Mantra use in christianity

[ThatMan]

There's a famous story of a man whos goal was to find a way that he could be in a state of continuous prayer even when he wasn't praying with his inner voice or with his natural voice.

I read the book but I can't remember the name, anyway, the idea is that he used a mantra, the words where: "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy on me a Sinner!"; or something like this.

So he started saying this on and on for hours and hours, thousand times a day, every single day, until, eventually, a shift happened in his mind and finally he arrived at the state of continuous prayer ( if I remember correctly ).

This is just an example, but from what I've seen, mantras are used in christianity, it's a way to get a deeper "connection" so to say, it's not like saying empty words.

So I asked myself, after all, it's all in the mind, right? If there's no shift in one's mind, there's no awakening, there's no salvation and there's no enlightenment.

I don't know if this is actually a way of using "mantras" because I don't fully understand what mantra means, but to an extent, it seems that this form of "repetition" in christianity is similar with the use of mantra.

What do you think?

The book you are talking about is : The Way of a Pilgrim.

It's based on the Philocaly that indicates how to do the prayer of the heart.

It brings one to become aware of each and every hearth beat.

I did practice it for three years, when meeting a "master" he told me to stop right away this practice, since I was not living in a monk environment. The slightest horn from a car that would surprise me could create a hearth attack at that time. For one becomes in control of every hearth beat practising it. It's a great responsibility for our monkey mind, but with time it does bring our monkey mind in tune with the natural flowing life force in us.

Very different from focusing on the heart chakra.

The word Jesus, after a while, does become a mantra in itself.

Regards,

[inavalan]

Originally Posted by ThatMan

There's a famous story of a man whos goal was to find a way that he could be in a state of continuous prayer even when he wasn't praying with his inner voice or with his natural voice.

I read the book but I can't remember the name, anyway, the idea is that he used a mantra, the words where: "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy on me a Sinner!"; or something like this.

So he started saying this on and on for hours and hours, thousand times a day, every single day, until, eventually, a shift happened in his mind and finally he arrived at the state of continuous prayer ( if I remember correctly ).

This is just an example, but from what I've seen, mantras are used in christianity, it's a way to get a deeper "connection" so to say, it's not like saying empty words.

So I asked myself, after all, it's all in the mind, right? If there's no shift in one's mind, there's no awakening, there's no salvation and there's no enlightenment.[1]

I don't know if this is actually a way of using "mantras" because I don't fully understand what mantra means, but to an extent, it seems that this form of "repetition" in christianity is similar with the use of mantra.

What do you think?

Mantras are used to put you in trance. They're more effective on people whose primary sense is the hearing. For others visualizations are more effective. There are many other methods.

Anything can be a mantra. What makes it effective is your belief it is effective.

Getting into trance means a change in the focus of your awareness, that allows you the perception of a wider reality than you can perceive through your five outer senses.

Not sure what made you reach those conclusions [1].

[Aknaton]

The Jesus prayer is as it is... A prayer for God to have mercy on an individual. Ask and it shall be given, and the prayer is continuously given until continuous mercy is granted.

A mantra is a key word, or rather a key that represents and corresponds to a particular realm in the spiritual world. One invokes the energy of that realm and aligns + conditions the mind/body/spirit system to be acclimatised to this realm. That is why the mantra is "given" by one who has access to this dimension, so that the person initiated/inducted into this mantra starts by being a part of that dimension.

The purascharana practice involves attaining a mastery of that dimension and the beings there in. Once one is initiated/inducted to that mantra, then the purascharana practice is given so as to attempt mastery over that realm and the entities + energies therein. This mastery, or even partial mastery brings about what people refer to as "siddhi", or mastery over the realm. Siddhi does not mean supernatural power, it simply means mastery.
Let us look at this example; say you were given a mantra to enter into dimension x, and this dimension has energies that cause bliss, heal, destroy, and even cause materialisation of things like ash and lingams. You get the idea!

