Mantras

[naljor]

Hallo all, which mantras you recite daily without following sadhana or visualization?

[ngodrup]

Generally speaking, you could recite Sutric or peaceful mantras.
Examples: Buddha Shakyamuni, Medicine Buddha, Amitabha...

[Konchog1]

My understanding is that visualization is needed for the mantra to work. It's not needed to perfectly visualize the deity, just have a sense of the deity existing in front of you.

[naljor]

Thank you, I ask because I have some transmissions of mantras, for example Dzambhala or short Namgyalma mantra or three kaya mantras without any other instructions for practice

[Konchog1]

Thank you, I ask because I have some transmissions of mantras, for example Dzambhala or short Namgyalma mantra or three kaya mantras without any other instructions for practice

What I do is visualize the deity in front of myself and recite the mantras to the deity.

[conebeckham]

There is a tradition of reciting "Zungs" or Dharanis, long mantras, for purposes, but without really any sort of visualization...some mantras are recited for purification, protection, transformation, multiplication......but they all have specific purposes, even if they are not "deity yoga" practices per se. For instance, the Namgyalma Zung, and the short mantra, bless Vase water and charge it with powers of longevity.

[Konchog1]

There is a tradition of reciting "Zungs" or Dharanis, long mantras, for purposes, but without really any sort of visualization...some mantras are recited for purification, protection, transformation, multiplication......but they all have specific purposes, even if they are not "deity yoga" practices per se.

Oh! So is that the difference between mantras and dharanis?

[conebeckham]

I think a Dharani is a type of mantra, a longer mantra....some would say it is more like a "spell." I'm not sure I agree with that--it's maybe a partial definition.

[naljor]

Thank you, I have also question about sutra mantras transmission, why it is said that it is not necessary to have lung for sutra mantras, while in vajrayana teachers says without lung there is no live in mantra, of course I know very well the difference between sutra and tantra vehicles, but this is not clear to me

[ngodrup]

Example Amitayus:

Mantra:
OM AMA RANI DZI WAN TAYE SOHA

Zung:
OM NAMO BHAGAVATE APARIMITA AYUR JÑANA SUPINISH CHITATAYE JORA JAYA
TATHAGATAYA ARHATE SAMYAK SAM BUDDHAYA TAD YA THA OM PUNYE PUNYE
MAHA PUNYE APARIMITA PUNYE AYU PUNYE MAHA PUNYE AYUR JÑANA
SARVA RUPA SIDDHI AYUR JÑANA KE CHE BHRUM OM BHRUM AH BHRUM
SVA BHRUM HA BHRUM CHE BHRUM OM SARVA SAMSKARA PARI SHUDDHA
DHARMATE GAGANA SAMUDGATE SVABHAVA VISHUDDHE MAHA NAYA PARIVARA YE SVAHA

[ngodrup]

Lung for Sutra is given.

[Pero]

Lung for Sutra is given.

Yes but why isn't it required?

[ngodrup]

Who says?
Traditionally any text you study requires lung.
Lamas won't give lungs for Sutras if they haven't themselves received it.

[明安 Myoan]

Namu Amida Butsu, or sometimes just Amitabha.
I try to keep it going constantly.

[Pero]

Who says?
Traditionally any text you study requires lung.
Lamas won't give lungs for Sutras if they haven't themselves received it.

Well I cannot remember a single time that I have heard or read anywhere "to read this sutra you need a lung" or "to recite this mantra from this sutra you need a lung" or anything like that so I concluded that you do not need a lung.

[lobster]

The last few days, the mantra has been HIG HIG HIGEDDY HO.

However it changes a lot according to circumstance. OM MANE PEME HUM I use a lot. OM YA HA HUM and in a formal setting to keep the family amused I might chant Migtsema, Guru Rinpoche, Medicine Buddha or something that does not scare the squirrels . . . for example WOO HU

[ngodrup]

Pero:
Consider how few were literate. One didn't just go into the library and read a book.
The Buddha and his followers spoke the Sutras, memorized them, recited them.
Sutric lineage does not mean who read what, but who heard what from whom.
After you hear the sutra, then you could read it. Same for Shastras whether Shantideva,
Asangha or even Gampopa or Je Tsongkhapa. If you attend a teaching by the Lama, the
root text is read by him or her-- along with the commentary. Or You might simply have
the text read to you. Even Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, for example, is said to have sought out
the lungs for even just a few words of a text that he had not heard. That is lineage.
With lineage you can study and practice to receive the "lineage of realization" otherwise,
you just have the words.

Now you *can* read a text without lung, but lung is very much encouraged, otherwise
you're on your own. Just like you cannot give vows (which come from sutras) you don't have,
you cannot give lungs for texts if you didn't hear it from a lineage holder of that text. And if you
are a translator, absolutely, you get the lung of the book you are translating-- along with the
relevant commentaries.
Maybe this way is not maintained in non-Tibetan systems, but it is in Tibetan Buddhism.

[Reibeam]

Pero:
Consider how few were literate. One didn't just go into the library and read a book.
The Buddha and his followers spoke the Sutras, memorized them, recited them.
Sutric lineage does not mean who read what, but who heard what from whom.
After you hear the sutra, then you could read it. Same for Shastras whether Shantideva,
Asangha or even Gampopa or Je Tsongkhapa. If you attend a teaching by the Lama, the
root text is read by him or her-- along with the commentary. Or You might simply have
the text read to you. Even Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, for example, is said to have sought out
the lungs for even just a few words of a text that he had not heard. That is lineage.
With lineage you can study and practice to receive the "lineage of realization" otherwise,
you just have the words.

Now you *can* read a text without lung, but lung is very much encouraged, otherwise
you're on your own. Just like you cannot give vows (which come from sutras) you don't have,
you cannot give lungs for texts if you didn't hear it from a lineage holder of that text. And if you
are a translator, absolutely, you get the lung of the book you are translating-- along with the
relevant commentaries.
Maybe this way is not maintained in non-Tibetan systems, but it is in Tibetan Buddhism.

"Thus I Have Heard" as apposed to "Thus I Have Read"

[kong zen]

Recite the mantra is need guidance,
It is best not to blind practice,
Need to have a teacher guide,
Best to read buddhist scriptures,
After understanding the fundamental teachings of Buddhism, in practice,
So as not to make mistakes,