Reading

The new page of readings on mantra begins to fill the gap on the theory of mantra. I present material from the scholarly literature on mantra, making the abstruse more accessible (I hope). There are now two essays on the reading page:

• What is mantra? - an overview of Buddhist mantra which looks at mantra use in different contexts: Tantric ritual, Mahāyāna ritual, and informal.
• On the etymology of the word 'mantra' - this essay presents both historical and traditional etymologies of the word mantra, and incidentally adds to the definition of what mantras are.

Some additions are already planned. In particular I want to re-present my original Wikipedia article on Phonosemantics - the study of how sounds affect meaning - which fell foul of academic orthodoxy some time ago. This is an exciting area for anyone interested in understanding how and why mantras 'work'.