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The Japa collection

Words to return to.

57 practices from seven traditions, each with its text in the script its own tradition writes it in, a romanisation, what the words say phrase by phrase, and where they come from. Most have a counter you can use right here.

Japa belongs to no single tradition. Counts and forms vary between communities; use the guidance that belongs to your practice.

Buddhist

  • Om Mani Padme Hum — A mantra invoking Avalokiteśvara. Maṇi means jewel and padma means lotus; traditional commentaries interpret the six syllables in several ways.
  • Gate Gate Pāragate — Gone, gone, gone beyond, gone altogether beyond — awakening — so be it
  • Homage to the Buddha — Homage to the Blessed One, the Worthy One, the Perfectly Self-Awakened One
  • Nembutsu — Homage to Amitābha Buddha
  • Metta
  • Awgatha — I ask leave, I ask leave, I ask leave. So that every fault of body, speech and mind may be effaced, a first, a second and a third time — once, twice, three times — with reverence and with hands raised and joined I bow, honour, look upon, set down my pride and pay homage to the Three Jewels: the Buddha, the Dhamma and the Saṅgha. By the merit of this homage, may I be free at all times from the four woeful realms, the three catastrophes, the eight wrong circumstances, the five kinds of enemy, the four misfortunes and the five kinds of loss, and may I attain the Path, the Fruition, and the peace of Nibbāna.
  • The Nine Qualities of the Buddha — Such indeed is the Blessed One: worthy, perfectly self-awakened, accomplished in knowledge and conduct, well-gone, knower of the world, unsurpassed trainer of those who can be trained, teacher of gods and humans, awakened, blessed
  • The Three Refuges — I go to the Buddha for refuge; I go to the Dhamma for refuge; I go to the Saṅgha for refuge
  • Homage to the Triple Gem — The Blessed One is worthy and perfectly self-awakened: I bow to the Blessed Buddha. The Dhamma is well expounded by the Blessed One: I revere the Dhamma. The Saṅgha of the Blessed One's disciples has practised well: I salute the Saṅgha.
  • The Five Precepts — I undertake the training rule to abstain from taking life; from taking what is not given; from misconduct in sensual pleasures; from false speech; from drink and drugs that occasion heedlessness
  • Nam Mo A Di Da Phat — Homage to Amitābha Buddha
  • Namo Guanshiyin Pusa — Homage to Avalokiteśvara
  • Daimoku — Homage to the Lotus Sūtra
  • Om Tare Tuttare Ture Soha — An invocation of Tārā as liberator and swift protector. The mantra’s syllables receive different explanations in traditional commentaries.
  • Vajra Guru Mantra — Oṃ āḥ hūṃ — O adamantine teacher, lotus-born, grant attainment — hūṃ

Hindu

  • Gayatri Mantra — May we hold in mind that most excellent radiance of the divine Vivifier; may it impel our understanding
  • Mahamrityunjaya Mantra — We worship the three-eyed one, fragrant, who nourishes all beings; as the cucumber is freed from its stem, may we be freed from death — not from deathlessness
  • Om Namah Shivaya — Oṃ — homage to Śiva
  • Hare Krishna Maha Mantra — O Hari, O Kṛṣṇa, O Rāma — an address to the divine by name, not a sentence with a predicate
  • Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya — Oṃ — homage to the Blessed One, Vāsudeva
  • Asato Ma Sad Gamaya — From the unreal lead me to the real; from darkness lead me to light; from death lead me to immortality
  • Saha Navavatu — May the divine protect us both, sustain us both; may we work together with vigour; may our study be radiant; may we not dispute with one another
  • Om Gam Ganapataye Namaha — Oṃ gaṃ — homage to Gaṇapati
  • Sri Ram Jai Ram — Śrī Rāma, victory to Rāma, victory victory to Rāma
  • So Ham — I am that

Christian

Muslim

Jewish

  • Shema — Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is One
  • Modeh Ani — I give thanks before You, living and enduring Sovereign, who has returned my soul to me with compassion; great is Your faithfulness
  • The Priestly Blessing — May the Lord bless you and protect you; may the Lord’s face shine upon you and be gracious to you; may the Lord turn toward you and give you peace.
  • Oseh Shalom — May the One who makes peace in the heights make peace for us and for all Israel; and say, Amen

Sikh

  • Mul Mantar — One Divine Reality; whose Name is Truth; the Creator; without fear or enmity; timeless in form; beyond birth; self-existent; known through the Guru’s grace.
  • Waheguru — Wondrous is the Guru — an exclamation of awe at the divine, not a name with a translation
  • Nanak Naam Chardi Kala — Nanak: with the Name, the spirit rises; in Your will, the good of all
  • Khalsa Fateh — The Khalsa is God's; the victory is God's

Secular

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