Awakening the Buddha Within _ Eight Steps to Enlightenment - Lama Surya Das [86]
On an innate or secret level, there is the ultimate centering device, the mystical, wordless, effortless mantra of indwelling wisdom. Here is a place that you can rely upon, a place where you can lean your mind. The innermost, most secret, mystic, nonverbal mantra is the intrinsic, ever-present reality of “isness” itself, indescribable and self-authenticating.
Although you can certainly translate mantras, they are chanted more for their nonconceptual energy vibrations than they are for literal meaning. If you listen to the sound of a deep gong, you might easily feel it rippling, vibrating, and penetrating through your diaphragm, abdomen, and other energy centers. Chanting mantras has a similar effect. The outer vibrations are sound vibrations; the inner vibrations are energy, consciousness, directed attention-cum-thought. In Avalokitesvara’s Mantra of Great Compassion, “Om” is the universal sound. “Mani” means jewel, and “Pedmé” means lotus, so together they mean the jewel in the lotus. Then there’s “Hung,” but that’s not there for its meaning; it’s there for the completeness of the vibrational tone. “Hung” is the consort of “Om.” It is the seed syllable of the five wisdoms of Buddha-mind. Om Mani Pedmé Hung.
OPENING THE THROAT CHAKRA
The temple bell stops
but the sound keeps coming
out of the flowers
—ZEN HAIKU MASTER BASHO
I first learned about chanting as a child standing next to my parents in a synagogue. Although like most people there I had very little idea of what was being said, the rhythmic effect and sonorous soulful sound was delightful. After my bar mitzvah at age thirteen, I must admit I didn’t try to chant again until I was in college and started chanting with some traveling Hindu yogis. Then I immediately felt the powerful healing and renewing effect of chanting, and suspected that there might very well be something more than mere senseless rites and rituals in such mysterious and foreign-seeming spiritual practices.
A renowned Dzogchen lama of old, the fearless Master Jigme Lingpa, spontaneously sang innumerable enlightened songs and lengthy poetical texts and treatises. Although he was not learned, by opening his throat chakra via chanting and meditative practices, lineage teachers tell us that he accessed the splendid dimensions of sacred sound. We too can give voice to all that is within us even if we don’t have a lot of formal training or qualifications, simply by breathing deeply, overcoming inhibitions and hesitation, letting go, and singing our hearts out. It’s a great way to lose our finite sense of self, at least momentarily, and encounter our greater Buddha-nature.
I myself could never really carry a tune and felt tone deaf. Having unsuccessfully attempted to master a few different musical instruments, I thought I had no musical abilities whatsoever. Then I learned to memorize and chant sacred devotional hymns and songs in India; later I ended up as one of the chant leaders of our retreat group in France.
From Gregorian chants to Native American rain chants to Hebrew davening, some form of chanting is common to just about every culture. When you give voice to the truth within you, the angels also sing. Just as angels can fly because they take themselves lightly, you can use your voice and breath to soar. Begin your chanting practice by relaxing, breathing deeply, and enjoying yourself. Open up, loosen up; no need to be embarrassed. Don’t worry, no one’s judging. Sometimes the best way to start is to think of it as exercise. You are exercising energy, vocal cords, throat chakra, and higher mind; and you are opening your heart. Stretch and relax your arms and shoulders, neck, and chest. Work your breathing in and out, just like a bellows. Spread your wings. Singing is believing.
As you begin to