Mantra

[Aemilius]

Through the medical evidence, we also found that, by practicing Mantra-Dharani chanting, Chinese Buddhists can
not only satisfy their religious purpose but also reduce their anxiety and increase their health and immunity during the Pandemic.

that may very well be the case. In general, doing things which give one a sense of positivity increases the release of chemicals into the blood which improves overall health and boosts the immune system.

Whether the results shown are because the mantras and dharanis were mantras and dharanis and not some other spoken words would still need to be established. To validate this theory, that the dharani or mantra itself has healing power, one would need to give half the test subjects genuine mantras and give the other half “placebo mantras” strings of Sanskrit nonsense words, while being told their mantras had power, and then compare the results of the two subject groups. This report doesn’t specify what type of testing was done.

The article in question says something about this matter:

"In this section, four Mantra-Meditation studies using mantras
including “Om” and “TM” are examined to explore the psychological
and physiological evidence on the mental and physical changes that
benefit from practicing mantra meditation. The review presented
is not meant to be a comprehensive one but rather a brief exposure
of several typical medical studies to illustrate the health benefits
from both silent and loud mantra-meditations.

Salivary immunoglobulin A (s-IgA) Changes by loud
mantra chanting

Salivary immunoglobulin A (s-IgA) is an antibody found in body
fluids that prevent microorganisms’ adhesion to the epithelial cells
in gastrointestinal and respiratory tracts, thus helping the body to
counteract the pathogens ingested, inhaled, or adhered to the body
surface.
A ten-month study with 30 healthy Iranian women (mean
age of 44+ 3 years) recruited from yoga clubs in Shiraz, Iran, was
conducted in 2016 to evaluate the effect of loud mantra chanting
on the change of s-IgA . Fifteen participants were randomly
assigned to the experimental (test) group while the rest fifteen
were the control group. The experimental-group participants did
group mantra-meditation by repeating the mantra with a loud
voice for about 20 min, while the control group participants were
left passive in sitting on their chairs at rest condition in a different
room. During 20-min loud reciting, the participants were sitting
cross-legged on the ground and the mantra chanted was “Hoo,”
which is one of God’s names in Iranian theosophy. Saliva samples
were collected from both groups at four interventions, i.e., at pre-
test (8:30 am), after the tutorial session (9:20 am), after 20-min
chanting meditation (9:50 am), and one-hour later time (10:50
am) . The s-IgA level was evaluated using an enzyme-linked
immunosorbent-assay test and the salivary kits were used with the
normal range between 40 and 170 μg/ml.
The mean s-IgA concentrations of the samples taken after the
meditation one-hour later from the experimental group were found
to be statistically different from those of the control group. The
change of the s-IgA level of the control group is from 53.5 μg/ml
at pretest time to 66.2 μg/ml at one hour later time after the 20-
min resting, a 23.7% increase, while the corresponding change of
the experimental group is from 54.3 μg/ml to 96.3 μg/m, a 77.3%,
which is 3.26 times higher than that of the control group. This
difference is statistically significant. Since the s-IgA level is a type
of antibody found in body fluids, normally, the higher the antibody
level, the better the body’s immune system. This study indicates
that continuously reciting a mantra even for a single-20 min session
can have a positive influence on immunological components and
improve the immune states of the chanters.

