Phonosemantics

I've added an essay which introduces the subject of phonosemantics - the study of the way vocal sounds are meaningful. To my mind this is a very exciting area of linguistics which may provide insights into how and why mantras affect us. I serendipitously found Margo Magnus's Magical Letter website many years ago and almost instantly became fascinated with her research and it's conclusions.

There are a small number of linguists prepared to take the subject seriously and they are making slow progress in describing the phenomenon - an essential first step in understanding it! It is a minority interest, and progress is slow, because the major paradigm in operation in linguistics denies the possibility that individual syllables can bear meaning. Because it is held to be impossible, very few people are prepared to even examine and comment on the data. Such is the way of scientific revolutions!

Mañjuśrī and Arapacana

I've rejigged the info relating to Mañjuśrī and Arapacana. I wanted to add some Mañjuśrī mantras and this would have made his page a bit unwieldy. So I have split off the material that relates only to the Arapacana alphabet onto a new page. I've added the Vagiśvara mantra, and one that I discovered recently on Glenn Wallis's website which is also related to Mañjuśrī's role as Lord of Speech. So now there are three pages to consult:

• Mañjuśrī and Mañjughoṣa - material relating to the mantra of the Bodhisattva
• The Arapacana Alphabet and it's history
• Meditating on the Wisdom Alphabet with reference to the Pañcaviṃśatisāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra

Redecorating

I finally got bored with all the green on Visible Mantra and have opted for basic black in the new colour scheme, with red drop capitals. The latter are inspired by the red seals Nathaniel Archer uses in his calligraphy. I keep thinking I must have a go at making some...

I'm also slightly rejigging the menu (which is time consuming because I use stone age technology to create VM) and have renamed a couple of the pages to better reflect what they are about. There is a new section of reading material. I have been working on some background material for the site which I think will fill a gap for anyone who is interested in Buddhist mantra.

Names

I've now completed a project to add calligraphy of the names for all of the deity mantra pages, and other figures with Sanskrit names. At the same time I've updated a few of the less elegant mantras (my calligraphy has improved somewhat since I set this site up). Do take the time to revisit pages you may be familiar with to see what's new.

Acala Vidyārāja - Fudō Myōō (不動明王)

The latest addition to Visible Mantra is a page for Fudō. Fudō is a wrathful manifestation of Mahāvairocana who acts as a messenger and protector. He is one of a group of Vidyārājas. Vidyā is sometimes used as a synonym for "mantra" in Tantric Buddhism, though it's basic meaning is knowledge (the word is related to the Sanskrit Veda), and it is often used to connote magical or esoteric knowledge. A Vidyārāja then, is king of esoteric knowledge especially of mantra. Fudō is one of the thirteen principal deities of the modern Shingon School.

I have to admit I'm not very familiar with this character as he does not figure in the Western Buddhist Order to any great extent. I'm drawing entirely on Shingon sources for this mantra, but especially the Shingon "Handbook for Followers" by Abbot Yusei Arai.

Updates

I've updated the Prajñāpāramitā and Śākayamuni pages with some extra info, and fixed a number of typos.

Four Great Kings

I have added a page for the Four Great Kings after finding some mantras for them in the reference book Bonji Taikan. Because I don't read Japanese I can't say what the source of these mantras is, but it won't be the Mahāvairocana Sūtra where the mantras do not begin with oṃ, but with namaḥ samanta buddhānaṃ.

I have been interested in the Kings -Dhṛtarāṣṭra, Virūḍhaka, Virūpākṣa, and Vaiśravaṇa - since my ordination retreat when we carried out rituals involving them. The kings are not originally Buddhist and still show signs of their origins in Indian folk religion, as well as influences from Brahminism. However they must has been widely popular even at the time of the Buddha because they make frequent appearances in the Pāli Canon. They are devas from the lowest devaloka, and are therefore the closest to the human realm. As kings they are lords over the various chthonic spirits such as yakṣas, nāgas, kumbhāṇḍas, and gandharvas that inhabit the Buddhist mythic landscape.

I hope to do more thorough research on the kings in the future. The fact that there are mantras to these, and other Vedic/Hindu gods (such as Agni, Indra, and Śiva) is a very interesting facet of esoteric Buddhism.

Vajrasattva Mantra Audio

A few people now have asked me if I'll do some audio for Visible Mantra. So I've started with the most popular mantra on the site : the hundred syllable Vajrasattva Mantra. My Sanskrit pronunciation is not perfect by any means, but you get the idea. I've also done it chanted FWBO style, although this is not as straight-forward as it might be because there is now more than one version. This is my preferred version with (an attempt at) accurate Sanskrit pronunciation, correcting the mispronunciations that have crept into due to transmission. This is one good thing about preserving the tradition in writing - even if pronunciation shifts one can still here how it sounded at the time when it was written down. This is still not guarantee of perfection due to what the scholars call "scribal error" but it is helpful especially when the mantra gets transmitted through non Indo-European speaking cultures such as Japan and Tibet.

Anyway have a listen and see what you think. Feel free to comment. Any requests?

