Who else here greatly benefits from chanting? I usually listen, but am also starting to chant simple stuff when I am able. I'd love to share/hear about favorite chants, and how to skillfully apply them to various mental/emotional states.
I was taught to recite a mantra by my Teacher, Om Mani Padme Hum. I try to recite it daily for 30 minutes before breakfast and 30 minutes before bed. I started with like 15 minutes once a day over a decade ago. I also bow for up to an hour daily, an hour is where I want to be at least once my rising endurance picks up the slack. The road has been rough, I cannot say it is a quick fix miracle type of practice LOL, but let's just say I'd be dead and gone without the power of daily mantra recitation that is how vital it is. I was slacking off for a few years after I got complacent with my cultivation but have since picked up the slack and practice to a level of vigor that I once practiced at. If you want to know more about this mantra I can share some good links and videos. But yes this is what I was given by my Teacher and until I am ready for somethin else this is what I practice daily. I tried reciting a much longer dharani and wasn't ready for it. I didn't ask my Teacher and I ran into huge problems. People have different preferences though. This mantra is really basic but has very beneficial results if recited daily, sincerely. Here is one video and an article actually www.cttbusa.org/buddhism_brief_introduction/chapter8.asp
I am still working on this of course, but I keep reading and seeing in Dharma lectures the importance of replacing unskillful mental states and thoughts with chanting, mantras or names of Bodhisattvas and the Buddha. Whatever one is accustomed to, the importance being not to follow an unwholesome state to where you get carried away by it into unskillful actions, doing something very regrettable all because one couldn't apply effort to divert the thoughts to a wholesome dharma i.e. chanting a mantra silently or aloud until the state passes.
Wow so you've only done one mantra for a decade? You must really know the intention well. I particularly enjoy the simplified mantras of Dagsay Tulku Rinpoche, like the Vajrasattva, Medicine Buddha, and Long Life Mantra. The Vajrakilaya Mantra has been particularly powerful. The Nichiren chanting is profoundly powerful to listen to and effortlessly redirect unskillful sexual thoughts. I recited aloud in my head once while getting a massage and it totally refocused my conscious awareness. Clearly I benefit most from having an arsenal of chants from various traditions, but I do enjoy becoming well-acquainted with them. I do feel the need for a master to start reciting seriously. Well, I do have a teacher, but he is only with me in spirit.
I frequently recite names of Bodhisattvas too daily. I have recited another mantra during this time but not regularly as a daily practice. I think chanting is extremely beneficial, there are so many to choose from one is really losing out trying to cultivate without chanting. Chanting is such an invaluable aid to cultivation.
I chant 'Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama Hare Hare'. It is kind of awesome and it is said to generate some alpha waves when you chant (see some scientific stuff if you want to). I was connected to ISCKON but it didn't change me but everyone is different and if you love chanting you can try.
@Larophile I see some chants you were talking about here my friend: yongey.org/resources/chanting Like medicine for us overcoming PMO.
I wasn't into the metta chanting much but at this retreat where they chanted twice a day, it felt good after I got use to it.
Chanting helps the mind to get more engaged in taking Refuge in the 3 Jewels, as the 3 Jewels are our only protection from the dangers of Samsara. When the mind is filled with thoughts of devotion from chanting, then the space in the mind for lust/sexual desire diminishes. Chanting should be done with mindfulness in the present moment. One's mindfulness should be directed towards the syllables that one is reciting in the mantra for optimum effect from the mantra. If we are talking about chanting of mantras then one could use the simple mantra of "Buddho" which is done in the Thai Forest Tradition within Theravada Buddhism. Buddho means the one who knows. Most of our life all we do is to do something. But the Buddho is about the one who sees, the one who knows, the one who can see into the true nature of all things. Because when we see the true nature of all things - that all conditioned things are impermanent, non-self and suffering and that there is no inherent existence in anything - then there will be no reason to develop any desire towards anything. For those who are Pureland Buddhist practitioners, they use 'Namo Amitabha' or 'Namo Amitofu' or whichever translation in a traditional Eastern language. For those who are Tibetan Buddhists, they use 'Om Mani Peme Hung' and this does not necessarily require transmission from a Lama/Rinpoche. For those who follow Nichiren Buddhism, they can use the mantra from the Lotus Sutra - Nam-myoho-renge-kyo Even though these mantras are chanted by followers of specific followers of those schools of Buddhism, one as a Buddhist need not belong to that specific school of Buddhism where these specific mantras belong to. For example a Tibetan Buddhist should not have any problem chanting "Buddho" to maintain focus in the present moment. A Theravada or a Mahayana Buddhist should not have an issue chanting Avalokitesvara mantra which is 'Om Mani Peme Hung'. As for Vajrayana Buddhism, mantras are a vital part of Tantric practice. Apart from the Avalokitesvara mantra, the other types of mantras along with their practices require transmission from a Buddhist Lama/Rinpoche.
