I've been interested in converting to buddhism, so i looked around the web and found a great site that teaches some buddhist mantras. i was just wondering what your opinions were on this. i have been doing mantra meditation for a little more than a week and i think it is great. -peace
Keep on. Vajra Guru, Tara, Mani, Paragate, these are some really good ones that have been done googles of times by others. They therefore have much pull.
How do you do mantra meditations? Do you have to say them out loud? That would probably annoy my parents, haha.
my understanding of it is that yes, you should say the mantra out loud, as it is not just the phrase but the vibration of sound that is important.
you just quietly chant the words aloud. The mantras have meanings, but just ignore them and by chanting them you can feel it, dont consentrate on the meanings of the mantras -peace
I don't know anything of buddhist doctrines for meditation (they vary from sect to sect too, though), but I know that visual mantras work wonderfully. A popular one is the image of a flame growing as you inhale an shrinking as you exhale. I prefer visual to chants actually. Someone should do an olfactory mantra: cinnamon on the inhale, peppermint on the exhale. Hell, I'd be chilled out.
here's information on mantras from an excellent kundalini yoga website. http://www.kundaliniyoga.org/mantra.html