Dr Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar

I've added some examples of Jai Bhim and some of the commmon chants used by Indian Buddhists to celebrate their great leader Dr. Ambedkar. This is the first time I have employed Devanāgarī for calligraphy but it seemed appropriate to the subject.

This is Dr. Ambedkar's name in Devanāgarī: ढॉक्टर् भीमरव् रामजी आंबेड्कर

Ratnaguṇasaṁcayagāthā

Added calligraphy of the first verse of the Ratnaguṇasaṁcayagāthā. I'm looking for more small projects which I can do, perhaps other verses from this sutra, but others as well. The Perfection of Wisdom in one letter would be an obvious one if I can find the Sanskrit.

The Last Words of the Buddha

I have a long fascination with the official last words that the Buddha spoke: vayadhammā sankhārā appamādena saṃpadethā. They are so pregnant with meaning and siginificance. I've just added some calligraphy of the words using Siddhaṃ to write the Pāli from the Mahāparinibbāna Sutta, along with my translation and links to my blog article on them.

Vajrasattva Tops

I've started collection more statistics on Visible Mantra. The top mantra on the site is the Vajrasattva Mantra, with more than half of people who find it, looking at at least one other page. The scripts page is also popular. I'm hoping that this kind of information will help me tailor the site to meet people's needs.

Cheers
Jayarava

Pali Chants

I've just added another of those really fundamental phrases from early Buddhism:

This being that becomes,
With the arising of this, that arises.
This not being, that does not arise,
With the ceasing of this, that ceases.

I know these things are neither strictly speaking mantras, nor were they ever traditionally written in Siddham, but I like them, and its fun writing them.

There are a few of them now which can be found in the miscellaneous section of the mantra page. I'm working on the Metta Sutta, and a better version of the Heart Sutra. Anything else you'd like to see?

Artwork

I've finished the project that I have been working on for some time to provide line drawings for each of the figures for which I have mantras. I have replaced other images that were a bit of a mixed bag. This will , I hope, contribute to a consistent look and feel for the site, and make it more visually interesting.

Although the influence of Buddhist art is positive and strong in most traditions, I am of the opinion that a mantra - whether chanted or written - is just as good a representation of a Buddha or Bodhisattva as an anthropomorphic image. I am wary of thinking of a Buddha as a happy monk sitting on a lotus floating up in the sky. Mantra being more abstract lessens the tendency to reify the Buddha.

Update

I've tweaked the mantra page which was starting to get very image heavy and taking an appreciable time to load. It also means I don't have to make all those little mantra images.

Also added svāhā and phaṭ to the bija page and created pages for them - still need to fully link them into the rest of the site. I know they aren't really seed-syllables, but they had to go somewhere, and they are in fact used like seed syllables.

Milarepa & White Tārā

Added the Milarepa mantra in Uchen and Siddhaṃ, and the Long-Life mantra for Sangharakshita on the White Tārā page. Also some time back I added my notes on White Tārā and her iconographic relationship to the Five Buddha Mandala and the Siddhaṃ version of taṃ.

Siddham in the Taisho

The Chinese Tripitaka is an important source for Siddhaṃ. Many mantras are preserved using the Siddham script in the Taisho edition of the Canon. With the help of my friend Maitiu I have copied a couple of examples of the way Siddhaṃ looks in the Taisho, and for the enthusiast you can see the Chinese commentaries on pronunciation alongside.

The example here is from Taisho No.913 and reads:

oṃ a mṛ ta hūṃ pha ṭ - ie oṃ amṛta hūṃ phaṭ.

Amṛta means "immortal" or "undying", and can also refer to a kind of elixir of life. This example is on the scripts page, while another can be seen on the Siddhaṃ page.

Update

I have been chipping away at minor improvements over the last few weeks. My big improvement (I hope) will be the replacement of all artwork with my own simple line drawings. These are not masterpieces of religious artwork, just illustrative of the basic outline of iconography. I hope they will help to contribute to a cohesive look and feel for the site.

Current examples are akasagarbha and ksitigarbha (right).

A few more updates

The page on hūṃ has been expanded with information from Kūkai' Ungi gi and a new calligraphy which demonstrates the elements which make up the seed syallbale.

There is a new calligraphy section which has links to projects which go beyond the basics. There are a couple of projects there already and I'll add more as I can.

Another new section is words which has some common Buddhist terms in the Siddhaṃ script.

The shop now has two sections: you can buy books, calligraphy equipment, and incense from Amazon; and clothing and giftware with selected Visible Mantra designs. I'm open to suggestion about adding design to the shop.

Updates

I've made some more additions to the site.

I've added a shop which beefs up my Amazon Associate relationship. In the last 12 months links to Amazon have generated the enormous sum of £9 (with a payout threshold of £25). Hopefully the new shop will boost that a little. There are some Japanese Siddham books I'd like to get which are rather expensive!

I've added Siddham calligraphy of the Refuge formula - the three refuges.

Also some Lantsa bijas.

Search

I've added a Google search facility. This searches only Visible Mantra so should come in handy (if only for me trying to remember where I've put things!