Having the mantra in your cell, either inside a stupa or statue or on a banner, for example, purifies and blesses the people who live or visit there, as well as the animals and the insects.

Namgyälma is a buddha for long life and purification. The mantra has infinite benefits; unbelievable, unbelievable benefits. It is so powerful. The kind and compassionate Guru Shakyamuni Buddha taught the four guardians the benefits of reciting it.

Many years ago, Lama Yeshe and I went to south India to receive a teaching from His Holiness Ling Rinpoche. One day while we were there, we went to see His Holiness Trijang Rinpoche as well, at his house in Mundgod. Rinpoche, who passed away in 1981, was my root guru, and Lama’s as well. Rinpoche was meeting with us, but at the same time he was doing his practice, doing meditation.

In the middle of the conversation, Rinpoche explained what he was doing. “I’m reciting the Namgyälma mantra. I have received requests and offerings from people in the ten directions, asking me to pray for people who have died and for those who are still living.”

From then on, I began reciting the mantra for people who had died. Rinpoche told us that people think that this mantra is only a long-life practice, but it’s also very powerful for purification and for those who’ve died.

Some of the benefits of the mantra

The Namgyälma Sutra and Giving Breath to the Wretched, a text about how to help the dying, give some examples of the benefits.

• If you first wash your body, put on clean clothes and then, while living in the eight precepts, recite the mantra one thousand times, even if you are sick and in danger of death because your lifespan is due to end as a result of karma, your lifespan can be prolonged, the obscurations purified, and you will be freed from disease.
   
• If somebody who has a very heavy disease that doctors cannot diagnose recites the mantra, they will be cured. After death, they will be reborn in a blissful realm, a pure land, and they will not be reborn in the lower realms ever again.
   
• It is said that for a human being who simply hears this mantra, this will be their last birth in a womb.
   
• Reciting the mantra in the ears of animals ensures that this is their last animal rebirth.
   
• The mantra is so powerful that if you recite it twenty-one times, blow on things such as mustard seeds, sesame seeds, talcum powder or even water, and then throw that substance on the bones or dead bodies of very evil beings who have created many heavy negative karmas, those beings will be immediately liberated from the lower realms and will be reborn in a higher realm, such as those of the devas. The mantra affects the consciousness and purifies it.
   
• Having the mantra in your cell, either inside a stupa or statue or on a banner, for example, purifies and blesses the people who live or visit there, as well as the animals and the insects. Or you could write the mantra on paper and stick it on the wall of your cell.
   
• If the stupa or banner is on a roof or a mountain top, the wind that blows on them is blessed and will purify the negative karma of the insects, animals and people touched by the wind; they will not reborn in the lower realms.
   
• Even passing in the shadow of the stupa or banner purifies the negative karma of sentient beings.
   
• Circumambulating a stupa that contains the mantra purifies the karma to be reborn in the hot hells.
   
• Having the mantra in a car—either stuck on the ceiling or elsewhere, or on the outside of the car—blesses and purifies the negative karma of all the people in the car as well as the insects who get crushed by the car. When you drive, so many insects are killed, but by touching the car they are blessed and their negative karma is purified.

There is no question about how much purification we accomplish by reciting this mantra, hearing it, touching it, seeing it, or keeping it on our bodies.

Creative ways to help sentient beings with the mantra

A Chinese person from Hong Kong who was working for the Maitreya Project, whose entertainment was diving in the ocean, decided to put the mantra down on the seabed to bless the fish and purify their negative karma. A great idea! He had the mantra written out and brought it to me to correct. He then carved it on a huge piece of very hard material, bigger than a table, and put it in the ocean. He also wanted to make stupas and put them on the seabed as well for the fish to circumambulate.

What also could be done is to carve the mantra in wood or rubber—I think it is very good to make it large, but it could be any size—then make a hole in it, put a rope through the hole and drag it behind a boat while sailing in the water, thus blessing the water and purifying all the numberless sentient beings who live there.

These are just some ideas of how to benefit sentient beings, not only people but also animals—those living in the water, living in the ground, or living in the sky.

Remember to make sure that the mantra is correct; many texts include the mantra, but there are mistakes.

