Comment from sanjay
Time: April 24, 2008, 2:54 am

excellent

Comment from aldrin
Time: May 4, 2008, 11:23 pm

om triambakam yaja maje shugandem poste vardanam orobar rokome babandanam reteor rokshe yamamrotar om shanti shanti shanti

what does this mantra means. thank you

Comment from Bodhipaksa
Time: May 5, 2008, 7:46 am

Hi Aldrin,

At the risk of seeming ungracious, I wonder why you didn’t just search for this mantra on Google? If you had, you’d have found the same results I did, and would have discovered that this is a corrupted version of:

Om Trayambakam Yajamahe
Sugandhim Pushtivardhanam
Urvarukamiva Bandhanat
Mrityormukshiya Mamritat Om

and which has a translation here.

So it’s a Hindu mantra and not a Buddhist one.

All the best,
Bodhipaksa

Comment from aldrin
Time: May 6, 2008, 5:51 am

thank you brother Bodhipaksa,

I really appreciate the effort you did to help me, i hope this won’t be much of a bother if i ask you again for another definition of a prayer, i’ve searched for it but can’t find the meaning. my father gave me this prayer he said it was a Buddhist prayer.

deva mancha rishi nansha gurum canchana
sanivam bohdibotam trilokesham tamnamame brihas patem.

thank you again for your effort, i understand if you are busy and can’t reply, i just hope you can help me to find the definition of this prayer.

more power,
aldrin

Comment from Bodhipaksa
Time: May 6, 2008, 6:51 am

Actually, I thank you for the opportunity to research this. It was a most interesting experience. The prayer isn’t Buddhist, but is in fact a prayer to the planet/god Jupiter.

Deva-naam cha Rishi Naam cha Gurum kaanchana sannibham,
Buddhi Bhootam Trilokesham Tam Namaami Brihaspatim

My salutations to Jupiter,
Who is teacher of devas and sages,
Who is equal in shine to gold,
Whose soul is intellect,
And who is the lord of all three worlds.

It’s an extract from the Nava Graha Stotram (Hymn of Praise to the Nine Planets). This translation comes from the Vedanta Spiritual Library, and you can hear an absolutely beautiful arrangement of the stotra at another site.

There are unaccompanied audio chants of the individual hymns here.

The word “Buddhi” which may have made your father think this was a Buddhist prayer, actually means “intelligence.”

Comment from Ricky Buchanan
Time: July 2, 2010, 8:40 pm

I know this is an old post but I was reading the beginners meditation tutorial series and it popped up!

I was wondering if mantras always have to be in a non-English language for us English speakers? If I already have a series of words which is very meaningful for me, or perhaps an affirmation, could that be used as a meditation focus?

It seems to me that it would work fine, but your article only refers to others and doesn’t say so I’m asking :)

Thanks for all your great material!

Comment from Bodhipaksa
Time: July 2, 2010, 10:13 pm

Hi Ricky,

Sure, in essence you can repeat anything that’s meaningful and that leads to the development of positive emotions. This section of our site just happens to be about traditional mantras.

all the best,
Bodhipaksa

Comment from Ricky Buchanan
Time: July 3, 2010, 9:46 pm

Thanks for the clarification, Bodhipaksa. I suspected that was the case – after all, it seems to work for me – but I haven’t ever read anything about modern mantras so I wasn’t sure if I was doing something extremely unusual!

Also, I haven’t found a section of your site about non-traditional mantras yet – could you point me in the right direction if it’s available?

Thanks for all your patient help, it’s very much appreciated :)
Ricky

Comment from Bodhipaksa
Time: July 3, 2010, 9:52 pm

Hi Ricky,

Now you come to mention it, I don’t think I have anything. What you’re talking about is really “affirmations” rather than mantras, and I don’t seem to have written anything on that topic. Maybe I should.

Comment from Ricky Buchanan
Time: July 3, 2010, 9:59 pm

Well, I know plenty about affirmations in general but I have never read anything about using them to chant while meditating – they do something odd inside my head and eventually seem to turn into meaningless syllables even though I’m still going over the same set of syllables I was when I started, if that makes sense? Like the meaning disappears after a lot of repetitions…

And I don’t always use words which would count as affirmations in the traditional sense, for example “Sending love and light to all beings” for a lovingkindness meditation works for me but isn’t an affirmation in the way I’m used to.

Would love to read your thoughts on the matter!

r

Comment from Bodhipaksa
Time: July 3, 2010, 10:12 pm

Well, I’m not big on affirmations, especially when they involve repeating things that aren’t true (all that “everybody loves me” stuff). But I have sometimes kept a phrase in mind for an extended period of time, and found that to be helpful. For example, I’ve often said “all beings are, from the very beginning, Buddhas” as a reminder to relate to people’s potential rather than to their current limitations. But I haven’t kept the phrase in mind constantly, like I do with a mantra. I’ve just dropped the phrase into the mind from time to time. Mostly I’ve used phrases that help me to cultivate a certain attitude.

Incidentally, I recently read some research into affirmations showing that many people felt worse after repeating an affirmation that they knew not to be true. I think that’s a healthy response to untruthfulness, actually.

Comment from Bodhipaksa
Time: July 3, 2010, 10:15 pm

And here’s a link to that research: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8132857.stm

And my thoughts about it: http://www.bodhipaksa.com/archives/affirmations-can-make-you-feel-worse

Comment from Ricky Buchanan
Time: July 4, 2010, 6:12 am

I read that research and I agree that untrue affirmations are unhelpful.

The type I use are “in progress” type affirmations – eg “I am working on accepting myself” rather than “I accept myself” which is untrue and unhelpful, and also … things which are true and which I intellectually agree with but don’t emotionally believe yet, like “I’m allowed to make mistakes”. That’s a hard one!

I meant your thoughts on non-traditional mantras though, actually. Not ones which are affirmations, just on the power of coming up with one’s own mantra and on the way it’s different to using a traditional one.

Comment from Bodhipaksa
Time: July 4, 2010, 9:44 am

Ah, well I’ll give that some thought, although I don’t have much time for writing at the moment. By the way, I think the following research is of relevance to affirmations: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=the-willpower-paradox. It points out that people who asked a question before undertaking a task (“Will I do this?”) performed much better than people who made a statement (“I will do this”). Possibly the questioning mind is more open and therefore more creative than the one that is narrow and focused.