Clicking on the link for each mantra below will take you to a page where you can read about that mantra, see the figure associated with the mantra (where applicable), and listen to an audio version of the mantra.
You can chant along to the mantra until you’re confident that you have it fully memorized. There are ten repetitions of each mantra (more or less) to help give you time to learn the mantra and chant along. You can replay the mantra until you think you’ve got it.
Please note that the mantras as written on this site lack some of the diacritic marks that allow for an accurate representation of the pronunciation.
(Diacritics, or accents, are little marks that indicate how a letter should be pronounced. Pali and Sanskrit have many more letters than the Roman alphabet, and these marks allow us to extend the number of characters available to us. Diacritics include the macron — a bar over a vowel that lengthens the vowel sound — overdots, underdots, and tildes. Unfortunately not all fonts possess those diacritic marks, and although some fonts do have the full range of accents not all computers have those fonts installed. There’s therefore no reliable way to represent diacritics on the web. You therefore may sometimes see strange characters or question marks in words.)
It’s best to listen to the audio files in order to get a better appreciation of how they are pronounced (taking into account the fact that I have a Scottish accent). In the heading of each page I’ve represented long vowels with a double vowel (eg. aa) or, where it’s possible to reproduce these in html, with a letter and diacritic mark (e.g. ?).
Note: Tibetans typically pronounce some Sanskrit sounds in a non-Indian way. For example they’ll tend to pronounce “padme” (pa-dmé) as peh-mé, and “svaha” as soha. Those who are familiar with the Tibetan pronunciation will therefore notice differences such as these.
Sabbe satta sukhi hontu
Om shanti shanti shanti
Gate gate paragate parasamgate bodhi svaha
Avalokitesvara: Om Mani Padme Hum
Manjushri/Manjughosa: Om A Ra Pa Ca Na Dhih
Vajrapani: Om Vajrapani Hum
Green Tara: Om Tare Tuttare Ture Svaha
Amitabha: Om Amideva Hrih
White Tara: Om Tare Tuttare Ture Mama Ayuh Punya Jnana Pushtim Kuru Svaha
Shakyamuni: Om Muni Muni Mahamuni Shakyamuni Svaha
Padmasambhava: Om Ah Hum Vajra Guru Padma Siddhi Hum
Bhaisajyaguru (Medicine Buddha): Om Bhaishajye Bhaishajye Mahabhaishajye Bhaishajyaraje Samudgate Svaha
Vajrasattva: 100-Syllable Mantra.
By following the links you can find out the meanings, pronunciations, and benefits of the Buddhist mantras listed above.
View Comments
Hi Jordana,
Yikes! That's horribly mangled, so I'm not surprised you couldn't figure out what it was. It's a garbled form of the Vairocana mantra, which seems more usually to be found as:
OmÌ£ Amogha vairocana, mahā-mudrā, manÌ£i-padma, jvala pravartaya h?mÌ£
That would be something like
Om unfailing Illuminator, the great symbol, the jewel-lotus-flame set-in-motion h?m.
But you seem to have found a variant form:
OmÌ£ Amogha vairocana, mahā-mudrā, manÌ£i-padma, śubhra pravartaya h?mÌ£
śubhra means white, pure, shining, or immaculate, but given that Vairocana is the illuminator the primary sense is probably of radiance, like the light of a fire (śubhra, or radiance, having been substititued for jvala, or flame).
The shorter form of Vairocana's mantra is:
oṃ vairocana h?ṃ
Hello all-
I am seeking the perfect mantra for inscription on a wedding ring. I have looked everywhere for someone to do
Sanskrit calligriphic translation of the phrase "we attribute this union to a higher source".
Is anyone able to help or make suggestions?
Hi Dharma,
You probably need two things:
1. A Sanskrit scholar who can reliably translate those words for you (and possibly another to check the translation), and
2. Someone to do the calligraphy.
There isn't really a Sanskrit script as such -- Sanskrit is written in a variety of scripts and you'd have to choose which you wanted.
Jayarava at visiblemantra.org might be able to do the calligraphy, but I'd hesitate to recommend a Sanskritist -- perhaps you should check out universities.
what type of mantra is "ohm manay paymay hum?", i use it all the time and i've heard that if you whisper it to a hyper animal or an animal that doesn't feel safe in your hands, it will calm down, is this true? if not what does it do? please answer as i love this mantra and would like to know the complexities of it.
Hi Mad,
That's the Avalokiteshvara mantra, which is Om Mane Padme Hum (although in Tibetan pronunciation Padme becomes Pémé). My opinion would be that it's the tone of voice you use in speaking to an animal that makes a difference rather than the words you use. I don't think the mantra has any special powers. I'm sure some Buddhists would disagree, of course! Anyway, hopefully that link will answer your questions.
hi bodhipaksa,
please can you help me how tp pronounce this i do not wan to make mistakes,namah saptānām , samyak-sambuddha kotinam ..
tad-yathā …om …. cale cule cundi svāhā
,would love to hear form as soon as posible...
thank you
bhavya
As a quick guide, pronounce all short A's (no bar over them) like the "u" in Elgish "cut" and all long A's (ā) as in English "father"; all C's are like the "ch" in English "church."
The M at the end of saptānām and kotinam is like the "ng" in English "long."
The "th" in yathā is not like the "th" in English "the" or "thin" but like the "t-h" combination in "hot ham."
Hi there,
Om Mani Padme Hum mantra is popularly known as "The Jewel in the Lotus "
The meaning of Om Mani Padme Hum is " Om , salutations to the Jewel of consciousness ( the Mind )
which has reached the Heart's lotus.
Each time we say Om Mani Padme Hum, we invoke the Devine Powers of Avalokitshvara, who has infinite
compassion and who out of his infinite compassion made a noble pledge to Buddha Amitabah that he will
liberate all sentinel beings from six realms of sufferings.
6 realms of suffering ;
1. OM liberates/purifies us from emotions of bliss and pride in the samsaric realm of the Gods.
2. Ma " " " " " " jealousy and lust fro entertainment in the samsaric realm of Demi-Gods
3. Ni " " " " " " passion and desire in the samsaric realm of Humans
4. Pad ' " " " " " stupidity and prejudice in the samsaric realm of animals
5. Me " " " " " " poverty and possessiveness in the samsaric realm of hungry ghosts
6. Hum " " " " " " aggression and hatred in the samsaric realm of hell.
The mantra Om Mani Padme Hum purifies us at 3 levels, Mind, Speech and Body.
Make effort to overcome the 6 relams of sufferings.
Regards.
Kelvin
Hi was going thru your site sp the comments section and was so happy to see you enthusiastic interaction which iam sure means a lot to someone who is seeking answers and ofcourse your knowledge is deep. great!! i was surfing for B chants and found one but unfortunately there is no album detail to help get the chants. if it is not too much trouble could i requeast u to visit the link an dlet me know ? think u might know for sure, thanks and all the very very best. take care
Hi S:
I'm afraid that none of the mantras we have here are available in CD form at present. I've been talking to Sunada for a long time now about putting together a CD, and hopefully that'll happen before too long.