EEG brain-spectra influenced by loud chanting of Om
mantra

The Electroencephalogram (EEG) is a method to measures
voltage fluctuations (brain waves) resulting from ionic current
within the neurons of the surface layer of the brain. Through
small metal electrodes attached to the brain scalp, brain cells can
communicate via electrical impulses all the time, even when the
tester is asleep.
By using EEG, Harne & Hiwale studied the brain dynamics
of oscillatory (brain waves) changes as a result of Loud Om Mantra
meditation. Twenty-three Indian college students without any
mantra meditation experience were recruited for the loud Om
meditation study. All participants were right-handed and healthy
(nonsmokers, medication-free and none-habitual drinker). EEG
spectra were recorded before and after 30-min loud Om chanting.
The recorded EEG signals were then analyzed using spectral-
domain analysis.
During meditation, first, the participants have to inhale
smoothly; soon they have to release the air (exhale) by chanting
Om. The surrounding was made silent, and no light was in the room
during the 30-min loud chanting. The participants were then asked
to relax by laying down and eyes closed, and EEG was recorded for
more than 2 min in the electrical shield room of the Bilala hospital
in Shegaon, India under the guidance of a medical doctor. Sixteen
electrodes were used to provide 16-channel data for analysis. The
IBM SPSS, version 22 was used for statistical analysis. A significant
increase in theta power was found after chanting when averaged
across all brain regions .
The results show that a loud 30-min Om meditation alters theta
EEG patterns (frequency from 4 to 7 Hz) significantly (increase)
higher than the baseline EEG brain-wave patterns, which is similar
to other studies documenting a reduction in cortical arousal during
a state of relaxation. The present finding implies that the loud ‘Om’
chanting should have the potential for offering stress relaxation
for the practitioner. The loud Om chanting can also serve as an
introduction to mantra meditation that provides naive meditators
with the opportunity to experience of chanting meditation to
state of relaxation.

Hemodynamic imaging affected by silent Om chanting

Deepeshwar et al. employed functional Near-Infrared
Spectroscopy (fNIRS) to study the relative hemodynamic changes
in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) during 20-min Silent Om Chanting.
The PFC is a part of the brain located at the front of the frontal lobe,
Hemodynamics is to study the relationship between the circulatory
changes of blood flow and cardiovascular functions, while the
fNIRS is adopted for measuring the circulatory changes of blood
flow. The fNIRS uses near-infrared (NIR) light for measuring the
concentration of the hemoglobin to estimate cortical hemodynamic
activity which occurs in response to neural activity. The technique
takes the advantage of the optical window in which skin, tissue, and
bone are mostly transparent to NIR light (700–900 nm wavelength)
and, on the other hand, hemoglobin and deoxygenated hemoglobin
are strong absorbers of NIR light. Thus, NIR light can penetrate the
‘transparent’ surface layer of the scalp and detect the underneath
regions near the cortical surface as the NIR detector moves or
propagates through the head. "

And so on...

Several studies are referred to in this article, you just have to read it.

[PadmaVonSamba]

Several studies are referred to in this article, you just have to read it.

I’m not disputing the beneficial effects of changing mantras.
My point was that in such cases it is very likely the act of chanting itself that produces results, rather than the particular mantra being chanted.

“H.E. Zasep Rinpoche, in the book Tara in the palm of your hand, recounts a famous story: “about an old woman and her son, also speaks to the importance of faith.

A man was about to make a pilgrimage to see some relics of Buddha; his old mother, who was very devout, asked him to bring back one of Buddha’s teeth.

The man promised, and then promptly forgot. As he was returning home from his pilgrimage, he remembered his promise about the Buddha’s tooth. What to do?

He quickly found an old dog’s tooth, and wrapped it in silk. When he arrived home, he gave the dog’s tooth to his mother, telling her it was the Buddha’s tooth.

His delighted mother put the tooth on her shrine, and began doing prostrations to it. To the man’s amazement, the tooth began emanating light, just as a genuine relic might.”

http://tibetanbuddhistencyclopedia.com/ ... _important

Similarly with chanting mantras.

[Soma999]

If you think mantra has no effect by themselves, check cymatics experiments, like on youtube.

Sound create forms. And forms - yantra or mandala - do have an effect. Pure physics.

Faith is essential. It is the grantor of all fruits.

The tree of boficitta produces the fruits of faith.

[PadmaVonSamba]

If you think mantra has no effect by themselves, check cymatics experiments, like on youtube.

Sound create forms. And forms - yantra or mandala - do have an effect. Pure physics.

Faith is essential. It is the grantor of all fruits.

The tree of boficitta produces the fruits of faith.

YouTube: the keeper of all truth!

How is it ‘pure physics’?

Faith is fine. Faith is one thing.
Comparing actual data is another.
Believing that chanting a mantra will improve your health will probably result in improvement of your health. But is the cause the act of believing, or is it some inherent quality of the mantra? That’s what comparative data can determine (Don’t forget, according to Buddhist teachings, phenomena lack inherent reality/existence).