The long Namgyälma mantra

  OM NAMO BHAGAVATE / SARVA TRAILOKYA PRATIVISHISHTAYA / BUDDHAYATE NAMAH / TADYATHA / OM BHRUM BHRUM BHRUM / SHODHAYA SHODHAYA / VISHODHAYA VISHODHAYA / ASAMA SAMANTA / AVABHASASPHARANAGATI / GAGANA SVABHAVA VISHUDDHE / ABHISHINCHANTUMAM / SARVA TATHAGATAH SUGATA PRAVACHANA / AMRITA ABHISHEKAIH / MAHAMUDRA MANTRAPADAIH / AHARA AHARA / MAMA AYURSSAMDHARANI / SHODHAYA SHODHAYA / VISHODHAYA VISHODHAYA / GAGANA SVABHAVA VISHUDDHE / USHNISHA VIJAYA PARISHUDDHE / SAHASRA RASHMI SANCHODITE / SARVA TATHAGATA AVALOKINI / SHATPARAMITA PARIPURANI / SARVA TATHAGATA MATE / DASHABHUMI PRATISHTHITE / SARVA TATHAGATA HRIDAYA / ADHISHTHANA ADHISHTHITE / MUDRE MUDRE MAHAMUDRE / VAJRA KAYA SAMHATANA PARISHUDDHE / SARVA KARMA AVARANA VISHUDDHE / PRATINIVARTAYA MAMA AYUR VISHUDDHE / SARVA TATHAGATA SAMAYA / ADHISHTHANA ADHISHTHITE / OM MUNE MUNE MAHA MUNE / VIMUNE VIMUNE / MAHAVIMUNE / MATI MATI MAHAMATI / MAMATI SUMATI TATHATA / BHUDHAKOTI PARISHUDDHE / VISPHUTA BUDDHE SHUDDHE / HE HE JAYA JAYA / VIJAYA VIJAYA / SMARA SMARA / SPHARA SPHARA / SPHARAYA SPHARAYA / SARVA BUDDHA ADHISHTHANA ADHISHTHITE / SHUDDHE SHUDDHE / BUDDHE BUDDHE / VAJRE VAJRE / MAHA VAJRE SUVAJRE / VAJRA GARBHE JAYA GARBHE / VIJAYA GARBHE / VAJRA JVALA GARBHE / VAJRODBHAVE / VAJRA SAMBHAVE / VAJRE VAJRINI / VAJRAM BHAVATU MAMA SHARIRAM / SARVA SATTANANCHA KAYA PARISHUDDHIR BHAVATU / ME SADA SARVAGATI PARISHUDDHISH CHA / SARVA TATHAGATASH CHA MAM / SAMASHVASAYANTU / BUDDHYA BUDDHYA / SIDDHYA SIDDHYA / BODHAYA BODHAYA / VIBODHAYA VIBODHAYA / MOCHAYA MOCHAYA / VIMOCHAYA VIMOCHAYA / SHODHAYA SHODHAYA / VISHODHAYA VISHODHAYA / SAMANTANA MOCHAYA MOCHAYA / SAMANTA RASHMI PARISHUDDHE / SARVA TATHAGATA HRIDAYA / ADHISHTHANA ADHISHTHITE / MUDRE MUDRE MAHAMUDRE / MAHAMUDRA MANTRAPADAIH SVAHA / OM BHRUM SVAHA / OM AMRITA AYUR DADE SVAHA

The short Namgyälma mantra

OM BHRUM SVAHA / OM AMRITA AYUR DADE SVAHA

After reciting either mantra, say a few times:

OM AMRITE / AMIDTOD BHAVE / AMITA SAMBHAVE / AMITA VIKRANTE / AMITA GADRE / AMITA GAMINI / AMITA AYUDADE / GAGANA KIRTI KARE / SARVA KLESHA KSHAYAM KARIYE SVAHA

REMEMBER

• The Namgyälma mantra is for purification and long life.
• The mantra is also good to recite for people who have died.
• Reciting the mantra can ensure you won’t get a lower realm rebirth.
• All beings who are touched by the wind that has been blessed by the mantra will be purified.
• You can wear the mantra on your body.