Heart Mantras: Musicians
The Heart Mantras of the Bön tradition have been arranged and recorded in Germany, November 2018. A big thank you to the musicians for their joyful participation and commitment to translate the mantras into musical language:
credits:
Main and backing vocals recorded at Strothmann studios, Essen, Germany.
Instruments recorded at the studios of the Institute for Computermusic and Electronic Media (ICEM) of Folkwang University of the Arts by Arthur Jogerst.
Postproduction at Strothmann studios.
Final mix at ICEM studio 2, by: Ch. Strothmann
Artwork by Kharnatsang (idea) & Rebecca Ter Braak (design)
Heart Mantras – a tool for transformation
In the Bön tradition we can distiguish three aspects of expression:
1. First is physical expression. Physical expression is the actions and experiences connected to our body. Depending on the situation we find ourselves in or our experience of our surroundings, this can be good or bad.
2. The second is speech. This refers to uttered words as well as to internal speech. Most importantly, it refers to the energy which underlies speech even without us being aware of it. This energy of speech is part of us even in silence. It is a creative power which can either heal or harm, just as words can do.
3. Third is mind/heart. It cannot be perceived directly but must be observed through our speech and/or our physical expression. However, mind/heart is not identical with our body and speech but can be perceived as a level of existence in its own.
One of the main goals of the spiritual practices of Yungdrung Bön is to transform these three aspects to the good. A good that benefits us and all beings connected with us to the greatest extent possible. One of the most basic tools to facilitate this transformation is the Three Heart Mantras of Bön.
Each of the Three Mantras is connected to one of the three aspects of existence. Each connects us to one deity who supports and evokes the transformation of the particular aspect of being.
The Heart Mantras
1. Mantra for the transformation of the level of our body and all aspects connected to the body:
ཨ་དཀར་ཨ་རྨད་དུ་ཏྲི་སུ་ནག་པོ་ཞི་ཞི་མལ་མལ་སྭཧཱ།
Ah Kar A Med Du Tri So Nag Po Zhi Zhi Mal Mal
Ah Kar A Med Du Tri So Nag Po Zhi Zhi Mal Mal Soha
This mantra can connect us to the Buddha of Bön, Tönpa Shenrab Miwoche.
2. Mantra for the transformation of the level of speech, and the creative energy behind it:
ཨཱོཾ་མ་ཏྲི་མུ་ཡེ་སལེ་འདུ།
Om Ma Tri Mu Ye Sale Du
This mantra can connect us to the Compassion Deity, Shenla Ökhar.
3. Mantra for the transformation of our heart/mind, the unseen level of our being:
ཨ་ཨཱོཾ་ཧཱུཾ།
ཨཱ་ཨ་དཀར་སལེ་འོད་ཨ་ཡང་ཨཱོཾ་འདུ།
Ah Om Hung
Ah A Kar Sale Öh Ah Yang Om Du
This mantra can connect us to Küntu Zangpo, the great being which resides as „all good“ in the realm of pure beingness.