Originally Posted by Verre
I've also been using "I am aware" lately. I like it better than some of the more cumbersome ones, though I wouldn't say I've had much success with it, or with MILD overall. I'm sort of looking for a new one too.
I'm not sure that mantras have to be verbally comprehensible to be effective, since the mantras used in various Asian meditative traditions are sometimes distorted versions of vernacular phrases or else based on more archaic linguistic forms. For instance, one time when I was introduced to Jodo Shinshu walking meditation, the recitation we were supposed to use was "Na-man-da-bu," which is a very abbreviated version of "Namu Amida Butsu" and doesn't make much sense outside of that context.
Another example is the well-known Sanskrit mantra, "om mani padme hum," which is famously vague. Although usually glossed as "the jewel in the lotus," and attributed all kinds of strange symbolic meaning, Donald Lopez convincingly calls BS on this in Chapter Four of Prisoners of Shangri-La, where he points to good textual evidence that "manipadme" (as a compound word) was just the name of a deity, and there is no implication of anything being "in" anything else. I definitely recommend that book to anyone interested in Tibetan Buddhism -- it's a real eye opener, and Lopez combines the rare virtues of being an erudite scholar who can nevertheless write in a clear and entertaining way for a general audience.
I've read that lucid activity is connected with distinctive rhythmic brainwave patterns, so if a mantra is to help at all, it might work best not for the actual meaning of the words, but for its inherent rhythm... perhaps a mantra with the right rhythm, chanted (either aloud or inwardly) in the correct way, can help establish those brainwave patterns conducive to lucidity. This is pure speculation, but perhaps worth some experimentation with different sounds and rhythms.
The problem with mantras we choose for ourselves is that it's hard to be confident in them... at least for my part, being an indecisive person, I'm always wondering if something else might work better than whatever I'm using at the moment. Maybe that's why in many guru cults, the guru chooses the mantra for his (or her, idealistically) students. But I don't like the idea of being assigned some arbitrary mantra by some arbitrary person any more than I like the idea of being in a guru cult. The idea that appeals to me most is retrieving a mantra from the dreaming itself... this could be a great LD task! I've also noticed that language in dreams (mine at least) often has a kind of rhythmic, incantatory quality, so a phrase retrieved from a dream might make for a very good mantra, even if it doesn't make much outward sense.
Interesting theory! I suppose it makes sense that if you just linguistically Associated your mantra with awareness, then the words themselves mightn't matter so much. I can't help but think that it makes sense for your mantra to be in a language that you understand, though, as you can still comprehend your language in dreams, and surely if you said something of significance pertaining to lucidity in your dreams and that got through to you on a fundamental level, you could become lucid. I'll have a think about it, though!
Intereting idea!
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