Mantras

What it says

In the explanation taught by Lama Zopa Rinpoche, OM stands for the transformation of one's ordinary body, speech and mind into the enlightened body, speech and mind of the Compassion Buddha. MANI, the jewel, is the method side of the path to enlightenment; PADME, the lotus, is the wisdom side. HUM requests the Compassion Buddha's attention.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama's counsel alongside it is blunt. Speaking at the Mani Dhungdrub recitation in 2024, he said that “simply parroting the mantra, reciting it mechanically without any thought of bodhichitta and emptiness, will not please him”. The recitation is worth doing, but what makes it work is the compassion and the view you bring to it.

How it is recited

Recited constantly and in enormous accumulations, on a mala, while walking, while circumambulating. It is the mantra printed inside prayer wheels and carved on mani stones across the Tibetan world.

Does it need an initiation?

No initiation is required to recite it. Avalokiteśvara is a kriya (action) tantra deity; an initiation is needed only to generate yourself as the deity.

Sources

• FPMT Chokyi Gyaltsen Center, Mantra
• Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive, The Meaning of OM MANI PADME HUM
• dalailama.com, Joining the Mani Dhungdrub (2024)

Avalokiteśvara in the Lexicon

What it says

Unusually, the middle of this mantra is not a sentence. A RA PA TSA NA are the opening syllables of the arapacana, a forty-two-syllable Indic syllabary that appears in Perfection of Wisdom literature. Reciting the first five stands in for the whole syllabary: for the totality of language, and so for the wisdom that language carries.

DHIH is Mañjuśrī's seed syllable and the part that is specifically his. It is customarily repeated many times over at the end of a round of recitation.

How it is recited

Recited by monks before study and before entering debate. The common instruction is to repeat the final DHIH as many times as possible at the end of the last round, often on one breath.

Does it need an initiation?

No initiation is required for this form. Mañjuśrī also has restricted Highest Yoga Tantra forms, which are not given publicly.

Sources

• FPMT Chokyi Gyaltsen Center, Mantra
• Encyclopedia of Buddhism, Mañjuśrī (arapacana)

Mañjuśrī in the Lexicon

What it says

Lama Zopa Rinpoche glosses it in short as “I prostrate to the Liberator, Mother of all the Victorious Ones.”

Taken apart: TARE is Tārā liberating living beings from saṃsāra, from true suffering. TARE TUTTARE TURE together are read as a prostration, “to you, embodiment of all the buddhas' actions, I prostrate always, whether I am in happy or unhappy circumstances, with my body, speech and mind.” SOHA means establishing the root of the path within your heart.

How it is recited

Recited daily by lay people and monastics alike, on a mala, and chanted collectively in Tārā pujas. Commonly turned to at the start of a journey or a difficulty.

Does it need an initiation?

No initiation is required to recite it.

Sources

• FPMT Chokyi Gyaltsen Center, Mantra
• Lama Zopa Rinpoche on the Tara mantra (FPMT / Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive)

Green Tārā in the Lexicon

What it says

The Green Tārā mantra with a long-life request inserted. MAMA, for me; ĀYUR, lifespan; PUṆYE, merit; JÑĀNA, wisdom; PUṢṬIṂ KURUYE, please increase these.

How it is recited

Lama Zopa Rinpoche's instruction, in the FPMT practice text: visualise White Tārā above your head or in front of you at the level of your forehead, with long-life nectar coming from her heart. Blissful white light enters your crown and fills your body; feel strongly that all sicknesses, spirit harms, negative karmas and obscurations are completely purified. At the end of one mala, feel that your life has been increased, your merit developed, and your understanding and wisdom increased.

Does it need an initiation?

Recitable without initiation. FPMT's own guidance is that if you have not received the initiation you visualise Tārā in front of you rather than generating yourself as Tārā.

