Mantras and Mudras: Meditations for the hands and voice to bring peace and inner calm. Lillian Too

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Introduction

      When we recite special mantras, or prayers, and use hand mudras (gestures) to aid our concentration, we are engaging our body, speech, and mind with the motivation of transforming our mind to develop our Buddha potential. Mantras are chanted repeatedly, because transforming the mind takes time; it is a gradual process. Practiced regularly and with sincere motivation, mantras are powerful catalysts for effecting mind transformation, which opens up wonderful pathways to gaining blessings and realizations.

      Reciting mantras is not the mere vocal repetition of speech syllables. Meditators know from experience that chanting mantras transcends external sounds and words. It is like listening to a subtle, inner sound that has been inside us since beginningless time.

      When you receive a mantra, transmitted by a qualified teacher, the integration of that mantra’s wisdom into your consciousness is greatly facilitated. The wisdom-power of mantras enables you to communicate more easily with your own true, inner wisdom, even as you remain detached from external distractions. These distractions impede concentration, thereby creating obstacles. When you recite mantras this agitation of the mind subsides, leaving the mind more at peace. So mantras bring out a special kind of concentration that is strong and integrated. This is known as “single-pointed” concentration.

      The mantras you chant should come directly from highly realized beings, from enlightened Masters, and from the Buddha himself. Many of the most powerful Buddhist mantras continue to be chanted in their original Sanskrit, the language of the Buddha, simply because they sound so beautiful and inspiring, and contain such stunning empowerments. But mantras chanted in any language have the same power when recited with strong concentration and sincere motivation.

       My teacher Rinpoche once told me this story. A monk visited a hermit, who lived alone on an island doing retreat. The hermit had given himself three years to complete chanting ten million of the powerful six-syllable mantra of the Compassionate Buddha. The hermit had been told that attaining this level of practice would awaken his yogic powers. The mantra was OM MANI PADME HUM.

       The monk listened as the hermit did his mantra and, with the best intention in the world, leaned over to him and whispered, “I think you have got the pronunciation wrong. This mantra should be chanted this way . . .” and he proceeded to demonstrate. The hermit listened attentively and then watched as the monk walked back to his boat to leave the island. Ten minutes later, when the boat was halfway across the river, the monk heard his name being called and, looking around, he spied the hermit and heard him call, “Listen to this, have I got it right now?” and the hermit proceeded to chant the same mantra, but with the monk’s intonation. Astounded, the monk turned around and saw the hermit walking on the water next to the boat. In that instant, he realized that the hermit’s faith and sincerity had given his mantra recitation far more power than he had realized. Getting the intonation correct seemed almost irrelevant.

      The mantras selected for inclusion in this book are intended to act as wonderful aids to living and life. These mantras have incredible power to awaken us to the spiritual path in different ways. I learned many of these mantras from my most precious guru, Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche, who also gave me permission to write this book and to include them here.

      I have a truly kind, humble and most perfect teacher in Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche, and I have strived diligently to present the mantras, and their explanations, as accurately as possible for the benefit of as many people as possible.

      I must stress again and again, however, that any, and all mistakes, misrepresentations, or inadequate explanations of these precious mantras are entirely and completely due to my own imperfect skills.

      If reciting these mantras awakens your inner hunger to know more, I strongly urge you to seek out a perfectly qualified teacher. It will simply be the most magnificent thing you will have done in your life.

      Personally, the most life-transforming thing that ever happened to me was when I discovered there are Buddhas and Bodhisattvas living among us. They come into the world wearing different disguises. Most of the time they manifest as highly realized Masters who enter our lives and transform it forever. In today’s modern world, there are Masters who speak our language and communicate with us like they have known us for a thousand years. They devote their whole existence to passing on the wonderful teachings of the Buddha, and because they are themselves emanations of the Enlightened One, they glow with a radiance of purity that is totally irresistible.

      These holy lamas are extremely humble and are extraordinarily kind. They are also highly skilled in leading us to fields of bliss, explaining the meanings of mantras, prayers, and practices. More importantly, these Masters have the power and lineages to grant refuge and give precious initiations that will empower your practice of mantra recitation a million times over. The transmission of mantras, prayers, and practices from such holy beings is what will bring you mountains of blessings, light up paths to new learning, and eventually reveal to you the true nature of reality. It is good karma indeed to meet just such a living Buddha. Chant your mantras and dedicate them sincerely to having such a meeting, and then watch events unfold in your life.

      I make two heartfelt dedications.

      Firstly, may anyone who sees, touches, reads, remembers, or recites any of the mantras in this book meet perfectly qualified spiritual masters, develop the bodhichitta heart, and immediately attain the strong wish to seek Enlightenment for the sake of all living beings. Secondly, by the merit thus created may my most precious guru, Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche, whose life is so precious to his many thousands of students worldwide, live a long and stable life. May all his holy wishes be fulfilled and actualized immediately, including the building of the Buddha Maitreya statue in Bodhgaya, India.

      With love and many mantra prayers,

      Lillian Too, June 2001