras and which are older than the Theravada.
Tayata Om Bekanze
Bekanze Maha BeKanze
Radza Samudgate Soha
OM (this is not a “word” but the intonation of the sacred vibration of the universe)
Bekhandze O Healer (of suffering)
Bekhandze O Healer (of the true cause of suffering)
Maha bekhandze O Great Healer (of subtle defilements that cause suffering)
Bekhandze Randza O King of Healing
Samudgate perfectly liberated auspicious being
Soha I offer this prayer and now relinquish it … (to you Medicine Buddha)
But, do use them to help develop single-pointed focus.
Also, one invokes certain blessings through mantras. Buddha Nature is the essence of every being, so devotion and reverence to our most Fundament [like 'fundamental'] carries with it great benefits
Mantras I like: [you can search these phrases on youtube]
Green Tara
Manjushri mantra [also chanted when learning completely new topics, and when learning the tibetan language -- he is the Bodhisattva incarnation of true wisdom] -- have seen it rendered as "om a ra pa ja na dhi" - and you repeat the dhi ... dhi dhi dhi dhi dhi
Medicine Buddha Mantra (as someone posted above)
Mantras are awesome and all, but I would also recommend reading more, and where possible attending a teaching or mingling with members of a sangha, living carriers of direct knowledge
I just picked up The Joy of Living and Dying in Peace by the Dalai Lama, and it's both concise and profound - kind of aimed at people with less-than-bountiful time for practice
Dharma Joy and Dharma Love, may all people bloom peace
[people in a universal, not-limited to humans sense]
I use the mantra OM YA HA HUM HRIH . . . But that is still in development . . . and of course only 'the management' can create mantras . . .
For now I feel you have been given good advice. Think of the mantra as an outer expression of your inner condition. Which quality do you wish to empower?
Don't get me wrong i like Tibetan Buddhism, its whats 1st started me off i even own malas but it seems a far departure from the Buddhas way
I actually don't even use an altar anymore.... it is technically still there, but I never meditate in front of it or light incense or anything like that.
the one thing I do though, is try to never down anyone for these practices.. if it helps them and is beneficial to the practice then that is good.
more and more the only reminders I need of the buddha, impermanence, and the like, is in the present moment when I am mindful, not in any physical item or the importance put on it by the mind. I feel that I am venerating and honoring the Buddha in the way he said.. by practice.
http://www.sutrasmantras.info/sutra02.html
Tried it . . . did not work for me . . .
Given twenty years I could probably make it work . . . as it does work for many people . . .
http://www.wildmind.org/mantras/figures/vajrasattva-mantra
What rubbish.
Yet again.
Reference, link and quote please.
Thanks.
I'm sorry, I couldn't help myself.
There's no rules, say one syllable... say the whole thing. Say it once, say it a gajillion times... or just hear someone else say it and think "that's cool"...
It's the title of the Lotus Sutra, and the simplest practice of Nichiren-Shu.
I can't remember who brought up the english vs. forgin mantras... but in my practice I find it less distracting to chant in Shindoku because when I chant in English I'm thinking about the meaning of what I'm chanting, which is not a bad thing, it's just a different type of meditation at that point.
is it the real thing? Sure. Would it work? Yes. Would anyone recommend it to others. Nah!
Om mani peme hum
Would it work? yes. Would anyone recommend it to others? Sure! :thumbsup:
The original sanskrit is OM MANI PADME HUM
Tibetans have difficulty pronouncing . . . so Hum is sometimes hung
and padme, peme
I tend to prefer a merger of the best of both
OM MANI PEME HUM
. . . as sweet as sugared water . . . :clap:
Gate, Gate, Paragate, Para Sam gate Bodhi svaha
Gate, Gate, Paragate, Para Sam gate Bodhi svaha
Gate, Gate, Paragate, Para Sam gate Bodhisvaha.
Bodhi Svaha
English:
Gone, Gone, Gone beyond Gone utterly beyond
Gone, Gone, Gone beyond Gone utterly beyond
Gone, Gone, Gone beyond Gone utterly beyond
Oh what an Awakening
*The five skandas are the five components of any individual: body, perceptions, feelings, mental formations and consciousness.)
"Gate" means gone. Gone from suffering to the liberation of suffering. Gone from forgetfulness to mindfulness. Gone from duality into non-duality.
"Gate gate" means gone, gone.
"Paragate" means gone all the way to the other shore. So this mantra is said in a very strong way. Gone, gone, gone all the way over.
In Parasamgate "sam" means everyone, the sangha, the entire community of beings. Everyone gone over to the other shore.
"Bodhi" is the light inside, enlightenment, or awakening. You see it and the vision of reality liberates you.
And "svaha" is a cry of joy or excitement, like "Welcome!" or "Hallelujah!" "Gone, gone, gone all the way over, everyone gone to the other shore, enlightenment, svaha !"