Mantra, an effective tool for mind calming concentration
Mantra, an effective tool for mind calming concentration
By Rahayu Ratnaningsih
JAKARTA (JP): Erick, a soft spoken and aloof 23 year old with
severe depression, came to one of our meditation retreats. He has
attempted at least five suicides by taking insecticide, which he
did twice, once mixed with a soft drink, jumping in the river and
overdosing on drugs. He comes from a dysfunctional, well-to-do
family where his older brother was in a graver condition and also
recently attempted suicide by jumping from a second-floor window
in the family house.
Sitting still was agonizing for him since he was experiencing
severe hallucinations aggravated by drug abuse. He claimed to
constantly hear voices from inside his body; from his knees,
chest, head and hands, which scared and angered him at the same
time and hampered his efforts at concentration. It was like
simultaneously tuning into a hundred different radio channels at
full blast. The voices were typically of a bunch of people
gossiping about him, talking to him in a derogatory manner,
dictating to him or repeating the order "trust me". One suicide
attempt was lured by these persuasive voices. He takes a few
seconds before answering any question or responding in a
conversation since he needs to fight off all this distraction.
His older sister stated that it started when their mother died
two years ago from a short terminal illness that he and the
family were unprepared for. Erick, the youngest in the family,
was close to his mother, who apparently spoiled him and the other
seven children. As she was illiterate and uneducated, she perhaps
didn't see much importance in education so she let Erick drop out
of school during the fifth grade of elementary school. His older
brothers did the same. Their father, who associated parental
responsibility, dignity, social status and success solely with
money and hard work, blamed this and the fact that all his four
sons were "irresponsible brats and junkies" on his late wife. He
was recently married to a woman younger than his oldest children
after a three-month previous "marriage" with another woman.
Suppressing apparent anger toward his father, who Erick thought
had little concern for his wife and children, self-destruction
was an easy, if painful, way out and represented some form of
vengeance for him.
Erick was basically obedient and sweet. Though he would rather
be somewhere else than sitting in a small room doing nothing
among strangers, he didn't try to escape the program his sister
enrolled him in. He made an effort and claimed that he regretted
what he did in the past and wanted to change. But because he was
so restless, we had to separate him from the others and give him
a special class on relaxation that allowed him to open up and
talk about all his troubling thoughts. Under a mild hypnotic
trance, he began to tell uncanny stories that referred to Kwan
Yin, the goddess of mercy, in Mahayana Buddhist tradition. He
apparently saw a mother figure in her, which was confirmed by his
sister who said that all the sons were ritually "given away" to
Kwan Yin when they were children. He still prays to her, calling
her "ma", asking for help, comfort and protection.
Understanding his devotion to the goddess, the other
instructor, who also happened to be Buddhist, excused himself to
the other non-Buddhist participants and gave him a mantra, which
referred to Kwan Yin as one of the bodhisattvas, recorded on
cassette. A bodhisattva is a being that compassionately refrains
from entering nirvana, a state of cessation of the cycle of birth
and death, and thus all sufferings, in order to keep going back
to the world to help other suffering creatures achieve salvation.
The mantra said "Om mani padme hum." It was the mantra of great
compassion. Literally, Om (the jewel in the lotus) and hum (a
Tibetan who is typically an adherer to the Mahayana tradition)
means that all is well in the universe, and the force of good and
love is everywhere, competent in helping all beings out of any
difficulty.
And the mantra worked. It was soothing and powerful at the
same time. It was like a flood of water appeasing a raging fire.
It effectively eliminated the distraction Erick was experiencing.
He could now sit still and concentrate or quietly repeat the
mantra for 45 minutes -- or perhaps forever if we didn't stop
him. He chanted nonstop at times, an "idleness" he previously
could barely manage for more than 15 seconds. He became calmer.
What astonished me was after I, a skeptic then, recited the
mantra for awhile, I suddenly felt a surge of deep and
overwhelming emotion burst out of my chest and I couldn't stop
the tears from streaming down my cheeks. For some inexplicable
reason, I could vividly feel the pain and suffering Erick, and
perhaps many others like him, were experiencing. I could feel
the universal love and compassion of bodhisattvas who overcome
their self-interest for the sake of others. And this vision of
unconditional selflessness touched me to the very core. At one
point I sensed Erick was quietly sobbing as well while chanting
the mantra.
Some Tibetans combine the mantra with a visualization in which
they see the six jeweled syllables on a turning wheel in the
center of the heart, radiating rainbow-colored rays of the five
wisdoms to bless all beings throughout the universe. The stream
of the mantra connects with the constant vision of radiating
colors and flows back and forth in the form of loving energy.
Other mantras can also be used in the same way. If the mantra
is Jewish, Christian or Islamic, you can use it to create the
same kind of positive stream in your mind. Surely you can combine
it with a visualization of Moses, Jesus or the word Allah.
Secularistic agnostics can even chant the word one, or perhaps
even something as mundane as thank God it's Friday repeatedly.
The difference perhaps will be in the lack of faith and meaning,
and thus the positive energy associated with the act of chanting.
The mantra can be in some cases, like Erick's, a powerful driving
force in certain people of faith. Tibetans, whose lamas were
known to be able to maintain a meditative state right to the end,
believe such a practice will be especially valuable in the
process of impending death. By learning to let it flow
automatically, it will carry the spirit harmoniously through
rough spots in the passage of death and between transitions.
The writer is the director of the Satori Foundation, a
center for study and development of human excellence through mind
programming and meditation techniques.