A Buddhist chant is a form of musical verse or incantation, in some ways comparable or similar to other faiths recitations. They exist in just about every part of the Buddhist world, from the in Thailand to the Tibetan Buddhist temples in India and Tibet.
When you go to any Buddhist temple you may encounter people chanting. All schools of Buddhism have some kind of chanted liturgy, although the content of the chants varies widely.
What is a Liturgy
Liturgy is a rite or a system of rites prescribed for public worship in any religion. A Buddhist liturgy is a formalized service of veneration and worship performed within a Buddhist Sangha community in nearly every traditional denomination and sect in the Buddhist world. It is often done one or more times a day and can vary amongst the Theravada, Mahayana, and Vajrayana sects.
The liturgy mainly consists of chanting or reciting a sutra or passages from a sutra, a mantra (especially in Vajrayana), and several Gathas. Depending on what practice the practitioner wishes to undertake, it can be done in a temple or at home. The liturgy is almost always performed in front of an object or objects of veneration and accompanied by offerings of light, incense, water and/or food.
Almost every Buddhist school has some tradition of chanting associated with it, regardless of being Theravada or Mahayana. In Buddhism, chanting is the traditional means of preparing the mind for meditation, especially as part of formal practice (in either a lay or monastic context). Some forms of Buddhism also use chanting for ritualistic purposes.
Vajrayana chants
In the Vajrayana tradition, chanting is also used as an invocation of a ritual in order to set one's mind on a deity, Tantric ceremony, mandala, or particular concept one wishes to further in themselves.
For Vajrayana practitioners, the chant Om Mani Padme Hum is very popular around the world as both a praise of peace and the primary mantra of Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva. Other popular chants include those of Tara, Medicine Buddha, and Amitabha Buddha.
Tibetan monks are noted for their skill at throat-singing, a specialized form of chanting in which, by amplifying the voice's upper partials, the chanter can produce multiple distinct pitches simultaneously. Japanese esoteric practitioners also practice a form of chanting called shomyo.
Tibetan lamas throat singing
The throat singing or overtone singing also known as overtone chanting, harmonic singing or throat singing—is a type of singing in which the singer manipulates the resonances (or formants) created as air travels from the lungs, past the vocal folds, and out of the lips to produce a melody.
You can listen here how the Tibetan Lamas throat singing that is sounded so divinely and spiritually:-
Tibetan Buddhists believe that chanting the mantra of Om Mani Padme Hum, out loud or silently to oneself, invokes the powerful benevolent attention and blessings of Chenrezig Bodhisattva or in Sanskrit word is Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva the embodiment of compassion. Viewing the written form of the mantra is said to have the same effect -- it is often carved into stones, like the one pictured above, and placed where people can see them.
In surrendering to Buddhist ritual, you quiet yourself, abandon your individuality and preconceptions, and let the myriad things to experience themselves. It can be very powerful. The power of the rituals manifests when you engage in them fully and give yourself to them completely, with your entire heart and mind. When you are fully mindful of a ritual, the "I" and "other" disappear and the heart-mind opens.
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Aspiration For Bodhichitta
For those in whom the precious Bodhichitta has not arisen
May it arise and not decrease
But increase further and further.
Dedication of Merit
By this merit may we obtain omniscience then.
Having defeated the enemies wrong-doings.
May we liberate migratory from the ocean of existence.
With its stormy waves of birth, old age, sickness and death.
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