If one person chants “om” and another person chants “home” or “comb” then are the vibrations the same?

[Soma999]

I have done the research by building and using devices of cymatics and i saw how sound impact matter and how intention change the pattern. So it is not believing, it is just observing.

I cannot do much but invite you to explore and make experiments.

[PadmaVonSamba]

I have done the research by building and using devices of cymatics and i saw how sound impact matter and how intention change the pattern. So it is not believing, it is just observing.

I cannot do much but invite you to explore and make experiments.

Oh yeah cymatics is very cool.
As I said, I’m not disputing that chanting words that one thinks contain some kind of healing power can have a positive effect, or even that certain actual vibrations can have an effect on the body.

High pitch vibrations can shatter glass, and there is a very low frequency vibration which if amplified sufficiently can cause a person or animal to poop uncontrollably. This isn’t anything new.

Again, I’m simply questioning whether the effect is due to the action of chanting/creating vibrations, or whether the mantra itself (such as the Medicine Buddha mantra) as many people assert, actually performs a healing function, beyond the power of suggestion in the mind of the patient.

Considering that people from different countries may pronounce the same mantras very differently from each other, one would have to rule out that an exact pronunciation is required.

There was a post a little ways back that brought up the issue of placebo, the placebo effect, and my comments were really about that. When something seems to work simply because the patient thinks it does, that’s a placebo. And it’s great when it helps. But the healing power of mantras, along with Faith-healing, as far as I am aware, has never been proven to be anything other than a placebo effect.

[PadmaVonSamba]

I knew a Tibetan painter. His specialty was temple walls and puja tables. He lived and worked during his final years in the United States. He was a funny guy in his own way, but not exactly what we would call a liberated male. He often met people who came to admire his work, and sometimes the visitors were women who would compliment him on his work. He would sometimes bow a little and smile in response, and as if giving them a blessing, would utter “nyuma chenbo… nyuma chenbo” and they would be all “oh thank you so much!” And would leave feeling elevated. What he said to them in Tibetan roughly translated as “big tits…big tits”.

Words are powerful.

[Aemilius]

Several studies are referred to in this article, you just have to read it.

I’m not disputing the beneficial effects of changing mantras.
My point was that in such cases it is very likely the act of chanting itself that produces results, rather than the particular mantra being chanted.

“H.E. Zasep Rinpoche, in the book Tara in the palm of your hand, recounts a famous story: “about an old woman and her son, also speaks to the importance of faith.

A man was about to make a pilgrimage to see some relics of Buddha; his old mother, who was very devout, asked him to bring back one of Buddha’s teeth.

The man promised, and then promptly forgot. As he was returning home from his pilgrimage, he remembered his promise about the Buddha’s tooth. What to do?

He quickly found an old dog’s tooth, and wrapped it in silk. When he arrived home, he gave the dog’s tooth to his mother, telling her it was the Buddha’s tooth.

His delighted mother put the tooth on her shrine, and began doing prostrations to it. To the man’s amazement, the tooth began emanating light, just as a genuine relic might.”

http://tibetanbuddhistencyclopedia.com/ ... _important

Similarly with chanting mantras.

That is ofcourse true. I have heard it told several times. But Bodhisattvas and Buddhas also exist. The Bodhisattva vows and their effects exist
in Buddhist cosmology. It is similar to the universal law that deeds and their results (karma-vipaka or karma-phala) exist. According to Buddhist cosmology there are supranormal powers (rddhi, iddhi or siddhi), through which a yogi or meditator can influence or cause changes in the outer material world.



Visuddhimagga: CHAPTER XII
THE SUPERNORMAL POWERS
(Iddhividha-niddesa)

"98. Seated cross-legged he travels: he goes seated cross-legged. Like a winged
bird: like a bird furnished with wings.
With his hand he touches and strokes the moon and sun so mighty and powerful:
here the “might” of the moon and sun should be understood to consist in the
fact that they travel at an altitude of forty-two thousand leagues, and their “power”
to consist in their simultaneous illuminating of three [of the four] continents.
Or they are “mighty” because they travel overhead and give light as they
do, and they are “powerful” because of that same might. He touches: he seizes, or
he touches in one place. Strokes: he strokes all over, as if it were the surface of a
looking-glass.

