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| - In Vajrayana Buddhism and Hinduism, the term bīja is used for mystical "seed syllables" contained within mantras. These seeds do not have precise meanings, but are thought to carry connections to spiritual principles. The best-known bīja syllable is Om, first found in the Hindu scriptures the Upanishads. Khanna (2003: p.21) links mantras and yantras to thoughtforms: Mantras, the Sanskrit syllables inscribed on yantras, are essentially 'thought forms' representing divinities or cosmic powers, which exert their influence by means of sound-vibrations.
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abstract
| - In Vajrayana Buddhism and Hinduism, the term bīja is used for mystical "seed syllables" contained within mantras. These seeds do not have precise meanings, but are thought to carry connections to spiritual principles. The best-known bīja syllable is Om, first found in the Hindu scriptures the Upanishads. Khanna (2003: p.21) links mantras and yantras to thoughtforms: Mantras, the Sanskrit syllables inscribed on yantras, are essentially 'thought forms' representing divinities or cosmic powers, which exert their influence by means of sound-vibrations. In some tantric traditions, the Bija of the 'Varnamala' (Sanskrit; English: "garland of letters"; which may be rendered as alphabet) are understood as aniconic representations and sound embodiments of the matrikas, note how nearly homophonic and etymologically related 'matrika' is to 'mantrika', that is "a practitioner of mantra". In Tibetan Buddhism the seed syllables corresponding to the Three Vajras are: a white oṃ (enlightened body), a red āḥ (enlightened speech) and a blue hūṃ (enlightened mind). Bija are often the vehicle of esoteric transmission of terma to a 'terton' (Tibetan; English: "revealer of terma"), such as that experienced by Dudjom Lingpa.
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