Buddhist Spells

Short protective and cleansing spells from the Buddhist temples of Korea, Japan, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Myanmar, and Tibet, written out so you can say them at home, on any day.

In the West, Buddhism is known mostly through meditation. In temples and homes across Asia it also has an everyday side that is just as old: chants to keep a house and family safe, a few words to carry out the door, water and thread blessed against illness and bad luck. From Tobias A. Calder, author of Warded and The Simplest Tarot Spells, Buddhist Spells gathers the household practices that temples have long given to anyone who walks in, taken from the Pali scriptures, Korean woodblock prayer books printed between 1784 and 1869, and Japanese chanting manuals of the 1880s.

Many of the spells fit into an ordinary day. There is a verse to start the morning, a few words to say as you go out, a verse for sunrise and another for sunset, and a mantra you can keep turning over while you walk, cook, or wait for the kettle. Most take two or three minutes, and after a few weeks you'll know them by heart.

Others are there for harder days:

• Clear a room that feels heavy after an argument, bad news, or an illness.
• Settle a new house and keep the one you live in calm.
• Sleep safely in a strange place, travel with protection, and walk into a place you dread.
• Turn away bad luck and keep it from settling in your home.
• Remember the people you've lost and send them something good.

Every chant is spelled out for an English speaker, with its plain meaning beside it, and you don't need to become a Buddhist or find a teacher. Along the way you'll hear the stories behind the spells, from a golden peacock who was never caught to a blind musician hidden from ghosts by the words written on his skin. At the back, every chant is gathered in one place, with a table that sends you to the right spell for any need.

The shortest spell in the book is just two words, and said three times as you leave the house, it covers everyone at home.