[lomax]

Mantras are triggers.Just as any other word,they have a meaning.Of course you have to know it,otherwise you can't use the mantra.Or maybe you can,if you can trance and enter your subconsious.

The same way i use eastern mantras and have an energetic feedback,the same way i can use the words Jesus Christ as well.In fact i did it several times,and i experienced a pleasant and peaceful current-frequency.(not that i was expecting something else).

Originally Posted by lomax

Mantras are triggers.Just as any other word,they have a meaning.Of course you have to know it,otherwise you can't use the mantra.Or maybe you can,if you can trance and enter your subconsious.

The same way i use eastern mantras and have an energetic feedback,the same way i can use the words Jesus Christ as well.In fact i did it several times,and i experienced a pleasant and peaceful current-frequency.(not that i was expecting something else).

My understanding is that mantras are used as a tool to interrupt the constant flow of thoughts that come up from our subconscious as we try to meditate. One focuses on the mantra to the exclusion of all else, then one can keep the mantra or eventually discard it and be left with the quiet mind one was seeking. I hadn't thought of mantra as a trigger, but it does seem to work that way as well. One mantra I have used as a focal point during meditation is the word Samādhi, later I found that if I spoke the word when I was out and about during the day it would instantly trigger a change in my state of mind toward expansion and peacefulness. Have not done that in a while, but I find now it still works to some extent.

[markings]

Originally Posted by Legrand

I did practice it for three years, when meeting a "master" he told me to stop right away this practice, since I was not living in a monk environment. The slightest horn from a car that would surprise me could create a hearth attack at that time. For one becomes in control of every hearth beat practising it.

I think that is really nonsense. Buddha Name recitation is a common practice of the common people in much of Asia and is practiced throughout the day.
In Shin Buddhism, to which a majority of Japanese belong to it is the virtually the only practice to get to enlightenment.

Originally Posted by markings

I think that is really nonsense. Buddha Name recitation is a common practice of the common people in much of Asia and is practiced throughout the day.
In Shin Buddhism, to which a majority of Japanese belong to it is the virtually the only practice to get to enlightenment.

Hello Markings,

The hearth prayer in the Phylocaly, a Christian approach, is not just repeating a word, its becoming conscious of each and every hearth beat at each and every moment.

It is not the same as the recitations you are referring to in this way.

One can also become aware, in other practice, of each movement of each cell, like did the Mother in Sri Aurobindo Ashram. She did very well document this inner work in the subconscious of the mind regulating the body functions and some effect it may have, if the thinking mind is not prepared to control directly this subconscious regulation of our vital organs.

For some just having a partial control of the breath is a hard thing to maintain in a natural flow, just imagine if those stressed people had a direct control over their hearth beat...

Regards.

[Molearner]

We are focusing on 'mantra' as we literally understand it. In my mind, anything that is repetitive in nature is, in effect, a sort of a mantra. Christianity utilizes many things that fall into this category. Examples: the Lord's Prayer, the Doxology, the Gloria Patri, familiar hymns, prayer beads, favorite bible verses, our admiration of the beauty of nature, etc.

Originally Posted by Molearner

We are focusing on 'mantra' as we literally understand it. In my mind, anything that is repetitive in nature is, in effect, a sort of a mantra. Christianity utilizes many things that fall into this category. Examples: the Lord's Prayer, the Doxology, the Gloria Patri, familiar hymns, prayer beads, favorite bible verses, our admiration of the beauty of nature, etc.

Not sure about all that, but I recall as a child during Sunday mass as the priest would drone on, my eyes would glaze over and I would go into a sort of trance where I would kinda leave my body and go fishing for an hour or so instead. Maybe that was why they always would make the congregation go back and forth between kneeling, standing, sitting, shake hands, come up for communion, etc... otherwise you couldn't tell who had zoned out and gone fishing. In time, one learned to multitask.