Table Of Content("John Blofeld
MANTRA:
Sacred W)rds of Power
PADME
HUM
Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2009
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Mantras
Sacred Words of Power
Mantras
Sacred Words of Power
JOHN BLOFELD
.•iSW
ADiitton
Paperback
E. R DUTTON & CO., INC.
NEW YORK
This paperback edition of
M'WTR.AS: Sacred Words of Povct.r
First published 1977 by E. R Dutton & Co., Inc.
Copyright © 1977 by George Allen & Unvvin (Publishers) Ltd.
All rights reserved. Printed in the U.S.A.
No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in
any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including
photocopy,
recording or any information
storage and
retrieval
system now known or to be invented, without permission in writ-
ing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who wishes to quote
brief passages in connection with a re\'iew written for inclusion in
a magazine, newspaper or broadcast.
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 76-523 2
1
ISBN: 0-525-4745 1 -X
10 987654321
First Edition
To Lu K'uan-yu (Charles Luk)
to whom the Western world owes much for
his lucid renderings of Chinese works
containing treasures of Buddhist and
Taoist wisdom
Author's Preface
How strangely things come
together! Again and again one
stumbles upon a word or thought long out of mind only to find
it re-echoed perhaps twice or thrice within the space of a few
days. Several years ago I toyed with and then discarded the idea
of writing a book on mantras. It would not do,
I felt, to expose
sacred matters to possible derision or lightly set aside the safe-
guards wherewith mantric knowledge has been guarded from
profanation throughout the centuries.
In the
last few years,
however, circumstances have altered. The interest in Eastern
wisdom now displayed by thousands of young people in the
West
is genuine and not wanting in reverence; unlike
their
elders and forefathers, they do not deride what
is mysterious
merely because it does not accord with the categories of Western
scientific thought. This change of attitude deserves and has re-
ceived a warm response ; nowadays even the most conservative
upholders of Eastern traditions are inclined to relax the rigour
of ancient safeguards out of compassion for those whose desire
for wisdom is sincere but who are unable to journey far from
home and sit at the feet of the wise for years on end. No sooner
had a series of apparently disconnected incidents caused me to
ponder anew the implications of this change than a letter arrived
from that outstanding authority and writer on Chinese Buddh-
ism, Lu K'uan-yii (Charles Luk), urging me to set about writing
exactly the kind of work
I had once had in mind.
My first reaction was cautious.
I replied that
I felt hesitant
on account of the samaya-vov/s which
enjoin
discretion
in
regard to
all knowledge
to which access
is attained through
tantric initiation ; for, though my lama, the Venerable Dodrup
Chen, has given me permission to write whatever I deem fitting,
I am naturally reluctant to make decisions in such a matter.
Then came another letter from Lu K'uan-yii to the same effect
as the first. After mulling over his suggestion, I accepted it, but
with a self-imposed proviso -that is to say, I decided to confine
X
Author's Preface
myself to speaking of mantras which, having already appeared
in published works, must certainly be known to (and perhaps
misunderstood by) the uninitiated. Thus I hoped to avoid mak-
ing unwarrantable disclosures and, at the same time, to clear
up some probable misconceptions.
Following the general line of approach taken in my earlier
books on similar subjects, I have begun at what for me person-
ally was the beginning, by relating more or less chronologically
my early encounters with mantric practice. Hence the first two
or three chapters have no profundity, though I hope they will
be found entertaining. Readers who, hitherto, have equated
mantras with magic spells or mumbo-jumbo will find that this
was nearly my own position at the start, although faith in the
wisdom of my Chinese friends prevented me from closing my
mind against what might seem to me nonsense, even
if they
thought
otherwise.
I
hope
I
shall
succeed
in
kindling
a
reverence for mantric arts and belief in their validity just as my
own were kindled -step by step.
I should like to stress that I happened upon mantras, rather
than came upon them by design. Although my interest in them,
once aroused, was
perfectly
sincere,
I made no
search
for
mantric knowledge and what I acquired of it was incidental to
my quest for yogas whereby Enlightenment might be achieved,
of which mantras sometimes form a part.
I have been exceed-
ingly fortunate in meeting men of wisdom and true sanctity
both
Chinese and
Tibetan, many
of them
well-versed
in
mantric lore, but I am very far from having achieved a mastery
of the subject. That
I have dared
to write about
it
is not
because
I know much, but because many others, lacking my
opportunities, may be presumed to know even
less. To
this
day -as the reader will discover towards the end -there are
aspects of mantras that remain as mysterious to me as
ever.
In my own mind,
I
divide mantras into three categories of
which
I feel able to speak with some slight authority only on
the first:
1
Mantras used in yogic contemplation, which are marvellous
but not miraculous.
2 Mantras with effects that are seemingly miraculous.
Author's Preface
xi
3 Mantras which, if the claims made for them are vahd, must
provisionally be deemed to operate miraculously, at least un-
til the manner of their operation
is better understood.
Most of what follows the two or three introductory chapters
concerns yogic contemplation. Though this may be thought the
least spectacular aspect of mantras, it alone is of ultimate impor-
tance.
I am grateful to Lu K'uan-yii for his encouragement; to the
Lama Anagarika Govinda for a letter that, taken in conjunction
with his published writings, solved several problems for me;
to my good friend, Gerald Yorke, for information about the
Hindu theory of mantric power as well as about several Western
practices analogous to the use of mantras ; and to Dom Sylvester
Houedard of Prinknash Abbey for the voluminous scholarly
notes from which
I culled my references to the Jesus Prayer
and the Ismu'z Zat of the Sufis.
JOHN BLOFELD,
The House of Wind and Cloud
Contents
Author's Preface
