Question about Jodo Shu ojuzu - should I get a new one?

[KiwiNFLFan]

I have an ojuzu that was given to me by a Jodo Shu priest. However, I'm worried that I may have used it to count a forbidden mantra (I'm not certain I did, but I can't say with certainty that I didn't, either).

Should I replace the ojuzu? I'm worried that continuing to use it may bring down heavy negative karma upon myself.

[bowsamic]

You should ask the priest you got it from or email a Jodo Shu priest online.

As far as I'm aware, Honen did not teach anything about beads becoming imbued with some kind of negative karma creating power after doing a "forbidden mantra" with them (actually I'm not sure what you mean by that), but someone please correct me if I'm wrong.

Also, remember that Amida's vow saves us regardless of good or bad karma. I know you also have mentioned Jodo Shinshu previously so I feel comfortable to say that this seems a little like unsettled faith to me.

[PadmaVonSamba]

I have an ojuzu that was given to me by a Jodo Shu priest. However, I'm worried that I may have used it to count a forbidden mantra (I'm not certain I did, but I can't say with certainty that I didn't, either).

Should I replace the ojuzu? I'm worried that continuing to use it may bring down heavy negative karma upon myself.

That seems like a very self-powered concern.
In other words, it makes sense to ask from a self-power point of view. But if one really has Shinjin, why would what you did -or did not- do matter?

Also, karma isn’t something that is “brought down” on a person. Our positive or negative actions produce causes which have positive or negative results, and this has 99% to do with motivation. If you used the ojuzu, or any item, dharma-related or not, with the intention of causing harm, then that’s going to plant the seeds of negative karmic results. If you used this to chant “I hope you die” at someone a hundred times, it’s your intention that creates negative karmic results. But going with what you posted, it sounds leeks like you don’t know what it was you chanted. But what was your motivation?
The beads are innocent. Leave them out of it.

[KiwiNFLFan]

As far as I'm aware, Honen did not teach anything about beads becoming imbued with some kind of negative karma creating power after doing a "forbidden mantra" with them (actually I'm not sure what you mean by that), but someone please correct me if I'm wrong.

What about other Buddhist traditions, particularly the esoteric ones (as that's the sort of mantra I'm referring to - forum rules prevent me from saying more).

You should ask the priest you got it from or email a Jodo Shu priest online.

I've thought about that, but I don't know if any Jodo Shu priests would have sufficient knowledge of the particular issue relevant here, as it concerns Tibetan Buddhism.

[bowsamic]

As far as I'm aware, Honen did not teach anything about beads becoming imbued with some kind of negative karma creating power after doing a "forbidden mantra" with them (actually I'm not sure what you mean by that), but someone please correct me if I'm wrong.

What about other Buddhist traditions, particularly the esoteric ones (as that's the sort of mantra I'm referring to - forum rules prevent me from saying more).

You should ask the priest you got it from or email a Jodo Shu priest online.

I've thought about that, but I don't know if any Jodo Shu priests would have sufficient knowledge of the particular issue relevant here, as it concerns Tibetan Buddhism.

You could ask a Tibetan Buddhist teacher.

But, why are you mixing and matching in this kind of way in the first place? It sounds like you're trying to create your own Buddhist tradition. If you want to practise Tibetan Buddhism with Pure Land, then do that. If you want to practise Jodo Shu, do that. Mixing them together according to your own understanding will make an incomprehensible combination, and of course you will end up with no teacher to ask about this stuff

[PadmaVonSamba]

What about other Buddhist traditions, particularly the esoteric ones (as that's the sort of mantra I'm referring to - forum rules prevent me from saying more).

You should ask the priest you got it from or email a Jodo Shu priest online.

I've thought about that, but I don't know if any Jodo Shu priests would have sufficient knowledge of the particular issue relevant here, as it concerns Tibetan Buddhism.

without even knowing what the mantra is, I would guarantee you that it is nothing that can be harmful to beings.

If there were such a curse, nobody with actual knowledge of its practice would tell you.

And nobody with any knowledge of its practice would share it with someone who isn’t qualified
(They wouldn’t impart it to someone who’d share it), meaning that if someone said to you “here’s a Tibetan curse that a lama told me” they are lying.
And without a practice transmission, simply reciting some Vajrayana mantra that maybe you saw in a book or online (except for a few simple ones like Om Mani Padm Hum) won’t really do anything.

