Recently, I got a new Mala!
Isn’t it lovely!
I really love this one!
I don’t really care for the fact that it doesn’t have divider beads though! 😦
Oh well, I still love it!
The kind of red coloring is so pretty!
Malas are Buddhist prayer beads.
They are used for Mantra recitation, to generate positive energy and discipline the mind.
There are various mantras associated with different Buddhas.
It’s believed that when we touch the beads and say/think the mantra, the energy goes onto the Mala.
The way I practice Mala recitation is in a secular way, I don’t pray to a Buddha to actually answer me. It’s just a peaceful meditative activity that gets our mind in the habit or more in the habit of positive thinking or a positive, peaceful state. Even if we are already positive and peaceful, it can help us to be calm even more frequently, even in very stressful, depressing, situations later, even when we are not engaging in recitation.
We don’t have to be Buddhists or religious or any specific kind of spiritual to practice Mala recitation and benefit.
The mantra can be recited once a day or all throughout the day, even walking up a street, at a restaurant, in line at a store…whenever we want, wherever we want(as long as it’s safe/appropriate to be concentrating on it, I don’t know about while driving or performing surgery, in a talk therapy session with a patient…). The point is to truly experience it though, not to absent-mindedly engage in it.
The mantra I chose for this Mala is the
Manjushri Mantra,
Om A Ra Pa Ca Na Dhih
“This mantra is believed to enhance wisdom and improve one’s skills in debating, memory, writing, and other literary abilities. “Dhīḥ” is the seed syllable of the mantra and is chanted with greater emphasis and also repeated a number of times as a Decrescendo.”
“A leads to the insight that the essence of all things is unproduced.
RA leads to the insight that all things are pure and free of defilements.
PA leads to the insight that all dharmas have been “expounded in the ultimate sense.”
CA leads to the insight that the arising and ceasing of things cannot be apprehended because in reality there is no arising or ceasing.
NA leads to the insight that although the names for things change the nature of things behind their names cannot be gained or lost.”
Source: http://www.wildmind.org/mantras/figures/manjushri
Manjushri is a bodhisattva, depicted as a beautiful young prince of transcendent wisdom.
You can hear the mantra said over and over here (mobile) or here (desktop)... It’s so soothing.
Malas typically are strung with 108 beads and divider beads. A mantra session can be performed for all 108 beads at once or less. It’s believed by Buddhists that the energy for the mantra goes on the beads and each recitation session adds more energy. If a different mantra is used for the same Mala, the energy for the previous mantra clears and the new energy goes on.
I have five Malas.
I’m not yet in the habit of practicing everyday though like some who are very dedicated.
It can be overwhelming until we truly ingrain the habit.
People who have practiced for many years with the same Mala, often take great care not to have their Mala lost or damaged because there goes all that positive energy, years worth, down the drain!
But Buddhism/Mala recitation is all about inner peace, and all those years of Mala recitation, hopefully, provides them with the strength to handle such misfortune.
If you want to see about various mantras, check this out!
http://www.thebuddhacenter.org/buddhism/mantras/
If you aren’t into Mala recitation and mantras, this is probably a boring post for you.
And I love to mostly share things that can be appealing to people in general.
Unlike what many people say about themselves and their blogs, I don’t mostly post for myself. I do post things for me but my main intention is to help uplift & inspire others who may come across my content now or later. It will always be here (hopefully!)!
Of course everything I post is something I want to share so in that way it is for me.
Even if I wanted to post something I thought no one else would care for, I still would post it. I already have but most of it got “likes” anyway! I’m so honored when people like my content.
But I always want to include something that may be more interesting to others.
So if you opened this post and couldn’t care less, you’re in luck! Lol
Because I will share some fantastic quotes here as well!
“My life has no purpose, no direction, no aim, no meaning, and yet I’m happy. I can’t figure it out. What am I doing right?” ~
Charles M. Schulz
Lol I feel this way often, like I have no specific purpose, but not in a bad way, no need for a purpose, my purpose is just to be. It’s beautiful to feel that way. When I’m depressed sometimes I feel the opposite about it, like I have no purpose and it sucks! Lol It’s all about the attitude!
“The universe was a vast machine yesterday, it is a hologram today. Who knows that intellectual rattle we’ll be shaking tomorrow. ” ~ R.D. Laing
“A rose is a rose is a rose.” ~ Gertrude Stein
Whaaattt??? Lol 😉
“The present moment is a powerful goddess.” ~ Goethe
“Life is a child playing around your feet, a tool you hold firmly in your grip, a bench you sit down upon in the evening, in your garden.” ~ Jean Anouilh
“The man bent over his guitar,
A shearsman of sorts. The day was green.
They said, ‘You have a blue guitar,
You do not play things as they are.’
The man replied, ‘Things as they are
Are changed upon a blue guitar…'” ~ Wallace Stevens
Such deep wisdom here.
“Wind moving through grass so that the grass quivers. This moves me with an emotion I don’t even understand.” ~ Katherine Mansfield
This is one of the most beautiful experiences in the world! To witness something so mundane and so simple and be so inspired, filled with immense emotion that can’t even be described, like gratitude, love, beauty, happiness, joy, awe…I feel this often! ❤
"No snowflake falls in an inappropriate place." ~ Zen saying
"There is nothing useless in nature; not even uselessness itself." ~ Montaigne
"To the dull mind nature is leaden. To the illuminated mind the whole world burns and sparkles with light." ~ Emerson
Oh yes, it burns and sparkles with passion, light, love….
"Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the men of old; seek what they sought." ~ Basho
Allow their wisdom to guide us but follow our own way.
"If we achieve satori and the satori shows, like a bit of dogshit stuck on the tip of our nose, that is not so good." ~ Taisen Deshimaru
Lol Don't flaunt that shit! Be humble. Just be.
;-D
So reading this post wasn't a total waste, right?…right?!
😉
Much love & light to you!
Xoxo Kim
