The Three Heart Mantras of Bön
1. Nine clarity syllables of Truth body (or, Bon-sku)
ཨ་ཨཱོཾ་ཧཱུཾ། ཨཱ་ཨ་དཀར་སལེ་འོད་ཨ་ཡང་ཨཱོཾ་འདུ།
A-OM-HUNG, AH A-KAR SA-LE WOD A YANG OM DU
This mantra is an aspect of the Dharmakaya, the formless aspect of Buddha mind. Sometimes the A OM HUNG is not recited, leaving only the final nine syllables. The meaning of each of the nine syllables is as follows:
AH represents the primordial Buddha, the changeless Essence, the Void. A The second short A represents the ceaseless clarity. KAR means the purification of negative emotions, the two obscurations, and all karmas. SA-LE means beyond all limitations of words and concepts. WOD literally means light, but its significance here means beyond conceptual obscurations and grasping mind. A represents Buddha mind, the omni-consciousness that perceives all instantly. YANG normally represents the air element, but in this case it is associated with the wisdom prana—that which activates wisdom within oneself and removes obscurations. OM represents the Five Buddha Families, the Five Wisdoms, and the Five Embodiments. DU essentializes everything into oneness, the tigle nagchig, or single sphere.
Meaning
Though the meaning can be broken down syllable by syllable, one should understand that the ultimate meaning of the mantra is the essence of one’s own mind. The particular benefit of the mantra is to remove obstacles of meditation and develop clarity of the view. It is known as the mantra of the dharmakaya or Samantabhadra, or the mantra that develops the view. It is the essence of the actual deity Samantabhadra, so as you recite it you become more closely identified with this deity and all of his perfected qualities. When you recite the mantra, visualize that you transform yourself into Samantabhadra, Kuzang Gyalwa Dupa, or Shenla Odkar, who are all manifestations of pure Buddha mind. You should visualize that you are the umdze, or chant master, leading all sentient beings in reciting this mantra, and in this way benefiting not only yourself, but all beings.
2. Mantra of complete body (or, rdzogs-sku)
The liberation from the depth of samsara
ཨཱོཾ་མ་ཏྲི་མུ་ཡེ་སལེ་འདུ།
OM MA-TRI MU-YE SA-LE DU
OM is for Tonpa Shenrab who represents method and compassion. MA is for Sherab Chamma who represents wisdom and vast space. TRI is for Mucho Demdrug who transforms anger and hatred by means of love and friendliness thus purifying the hell realm. MU is for Sang wa Ngang Ring who transforms greed and desire by means of total generosity, thus purifying the realms of the pretas (hungry ghosts). YE is for Tisang Rangzhi who transforms ignorance and confusion by means of total knowledge and wisdom thus purifying the animal realm. SA is for Sangwa Duspa who transforms envy and jealousy by means of total expansion thus purifying the human realm. LE is for Chegyal Parti who transforms pride and arrogance by means of total peacefulness, thus purifying the realms of the Asuras of Titans (demigods). DU is for Yeshen Tsugphud who transforms indolence and self-absorption into diligence and vigor, thus purifying the God realm.
Meaning
Seen in this light and understanding these meanings, reciting this mantra is a way of helping all the beings of the six realms of existence. Reciting this mantra invokes the guide Buddhas of the six realms and their sources, Tonpa Shenrab and Sherab Chamma. Through their enlightened power, our negative emotions are dissolved and all the positive, pure, and virtuous qualities of love, generosity, wisdom, openness, peacefulness and compassion are invoked in us. Reciting this mantra helps us to connect with and reinforce those qualities within ourselves. It is not necessary to know all the legends of the various realms to gain benefit from this great mantra, but it is important to make a connection within ourselves to the virtuous qualities held by these seed syllables and come to embody those qualities.
3. Mantra for of emanation body (or, sprul-sku)
for purification of karmic imprints and negative emotion
ཨ་དཀར་ཨ་རྨད་དུ་ཏྲི་སུ་ནག་པོ་ཞི་ཞི་མལ་མལ་སྭཧཱ།
AH-KAR A-ME DU-TRI-SU NAG-PO ZHI-ZHI MAL-MAL SO HA
AKAR represents the pure state of mind. A ME represents the wisdom of mind. DU TRI SU represents the three negative emotions: ignorance, hatred and attachment. NAG PO represents negativity. ZHI ZHI means to purify. MAL MAL means to obtain a blissful state of mind. SO HA means to remove all the negativities and lack of understanding.
Meaning
This mantra is associated with the Nirmanakaya, or physically manifest body of the Buddha, and is known as the purification mantra, or the mantra that offers protection from negative energies. The mantra can be broken into four groups of seed syllables: If you are repeating this mantra rapidly you can recite the SO HA every hundredth repetition, but there are many variations depending on the situation. If you are using the mantra for purification you need not recite SO HA. But if you are trying to cut through a negative influence you would always use SO AH at the end of each repetition.