92. He dives in and out of the ground : here it is
rising up that is called “diving out” (ummujja) and it is sinking down that is
called “diving in” (nimmujja)
He adverts to earth. Having adverted, he resolves with knowledge: “Let there be
water.” There is water. He does the diving in and out of the earth. Just as men
normally not possessed of supernormal power do diving in and out of water, so
this possessor of supernormal power, by his attaining mental mastery, does the
diving in and out of the earth as though in water” .
94. And he does not only dive in and out, but whatever else he wants, such as
bathing, drinking, mouth washing, washing of chattels, and so on. And not
only water, but there is whatever else (liquid that) he wants, such as ghee, oil,
honey, molasses, and so on. When he does the preliminary work, after adverting
thus, “Let there be so much of this and this” and resolves, it becomes as he
resolved. If he takes them and fills dishes with them, the ghee is only ghee, the
oil, etc., only oil, etc., the water only water. If he wants to be wetted by it, he is
wetted, if he does not want to be wetted by it, he is not wetted. And it is only for
him that that earth becomes water, not for anyone else. People go on it on foot and
in vehicles, etc., and they do their ploughing, etc., there. But if he wishes, “Let it
be water for them too,” it becomes water for them too. When the time determined
has elapsed, all the extent determined, except for water originally present in
water pots, ponds, etc., becomes earth again.

87. He goes unhindered through walls, through enclosures, through mountains, as
though in open space: here through walls is beyond walls
“Through the wall, through the enclosure, through the mountain.”
Having adverted, he resolves with knowledge: “Let there be space.” There
is space. He goes unhindered through the wall, through the enclosure, through
the mountain. Just as men normally not possessed of supernormal power go
unhindered where there is no obstruction or enclosure, so too this possessor of
supernormal power, by his attaining mental mastery, goes unhindered through
the wall, through the enclosure, through the mountain, as though in open space

69. He appears and vanishes:
But one who wants to cause a vanishing makes light into darkness, or he
hides what is unbidden, or he makes what has come into the visual field come
no more into the visual field. How? If he wants to make himself or another
invisible even though unconcealed or nearby, he emerges from the basic jhána
and adverts thus, “Let this light become darkness” or “Let this that is
unhidden be hidden” or “Let this that has come into the visual field not come
into the visual field.” Then he does the preliminary work and resolves in the
way already described. It becomes as he has resolved simultaneously with the
resolution. Others do not see even when they are nearby. He too does not see,
if he does not want to see.

57. He resolves with knowledge: “Normally one, he adverts to [himself
as] many or a hundred or a thousand or a hundred thousand; having adverted,
he resolves with knowledge, ‘Let me be many.’ He becomes many, like the
venerable Cúla-Panthaka."

[PadmaVonSamba]

According to Buddhist cosmology there are supranormal powers (rddhi, iddhi or siddhi), through which a yogi or meditator can influence or cause changes in the outer material world.

Yep.

[Ayu]

I removed the comparing religions discussion. I'm sorry, but our ToS demand it.
You could join https://www.dharmapaths.com. Comparing discussion is welcome there.

[Ayu]

Has any scientific research been conducted on (the efficacy) of mantras?

I wonder, if that research would be easy, because the effect of mantra is emerging dependently. The scientists have to sort out different influences and the "blind" group of probands... what to tell them why they are supposed to chant a mantra?
Moreover, mantra needs dedication, faith and proper motivation. It's not working without the right person who uses it.

[Agent Smith]

Has any scientific research been conducted on (the efficacy) of mantras?

I wonder, if that research would be easy, because the effect of mantra is emerging dependently. The scientists have to sort out different influences and the "blind" group of probands... what to tell them why they are supposed to chant a mantra?
Moreover, mantra needs dedication, faith and proper motivation. It's not working without the right person who uses it.

So, we're starting from scratch then.