This is the fifth of a series of articles on The Art of Awakening: A User's Guide to Tibetan Buddhist Art and Practice is an extraordinary resource and essential for practitioners and artists. Topics for these short excerpts and articles include:
MALAS
The mala (trengwa) is used for counting mantras. Treng means a powerful feeling of yearning, which here applies to the yearning felt toward your guru, the yidam deity, and the dakinis. Mantras are constantly recited using the mala. The best malas are made from precious stones. The next best are from wood, such as sandalwood. Lesser malas are made from clay, seed, stone, or medicinal wood.
More specifically, for peaceful practices the beads should be made from conch shell. Clay and wood or fruit seeds are also said to be good, as well as the wood from a bodhi tree. Gold is used for increasing practices. Coral is for magnetizing. Iron and turquoise are for subjugating practices. A very precious kind of onyx stone, zi, and agate are used for various kinds of practices. Bodhi seeds and ivory malas are the best for all activities. White is good for peaceful-deity practice, yellow for increasing, red for empowering, and black for wrathful practice. Mixed colors can be used for any practice. The size and number of the beads can vary but are not discussed here.
White wool is used to string the mala for peaceful deities, yellow cotton for increasing, red silk for magnetizing, and leather for wrathful practice. For many different practices, five different colors can be placed together. The thickness of the string depends on the size of the hole in the beads. Do not make the string too long or too short; if it is too long, the accomplishment of the yidam will take a longer time, but if it is too short and tight, your life will be shortened. The gurus say that if the string is made by a dakini, it enables us to receive the siddhis. When threading the beads, recite HŪṃ continuously or the mantra of vowels and consonants.
The main bead of the mala symbolizes the main deity, and the other beads are the retinue. The main bead needs to be larger: for peaceful practice it is round and white, for increasing it is large and square, for power it is best if it is a red flower shape, and for wrath it is black and triangular. During all practices we utilize our body, speech, and mind, so the main bead should be divided into three parts, which can be in white, red, and blue. This is like the three vajras of body, speech, and mind. Sometimes it is in two parts, symbolizing skillful means and wisdom.
Before using a mala for the first time, wash and anoint it with something fragrant. Traditionally a substance called bajung is used, which is the manure from a red cow that has been led by a virtuous bhikshu to a fertile field of green, rich pasture. The manure collected from this cow is mixed with water and used to clean our mandala plate or mala, which is then cleaned with saffron water.
Carrying and using a mala for mantra recitation is part of the Vajrayana samaya. It is a symbol of your yidam deity and a reminder of the mantra. The full number of beads is generally 108, but it is also possible to have half that many, that is, 54, or 21; the least is 11. Numbers other than these should not generally be counted.
There are different ways to use the mala, relating to the activities of the deity and mantra being recited. When reciting a peaceful mantra, move the beads toward your body over the forefinger. For increasing, move the beads over the middle finger. For magnetizing move the beads over the ring finger, and for wrathful mantras move the beads over the little finger. Always use the left hand when counting mantras with a mala. If the mala is very long, the excess can be picked up in the right hand, but the actual mantras cannot be counted with the right hand. For reciting the mantras of peaceful deities, the mala is held at the heart. For increase it is held at the navel, and for magnetizing it is held at the secret place. For wrathful mantras it is held in front or at the knee. The thumb that moves the beads toward you is like a hook, to hook the siddhis into you.
When doing retreat you should always keep your mala with you. It should be kept secretly and not shown to others or hung around your neck like a necklace; especially do not let people with broken samaya near it. It is not appropriate to play with the mala. The mala needs to be blessed, and once it has been blessed it should not be lent or given to others or shown to others or put on the ground. The beads should be even in size and of the same color. If it is broken, it should be repaired immediately, not left for even one night. If it breaks and cannot be repaired, it should be burned in a fire or put in water. If you have a mala that is very precious and could be stolen, it should be kept secretly.
When buying a mala, try to get the best one possible. If someone considers that this is not necessary, this means that they do not really understand the Vajrayana methods and meaning, as it is actually very important to follow this instruction. Doing so helps us achieve the accomplishment of the practice.
To bless the mala, consider yourself as the deity and place the mala in your left hand, coiled with the main bead facing up.
Recite:
Oṃ SVABHĀ-VA-SHUDDĀḥ SARVA-DHARMĀḥ SVABHĀVA-SHUDDHO HAṃ
and consider all as emptiness, then sprinkle the mala with saffron water to cleanse and purify it.
Consider that the main bead is the main deity and the other beads are the retinue. Invite the wisdom blessings to dissolve into the mala. When first considering this as the deity, think that the right hand is the sun, marked with the syllable HŪṃ, and the left hand is the moon, marked with the syllable Āḥ, then consider yourself as the deity. When you recite JAḥ HŪṃ BAṃ HOḥ, the wisdom blessings dissolve into the mala in the form of the syllables Oṃ Āḥ HŪṃ. Now the mala is the Buddha and his retinue—and this is really the case, not just our thinking. The thumb represents skillful means, the forefinger wisdom, and the two fingers together moving the beads are the deity’s mantra. The beads are moved toward the body, for receiving the accomplishment. First say the mantra of vowels and consonants three times before reciting mantras, which increases the benefit by a hundred thousand.