New to praying...

h2obuddhist

I'm new to Buddhist prayers and I was wondering if anyone new of some daily Tibetan Buddhist prayers and how to go about saying them? Are the certain gestures or certain places to pray?

Namaste, love & light,
Maddy

Jeffrey

I'll tell you what I know as a 'long distance student' in a sangha away from my home nation.

A prostration is done by steepling the hands like praying and putting the hands to your forehead, the body, the throat, the speech, and the heart, the mind. Then you bend down with outward hands and put them on the floor. In Zen I think you put your forehead to the ground. In Tibetan Buddhism you stretch yourself out stepwise like a caterpillar. So in TB prostratin ultimately you are fully flat along the ground. It's not to make you feel unworthy, instead it is to stir a very deep level of strength to persist or devotion.

A prayer from the Shantideva tradition of the Bodhisattva deal:

May the heart awaken in the unawakened
Where it has begun to stir, may it never fade
And may it awaken fully


Then there is:

om mani peme hum
om mani pema hum
om mani pema hum

I'm not sure what it means. HHDL said somewhere that it means 'the jewel is in the lotus'.


Then there is the refuge

Namo Gurubaya
Namo Buddhaya
Namo Dharmaya
Namo Sanghaya

Lamala chapsu che o
Sanjayla chapsu che o
chola chapsu che o
genduna chapsu che o

Refuge with bodhisattva vow (or blessing if you have not vowed):

We go for refuge to all the Buddhas
Until all sentient beings realize Buddhahood.
x3

lobster

Depends how much time and effort you have available . . .
You could get an image of Chenrezig, HH the Dalai Lama or a Buddha statue and chant and prostrate to him.
OM MANI PEME HUM is his mantra.
You can use the prayer mudra with Chenrezig.
http://youtu.be/iG_lNuNUVd4

This practice includes devotion to Chenrezig.
http://yinyana.tumblr.com/post/32936018897/migtsema

Hope that helps.