Opera Nut

Hi, this is an offshoot of the Hinduism thread.

I go to a Mahayana Buddhist temple sometimes and the best thing I have found personally to do during meditation is chant. I chant under my breath, silently.

Some of the chants I do are undoubtedly Hindu to various Hindu dieties, but I don't really care. I got them off a website about a book of Sanskrit mantras by Thomas Ashley-Ferrand.

Does anyone have extensive experience with mantras and what they do? As a Westerner, I would like to hear of anyone's experiences with mantras and mudras.

Thanks.

Amit Misra

i sometimes find myself "chanting" (humming? whistling?) odd bits of music or alliteration, usually derived from what was last playing on the FM channel, or from what i might have learnt in school, years ago. an example: tarani tanuja tat tamaal taruvar bahu chhaye (i'm not bothering to distinguish b/w hard and soft 't's)

sometimes, i also find myself scratching my chin obsessively, or rubbing my nose wth my index finger.

the effects of such chanting and mudras are as follows:
1. those watching me get bugged (more so when the index finger is inserted into the nostril and the face assumes a beatific expression)
2. i find myself in a mindless, dreamy state after i finish chanting the mantra or concluding the mudra.

i guess we don't need to have pompous names like mantra or mudra for displacement activity.

amit

Seraphim

by Opera Nut

Does anyone have extensive experience with mantras and what they do? As a Westerner, I would like to hear of anyone's experiences with mantras and mudras.

Use of Mantras were supposed to be to place a person's mind in state of focus. By mumbling words (silently, loud or in his own heart, but in Asia, it always out loud), what you are doing is simply concentrating your mind in those words you were taught to chant.

You will notice that the words you asked to chant is always long (unless it is Ohm ... which is the shortest chant anyone could do) and requires you to do it in a certain manner (like inhale, chant for a certain period of time while exhaling or by focusing yourself in a certain part of your body - like your forehead).

Reason behind this is simply - FOCUS your thoughts.

andy_d

It also reflects using all the tools you have available to you (body, speech and mind) in unison. Many people think of meditation as a purely mental activity, but ideally it's the whole person who is being trained.

Also, certain mantras fit with certain thoughts. For example, meditating on certain points within the body is sometimes accompanied with a sound which is linked to that point eg OM for the head, AH for the throat, etc. You can feel the vibration in these points, which as Seraphim says helps you focus.

At a more esoteric level, a sound is a vibration, and is therefore energy. Different sound = different energy.

If you find yourself making sounds during periods of focus i'd say it's just your mind spontaneously expressing something which people are encouraged to do. I'd say that's a pretty good sign (as long as it's not pissing anybody else off, of course )

Lord knows some of my sangha sound weird when they meditate...

Seraphim

At a more esoteric level, a sound is a vibration, and is therefore energy. Different sound = different energy.

That reminds me ... I'd read (or maybe someone spoke about it, not sure) something like this somewhere.

One of the reasons (scientifics reason ... according to a Theist) on why a person should make sounds when they meditate is because the body is made of atoms which themselves vibrate nevertheless. So by adding your own sound (like Ohm), you are adding more energy into the vibration and make it stronger. Stronger body means stronger mind, stronger mind means stronger spirit.

Hard to imagine? Just imagine yourself as a tuning fork, vibrating in balance with the vibration of the nature and everything else around you.

Aradia

I agree on a general level with those who say "focus". Although I don't often chant (and never during meditation), when I do it is to focus my mind on a particular goal reflected by whatever I'm chanting. With the exception of "om mani padme hum", my mantras are in english and, for the most part, self-written.

Whispers

Regarding mantras and such like, are there any particular meditation practices that you follow? I am currently working through anapanasati which I have always loved......the breath is an instrument for peace...

111111

Chanting is a wonderful means to bring on higher awareness of God's presence. I find many Buddhist mantras and meditation techniques to be quite useful in attaining higher levels of communion with the Almighty.

Opera Nut

Aradia...that sounds interesting. Writing your own English mantras. I'll have to think about it. I've been chanting stuff in Sanskrit, some of which is obviously Hindu because of the names of the gods in them (Ganesh, Siva) and some of which are not.

I got them from a webpage excerpt from a book about The Power of Mantras by Thomas Ashley-Ferrand.

The page is called "Some SImple Mantras if You are Just starting Out."

Namaste to all,
Sharon

andy_d

In my lineage we've actually started using some mantras in English, where it's appropriate to do so. This is particularly the case where mantras have been handed to us by the Tibettans in their own language. People can continue to use the Tibettan, or they can use English. The Sanskrit mantras are not translated AFAIK.

I find the English mantras more useful, as I have a better connection with what i'm saying. Reciting phrases in a foreign language doesn't have the same mental impact on me.

Sanskrit mantars are a bit different though, because they're more sound than language, and the sounds are used for a specific reason.