Buddhist Chants and Mantras

A series of Buddhist chants and mantras

Buddha Devotional Chanting

Homage to the Blessed One, The Perfected One, The Fully Awakened One (Repeat three times)

The Three Refuges:

I go to the Buddha for refuge.
I go to the Dharma for refuge.
I go to the Sangha for refuge.

A second time, I go to the Buddha for refuge.
A second time, I go to the Dharma for refuge.
A second time, I go to the Sangha for refuge.

A third time, I go to the Buddha for refuge.
A third time, I go to the Dharma for refuge.
A third time, I go to the Sangha for refuge.

The Five Precepts

I undertake the precept to abstain from killing.
I undertake the precept to abstain from stealing.
I undertake the precept to abstain from sexual misconduct.
I undertake the precept to abstain from lying.
I undertake the precept to abstain from intoxicants.

Offering of Water

O, Venerable, kindly accept this water, specially dedicated.
Please take it, great one, with your great compassion.

Offering of Food

O, Venerable, kindly accept this food, specially dedicated.
Please take it, great one, with your great compassion.

Offering of Medicine

O, Venerable, kindly accept this offering of medicine.
Please take it, great one, with your great compassion.

Homage to Stupas

I forever venerate stupas in all the lands, wherever they may be:
the relics, the Bodhi tree, and Buddha statues.

Homage to the Bodhi Tree

I venerate the Bodhi tree, seated at the base of which,
victorious over all obstacles, the Great One realized Omniscience.

Text adapted from 'Buddha Vandana' - A book of Buddhist Devotions - Published by Dharma Vijaya, Buddhist Vihara, Los Angeles, California.

The Buddhist Flag
First hoisted in 1885 in Sri Lanka, is a symbol of faith and peace used throughout the world to represent the Buddhist faith.

Buddhist Flag Picture - Buddhist Flag Colours - The Buddhist Flag Sri Lanka 1885

Buddhist Flag Meanings
Blue: Universal Compassion
Yellow: The Middle Path
Red: Blessings
White: Purity and Liberation
Orange: Wisdom

The Dharma Wheel

In Buddhism-according to the Pali Canon, Vinayapitaka, Khandhaka, Mahavagga, the number of spokes of the Dharmachakra represent various meanings:

8 spokes representing the Noble Eightfold Path (Ariya magga).
12 spokes representing the Twelve Laws of Dependent Origination (Paticcasamuppada).
24 spokes representing the Twelve Laws of Dependent Origination and the Twelve Laws of Dependent Termination (Paticcasamuppada).
31 spokes representing 31 realms of existence (11 realms of desire, 16 realms of form and 4 realms of formlessness).

Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo is a Japanese Buddhist chant based upon the Lotus Sutra. Nichiren Daishonin (Feb 16, 1222 – Oct 13, 1282) a Buddhist monk who lived during the Kamakura period (1185–1333) in Japan. Nichiren taught devotion to the Lotus Sutra, entitled Myōhō-Renge-Kyō in Japanese, as the exclusive means to attain enlightenment and the chanting of Nam-Myōhō-Renge-Kyō as the essential practice of the teaching. Various schools with diverging interpretations of Nichiren's teachings comprise Nichiren Buddhism.
Nam - To devote one's life
Myoho - Myo is the mystic nature of life and Ho, its manifestation
Renge - "Lotus Flower"; which symolises the ballance of cause and effect
Kyo - Sutra, the voice or teachings of Buddha (The sound or vibration that connects everything in the ubiverse)

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