In “Living Buddhist Masters” Jack Kornfield wrote:
The use of mantra or the repetition of certain phrases in Pali is an extremely common form of meditation in the Theravada tradition. Simple mantras use repetition of the Buddha’s name , “Buddho,” or use the “Dhamma,” or the “Sangha,” the community, as mantra words. Other mantras that are used are directed toward developing loving kindness. Some mantras direct attention to the process of change by repeating the Pali phrase that means “everything changes,” while other mantras are used to develop equanimity with phrases that would be translated, “let go.”
I assume by “everything changes” he means sabbe saṅkhārā aniccā. Is that used as a “mantra” in the Theravadin tradition? (And by mantra I mean something repeated out loud or internally as an object of mindful attention.)
And what might the phrase be that “would be translated” as let go that is also used as a mantra.
Please note I’m not asking people to show off their Pāli translation skills or to speculate. My aim is to ascertain these two Pāli phrases that are chanted or mentally recited as “mantras.”
I think it depends on the tradition. For an example, the usage of ‘Buddho’ in Thai Forest is different than the usage of ‘Buddho’ in Burmese Vipassana or Sri Lankan Yogasrama.
As far as I know, “sabbe saṅkhārā aniccā” or something of similar meaning is used by Vipassana meditators, but not always.
I know some monks who will just use “anicca” (or “anattā”) on its own as a mantra (without the “sabbe…”) or “maraṇa” in a way that was specifically for the purpose of letting go… But yeah, I’ve yet to hear of someone using “assaj” or “vossagga” or somesuch as a mantra… though it’s certainly possible! There are a lot of … creative practices in Thailand
Ah! Thank you. Perhaps Kornfield erred in saying that the chants were in Pali, and was thinking of chants in Thai, or was assuming that Thai chants must have been translated from the Pali.
Note that he didn’t qualify the second “phrases” as “Pali” phrases… Perhaps he knew that these were Thai phrases, but just decided to skip over that detail for whatever reason?
