Mantras & Stuff Whilst Sick

ThailandTom

So when you are ill and laying there feeling crummy, does anybody know any short but effective mantras or things of that nature to recite back to yourself? Apart from understanding that this will pass and change in one way or another, I need to try and bring my mind back to sanity know and then at the moment.

how

If I feel the need to direct my thought in a spiritual direction, with each breath I recite one of the three refuges.

person

If you mean like official Sanskrit mantras there is Medicine Buddha

http://www.wildmind.org/mantras/figures/bhaishajyaguru-medicine-buddha-mantra

And it doesn't get any shorter than Avalokiteshvara

http://www.wildmind.org/mantras/figures/avalokitesvara

Unofficially I imagine any short phrase that you can lock onto that speaks to you such as 'this too shall pass' or 'you're good enough, you're smart enough, and gosh darn it, people like you.'

riverflow

ThailandTom said:

So when you are ill and laying there feeling crummy, does anybody know any short but effective mantras or things of that nature to recite back to yourself?

Just breathe... (if you can!) and try to stay focused on that.

Sorry to hear you aren't feeling well @ThailandTom -- I was wondering where you've been lately.

Sending lots of metta your way...

ThailandTom

Thank you for the advice and links everyone.

karmablues

Sometimes when I am ill, I use it as an opportunity to contemplate on the first noble truth. In this way, we turn an unfortunate circumstance into one which is beneficial.
If you do it with the right frame of mind, it won't make you sad or depressed. On the contrary, by contemplating the fact that suffering is simply an unavoidable part of life, we can learn to react to it with more equanimity through acceptance rather than reacting to it with too much aversion (wanting it to go away). We can still wish to be free from suffering, but it is becomes more balanced when there is no strong aversion for suffering. Thereby, the mind becomes less agitated and more calm and still.

If you like chanting, I recommend you refer to pages 12 - 17 of the following document which contains the reflections on detachments from worldly miseries in romanized Pali with English translation. If it is too long for you, you can choose just the parts you like most.

atamma.org/pdf/SundayMorningChanting.pdf

Jeffrey

The last section of the avatamsaka sutra. It's very long but it is supposed to clear the way for getting more and more opportunities and signals to awaken.

lobster

Medicine Buddha, he's blue . . .
http://dharma-haven.org/tibetan/sadhana-medicine-buddha.htm

:wave: