If you have a Unicode font installed you’ll be able to see the mantra with diacritics here:
Amitabha (his name means infinite radiance) is an archetypal Buddha who is supremely important in far eastern Buddhism. He represents love and compassion, and he is pictured as being the rich, warm color of the setting sun.
Amitabha is one of the so-called Dhyani-Buddhas, a set of five non-historical, symbolic figures who are arranged in a mandala. The other Buddhas in this set are Vairocana (center), Akshobhya (East), Ratnasambhava (South), and Amoghasiddhi (North).
Amitabha is dressed as a monk, with his hands in the mudra (hand gesture) of dhyana (meditation). The dhyana mudra is how one traditionally arranges one’s hands during Buddhist meditation, all those pictures of yoga practitioners with their hands on their knees notwithstanding. This hand position is very balanced and subtle; the thumbs lightly touch, neither pushing together nor falling apart.
Amitabha is of great important in far-eastern Buddhism, where he is known as Amida. He also has a Bodhisattva form called Amitayus, which means “Infinite Life.” The Bodhisattva form is, unlike the monastic Buddha-form, arrayed as a young prince with long hair and adorned with jewelry and fine silks. In some traditions Amitabha and Amitayus are seen as being essentially the same being, while in other traditions they are distinct.
Amitabha is the head of the Lotus (padma) family. This family includes some of the most famous Buddhas and bodhisattvas, including Avalokiteshvara, Padmasambhava, White Tara, and the historical Buddha, Shakyamuni.
He sits on a lotus throne decorated with his sacred animal, the peacock. In Indian folklore it is said that the peacock’s brilliant colors come from the poison of the snakes they eat. These poisons are transmuted into beauty, and likewise Amitabha’s practice turns the poison of greed into love. The connection between greed and love may not be immediately obvious, but one only has to think of the contrast between lust (desiring another person in order to gratify our appetites) and true love (valuing the uniqueness and the potential of another as a person in their own right) to appreciate the symbolism.
Amitabha was one of the first Buddhas to have his own visualization practice. There are several sutras devoted to him. The Amitayurdhyana Sutra (the Teaching of the Meditation on Amitabha) explains 16 meditations that visualize the Buddha Amitabha and his Pure Land, Sukhavati (“the realm of bliss”). This was a teaching given to Queen Vaidehi, who had been imprisoned by her evil son, Ajatasatru. The Buddha introduces the meditation thus:
Do you not know now that the Buddha Amitayus is not far from here? You should concentrate your thoughts upon and visualize that Buddha-land which is the result of pure actions. I shall now give you detailed instructions so that you and future generations who desire to practice the pure actions may attain birth in the Western Realm of Ultimate Bliss.
Other Sutras concerning Amitabha and his Pure Land are the Greater Sukhavati Vyuha and the Smaller Sukhavati Vyuha (Vyuha meaning “a detailed explanation or description”).
So you may be wondering, what is a Pure Land? A Pure Land is what we might think of as a parallel dimension or alternative universe which has been constructed by the infinite merit of a Buddha in his eons of practice. In a Pure Land everything is conducive to gaining enlightenment. You don’t have to worry about earning a living or finding the time to meditate. You’re born, full grown, in a lotus, and the teaching of the prevailing Buddha is everywhere. A Pure Land is a sort of heaven into which one can aspire to be reborn. This aspiration is the central theme of what is known as Pure Land Buddhism
Amitabha’s mantra is a variant of his name. Amideva is just the Tibetan pronunciation of Amitabha (although I was told for a long time that “deva” here meant “god”).
(As an aside, a friend of mine was ordained and given the name “Amaradeva” which means “deathless god.” Symbolically amara (deathless) signifies enlightenment and deva means “radiant” and so the name could be parsed as “one who radiates awakening.” However his colleagues at work got the understanding of “deathless god” a little mixed up and were perturbed to contemplate that they would soon be working with “The Lord of the Undead.” Such are the perils of using Indic names in the West!)
Click below to hear an MP3 version:
The final ḥ in hrīḥ has the effect of producing an echo sound. So the syllable is pronounced hree-hee.
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Hello Bodhipaksa!
My grateful thanks to you and to Jayarava for your input. You have both illuminated this mantra for me. I see that Jayarava's suggestion corresponds to the Tibetan version I found (above) -- although I do find the Sanskrit somewhat easier to pronounce. But I guess that both are equally powerful.
Thank you also for the comment about pronunciation. I agree that we should at least TRY (as you suggest) to get it right. But there are various ancient Tibetan stories about ignorant people (like myself) doing things somewhat wrongly, but with faith, and reaching a desired goal. :) But, yes, I agree with you. We need to keep the tradition as pure as possible.
I am amazed that Tibetans can keep a straight face when they listen to our pronunciation of transliterations of Tibetan. But they do. Maybe that's why they smile so much? :)
Thank you also for your helpful comments about the relationship between Amitayus and Amitabha. I believe that a Buddha can manifest infinite forms, and so maybe Amitayus is a Bodhisattva form of Amitabha (the same continuum)? I just accept that Amitayus is a Buddha of long-life, etc. and that Amitabha is the root guru of Buddha Shakyamuni (he is usually depicted on BS's crown). Is that right?
I surmise that we can use this mantra for both Amitayus and Amitabha?