Sources

• FPMT, White Tārā Meditation for Long Life: Visualization and Mantra (composed by Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Taipei, March 1994; ed. FPMT Education Services, July 2020)

White Tārā in the Lexicon

What it says

The short mantra is the tail of the long one. Bhaiṣajya is medicine or healing; rāja samudgate addresses the Medicine Buddha as the king who has arisen. The bracketed repetition is printed in the FPMT text and is optional in recitation.

The transliteration above is the Sanskrit as printed; the second line is the Tibetan pronunciation you will actually hear in a monastery, which FPMT prints alongside it.

How it is recited

Recited for the sick and dying, over medicine and water, and in the Medicine Buddha puja. Lama Zopa Rinpoche's teaching is that reciting the mantra collects the same merit as making the seven-limb offering to all the buddhas.

Does it need an initiation?

No initiation is required to recite it.

Sources

• FPMT, Medicine Buddha Mantras, extracted from Medicine Buddha Sadhana, FPMT Education Services, 2008
• FPMT, Lama Zopa Rinpoche on the benefits of Medicine Buddha mantra

Medicine Buddha in the Lexicon

What it says

The long mantra is a direct address: keep your pledge, remain near me, be steadfast towards me, be pleased with me, grant me all accomplishments, make my mind virtuous in all my actions, do not abandon me. It is a request made to the enlightened mind, in the second person.

The short form, OM VAJRASATTVA HUM, is used for daily recitation when the long mantra is impractical.

How it is recited

The core of the ngöndro preliminaries, where it is recited in an accumulation of one hundred thousand. Practised with the four opponent powers, regret, reliance, the remedy itself, and the resolve not to repeat the act.

Does it need an initiation?

Recitable without initiation. FPMT's guidance is explicit that Vajrasattva practice may be done without the initiation because the deity is visualised above your crown, not generated as yourself.

Sources

• Drepung Gomang, The Hundred-Syllable Mantra of Vajrasattva (Sanskrit, English and Tibetan)
• Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive, Vajrasattva Practice with the Four Powers

Vajrasattva in the Lexicon

What it says

Sumati Kīrti is the Sanskrit of Losang Drakpa, Tsongkhapa's ordination name. Guru Vajradhara addresses him as the teacher in the form of the primordial buddha; siddhi is accomplishment.

The mantra is normally recited after the five-line Migtsema, which addresses Tsongkhapa as the union of the three: Avalokiteśvara's compassion, Mañjuśrī's wisdom and Vajrapāṇi's power.

How it is recited

Recited daily across the Geluk world, at the opening of teachings and as a stand-alone practice. Widely taught as accessible to anyone.

Does it need an initiation?

No initiation is required. The Migtsema and name mantra are taught openly.

Sources

• FPMT Chokyi Gyaltsen Center, Mantra
• Kadampa Center (FPMT), Five-Line Prayer to Lama Tsongkhapa (Mig-tse-ma)

Je Tsongkhapa in the Lexicon

What it says

Muni means sage; mahā, great. The mantra reads as an address: “Om, sage, sage, great sage, hail.” Tibetan recitation often extends it to … maha muni shakyamuniye soha, naming the sage of the Śākyas.

How it is recited

Recited daily, and while circumambulating or prostrating. Often the first mantra a child learns.

Does it need an initiation?

No initiation is required.

Sources

• FPMT Chokyi Gyaltsen Center, Mantra
• FPMT, Shakyamuni Buddha Holy Name Mantra

Śākyamuni Buddha in the Lexicon

What it says

Amitābha's short name mantra. Amideva is the Tibetan rendering of his name; HRIH is his seed syllable.

How it is recited

FPMT's guidance, from Lama Zopa Rinpoche, is to recite it 108 times daily if possible, dedicating with the wish to be born in the western blissful realm. It is among the mantras recited for the dying and the recently dead.

Does it need an initiation?

No initiation is required.

Sources

• FPMT, The Benefits of Reciting Amitabha's Name Every Day

Amitābha in the Lexicon