And even if, by some impossible chance, such a mantra was imparted to you, its use would also require such an elaborate ritual, that anyone who has learned how to conduct such a ritual wouldn’t be questioning its effect on an ojuzu (which is how I can guarantee you’re okay).
Mumbling a few Sanskrit or Tibetan sounds would simply be making noise.

In short, you and your beads are safe.

[明安 Myoan]

[KiwiNFLFan]

But, why are you mixing and matching in this kind of way in the first place? It sounds like you're trying to create your own Buddhist tradition. If you want to practise Tibetan Buddhism with Pure Land, then do that. If you want to practise Jodo Shu, do that. Mixing them together according to your own understanding will make an incomprehensible combination, and of course you will end up with no teacher to ask about this stuff

I used to practice Tibetan Buddhism, but don't now (though I do have a devotion to Tara and will sometimes chant the Seven-Line Prayer). From reading about guru devotion, I don't think I'll ever be able to have the same level of devotion to a guru that someone like Naropa or Milarepa did, so I'm not sure Tibetan Vajrayana is for me.

without even knowing what the mantra is, I would guarantee you that it is nothing that can be harmful to beings.

I don't think it's so much the mantra that is the problem, it's that it is part of a practice that I cannot speak about due to forum rules (let's just say it has been banned by a very well-known high lama and thus involves a breach of samaya). I deeply regret ever having supplicated this deity, but I am worried about the large amount of negative karma it created, particularly after reading a post by Lama Zopa Rinpoche who spoke about very harsh consequences for this practice due to the breach of samaya that it involved.

[bowsamic]

I don't think it's so much the mantra that is the problem, it's that it is part of a practice that I cannot speak about due to forum rules (let's just say it has been banned by a very well-known high lama and thus involves a breach of samaya). I deeply regret ever having supplicated this deity, but I am worried about the large amount of negative karma it created, particularly after reading a post by Lama Zopa Rinpoche who spoke about very harsh consequences for this practice due to the breach of samaya that it involved.

Well, you're in luck, because:

The dharma-gates, each distinct, number eighty-four thousand,
But the keen blade for severing ignorance, its effects, and the karmic causes of suffering,
Is the Name of Amida:
In a single utterance, one’s karmic evil is completely swept away.

Gone are countless traces of past karma and the designing thoughts arising from them;
Even without being instructed, we turn and enter the gate of suchness.

Gaining freedom from long kalpas of suffering in this Saha world
Is above all the benevolence of Sakyamuni, the true teacher; Using various skillful means, carefully devised,
He selected the gate of Amida’s universal Vow and enabled us to enter it.

-- Shandao

[PadmaVonSamba]

I deeply regret ever having supplicated this deity, but I am worried about the large amount of negative karma it created, particularly after reading a post by Lama Zopa Rinpoche who spoke about very harsh consequences for this practice due to the breach of samaya that it involved.

Oh yeah, I understand.
I think something to keep in mind is that when it is said that certain practices “do” this or that, or practicing on certain days increases merit or whatever, all that can really be said is that they have the potential to create certain results. But there are lots of variables.

For example, you can’t say that a wealthy person who makes a big donation to a temple will automatically gain a lot of merit. Sure, the potential is there. But if they donate with a lot of attachment, expecting people to cheer for them or showing off how rich they are, they won’t even get as much merit as a poor person who donates a few cents with the wish that it will benefit others. So, just because you used to do a certain practice doesn’t automatically condemn you. It’s not an absolute thing.
The only exception to that, perhaps, is the ‘Pure Land guarantee’ of Amitabha’s 18th vow, which is regarded as absolute by Shin Buddhists.

It’s all about what’s going on in the mind. And the simple fact that you now “deeply regret” previous actions, I mean, what else is needed to clean things up? Maybe make some donations or something?

Furthermore, stress you are experiencing now over it, that in itself is suffering, and it wouldn’t be occurring now if you hadn’t been involved in that practice before (which you now regret). So, there’s a direct cause-and-effect. If that’s not an immediate ripening of karma, I don’t know what is.

A lama I used to converse with in Chinese had an expression he liked to use a lot, “Mei Wen Ti!”
沒問題！ which means “no problem!”. He says that stressing over things like this just creates more problems in the mind.