The Power of Mantra
One of the purest expressions of speech is said to be the sound of Sanskrit, the ancient language of the holy beings of India.
Mantras – “mantra” can be translated as “mind protection” – are series of syllables, and often words, that are recited by practitioners.
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During the thirteen centuries that Buddhism has flourished in Tibet, the mantras have been kept in their original language, such is the devotees’ reverence for them and their confidence in their efficacy.
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Many mantras are related to the various enlightened beings, the Buddhas. Om mani padme hum, for example, is the mantra of the Buddha of Compassion.
Mantras have various levels of meaning. The second and third words in the above mantra simply mean “jewel” and “lotus.” At a deeper level, the jewel symbolizes unconditional altruistic compassion and the lotus symbolizes wisdom, thus containing the entire path to enlightenment.
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On this album, His Holiness recites the mantras of seven Buddhas, each essentially a verbal expression of the energy of that Buddha.
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The Buddhas themselves are manifestations of the perfection of particular psychological qualities, which each of us needs to accomplish – compassion, wisdom, courage, the power to heal, and so forth.
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For ordinary people, Buddhas such as Shakyamuni, the Buddha of our time, appear in human form for us to see and hear. The more evolved practitioners, those who have achieved certain levels of wisdom and compassion, are capable of seeing the Buddhas in the subtlety of their own meditation: they cognize them with bodies of light, as depicted in the Vajrayana, the advanced stages of the path to Buddhahood.
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​Each Buddha has their own mantra.​
The recitation of mantras plays a great role in the practice of Tibetan Buddhists. According to Buddhism, every thought, every action, and every word leaves imprints in our consciousness – this is the very meaning of the law of karma. Our thoughts, words, and actions literally produce who we become. His Holiness sometimes refers to this natural law of cause and effect as “self-creation.”
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Thus, reciting the mantra of the Buddha of Compassion, for example, just naturally imbues our very being with the tendency to be compassionate.
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Reciting mantras also purifies the body. The logic of this is explained in the Vajrayana literature. There is an intimate relationship between our internal and external energies – “internal” referring to consciousness, or mind, and “external” to our body.
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According to this world view, our subtler states of consciousness are inextricably connected to subtle physical energies – air, or wind (prana, in Sanskrit) – which courses through a system of subtle channels in the body: “the mind rides on the winds,” as the Buddhist scriptures say.
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Because of this intimate relationship between mind and body, the recitation of a mantra not only changes the mind, it naturally affects the wind energy as well, purifying it and, in turn, purifying the gross body, the body that we can see, healing it and giving it the power to heal others.
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Not only is reciting mantras powerful, but merely hearing these holy sounds or seeing these holy syllables can bless and heal living beings and the environment.
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Over centuries, Tibetans have developed their own pronunciation of some Sanskrit words. This has been transliterated in the track descriptions to reflect His Holiness’ spoken language, as it is auspicious to recite the mantras in the same manner as one’s lama.