On another tack, the weirdest variations in pronunciation I have heard occur in the Medicine Buddha's mantra. Which makes me a bit sad because I would love to use it more. Have you any ideas about that, Bodhipaksa?
Thank you once again, and all blessings
Rocco
Hi Rocco,
I'm sure Westerners' pronunciation of Tibetan is frequently hilarious. There are also sounds in Sanskrit that we simply don't have -- all of those letters with dots below them involve turning the tip of the tongue backwards on the roof of the mouth, for example -- and so most of us are never going to pronounce Sanskrit correctly. It's not impossible, just a huge amount of effort. And then again, the pronunciation of Sanskrit has undoubtedly changed over the millennia, so perhaps no one pronounces mantras exactly the way they used to be pronounced in the early days.
By the way, I don't really see correct pronunciation as a question of "purity" but more as a form of respect for another language and as a way of taking mindful care of the way we speak religious words.
Anyway, I just don't know whether, in the parts of the Buddhist world where Amitayus and Amitabha are regarded as being the same figure, the mantras are used interchangeably. That would be an interesting research project -- perhaps for Jayarava? I'll write and ask.
The Medicine Buddha mantra (and the figure himself) is one I know very little about, for some reason. There's a Wikipedia article that shows the Sanskrit mantra, and you can compare that with the various Tibetan manglings!
namo bhagavate bhaiśajyaguru vaid?ryaprabharājāya vathāgatāya arhate samyaksambuddhāya tadyathā: oṃ bhaiśajye bhaiśajye bhaiśajya-samudgate svāhā
It's a very long mantra, and in the Western Buddhist Order (in which I practice) people who do the Bhaisajyaguru visualization use a shorter version of the mantra. Thus traditions evolve! I plan to post an article on Bhaisajyaguru written by a friend of mine. She's also recorded the short form of the mantra for me.
You're correct in thinking that Amitabha is the head of the Lotus family that includes Shakyamuni.
All the best,
Bodhipaksa
Hari om...great site to discover so thanks...do you know the meaning of the words in the long mantra of Amitayus?
It starts
NAMO RATNA TRA YAYA/ OM NAMO BHAGAVATE/ APARIMITA AYUR JNANA/..........and finishes......MAHA NAYA PARIVARA YE SVAHA
many blessings,
Pip
Hi Pip,
For the benefit of other people who might be interested, here's the full mantra/dharani:
NAMO RATNA TRAYAYA
OM NAMO BHAGAVATE
APARIMITA AYUR JNANA
SUPINISH CHITATAYE
JORA JAYA
TATHAGATAYA
ARHATE SAMYAKSAMBUDDHAYA
TADYATHA
OM PUNYE PUNYE
MAHA PUNYE
APARIMITA PUNYE
AYU PUNYE
MAHA PUNYE
AYUR JNANA
SARVA RUPA SIDDHI
AYUR JNANA
KE CHE BHRUM
OM BHRUM
AH BHRUM
SVA BHRUM
HA BHRUM
CHE BHRUM
OM SARVA SAMSKARA
PARI SHUDDHA DHARMATE
GAGANA SAMUDGATE
SVABHAVA VISHUDDHE
MAHA NAYA PARIVARA YE SVAHA
There's an MP3 version of this available from Lama Zopa's site.
This isn't a mantra I'm familiar with -- thanks for flagging it up. Khenpo Thubten Lodru Nyima has a rather unsatisfactory translation here (PDF). I say unsatisfactory because he seems to gloss over some parts of the mantra. Unfortunately some of the parts he skates over don't (to my untrained eye) look like proper Sanskrit. And perhaps equally unfortunately I don't have time at present to do the kind of research that would be needed to untangle it (If indeed I'd be capable of doing that). But his partial translation will give you some idea of what the mantra's saying, bearing in mind that some of it is composed of seed syllables and doesn't have any conceptual meaning anyway.
All the best,
Bodhipaksa
We have waited for the entry you promised on the medicine Buddha mantra. We would be delighted to read and...practise.
Hello Mbeleck,
You got me! I'll aim to create a page on the Medicine Buddha this week.
Thanks for the reminder,
Bodhipaksa
Hi Mbeleck,
You have your wish. The Medicine Buddha page and mantra have been published. I'll no doubt add more material later.
I hope you find it useful.
Greetings
A few years back I felt an affection for Padmasambhava when I first ran across his story as recounted by R.A. Ray in "Indestructible Truth." Later I acquired a tanka that shows Padmasambhava along with what appears to be Amitaba and Avalokatishvara as well as other figures I can't identify.
Im wondering if the mantras of related figures are ever used together? I know these three are members of the Padma Family. Also has anyone heard the mantra "Om Amitabha Harii-hiih" before?
I have great respect for Acharya Ray. He's a fine teacher.
I've never come across the variant you mention, although it wouldn't surprise me to know it's out there. Mantras are very mutable, and of course "amitabha" is the actual name. Your "Harii-hiih" is just a more-or-less phonetic rendering of the pronunciation of Hrih (see the pronunciation guide on this page for details).
Please note that I have made an amendment to my re-creation of the Sanskrit Amitāyus mantra. I still haven't found a Sanskrit source, but I think the mantra makes more sense if we read it as: oṃ amaraṇi jīvantaye svāhā. Probably aramaṇi should be aramaṇa as well, but I'm not certain.
My reasoning is laid out on the Amitābha Mantra page on my website. Apologies for any confusion I may have caused.