ཛཿཧཱུྃ་བཾ་ཧོཿ
dza hung bam ho
Mantra of the Four Gate Keepers (dza hung bam ho)
jaḥ hūṃ baṃ hoḥ
Pronounced “dza hung bam ho” by Tibetans.
- The syllable jaḥ is white and goes to the eastern gate, where it takes the form of a white goddess holding an iron hook in her right hand.
- The syllable hūṃ is yellow and streams out to the southern gate, where it takes the form of a yellow goddess holding a lasso in her right hand.
- The syllable baṃ is red and goes to western gate, where it takes the form of a red goddess holding an iron chain in her right hand.
- The syllable hoḥ is green and goes to the gate in the north, where it takes the form of a green goddess holding an bell in her right hand.
If it was a wrathful practice, ” DZA HUNG BAM HO ” would represent the activity of the hook, noose, chain, and bell, but in the peaceful practice:
“DZA” signifies “summoning” – all the lights coming from the 3 places invoke the wisdom-deities to come into space before one;
“HUNG” means “remaining” or “residing” – the wisdom-deities, whom one has invited, and one’s own visualisation, the commitment-deities, are essentially the same: the essence of the mind of a buddha and of one’s own mind is emptiness and appearance inseparable;
“BAM” signifies “binding” – the wisdom-deities and one’s own commitment-deities become mixed with each other, like water into water;
“HO” means “pleased” – after the wisdom-deities and commitment-deities have blended, they feel great joy and happiness at being able to accomplish the benefit of beings.