How should a beginner approach mantra recitation?

I have been a student of Zen for a while now, and I am starting to develop an interest in yoga--specifically, mantra recitation.





As a beginner, how should I approach mantra recitation. I am not looking to convert to anything, although I am open to spiritual revelation, I am specifically wanting to increase focus and deepen my meditation experience.How should a beginner approach mantra recitation?
The Vajra Guru Mantra was the first mantra I ever learned and I still chant it to this day. I love it!





It is very beautiful and is a Tibetan Buddhist Mantra written in Sanskrit. But this is it in the English Language.





Om Ah Hum Vajra Guru Padma Siddhi Hum.





Each of the syllables has a specific action.





OM purifies all the negative actions committed through your body.


AH purifies all the negative actions commited through your speech.


HUM purifies all the negative actions committed through your mind.





Om is also the essence of form


Ah the esence of sound


Hum the essence of mind.





So by reciting this mantra, you are also purifying the environent, as well as yourself and all other beings within it.





Om purifies all perceptions, Ah all sounds, and Hum the mind, its thoughts and emotions.





Internally Om purifies the subtle channels.





At the innermost level, Om Ah Hum brings the realistion of the three aspects of the nature of mind.





Vajra means diamond free from defects


Guru means weighty, someone who embodies wisdom compassion.


Padma means lotus and enlightened speedh


Siddhi means realisation, blessing.





Hum represents the wisdom mind and is the sacred catalyst of the mantra. ';So be it';





It is said that the twelve syllables of the Vajra Guru Mantra carry the entire blessing of the twelve types of teaching taught by Buddha.





The Vajra Guru Mantra does not sound very much like the way it looks in the way of pronunciation.





So it is best if you could find a local buddhist centre and hear others chanting it to get a full grasp of the intonation and sounds used.





It is usually chanted for approximately 10 to 15 minutes and has a very rejuvenating effect on mind and body.





I hope this information is helpful to you..





NamasteHow should a beginner approach mantra recitation?
To me mantra are just a sound of series of sounds. I chanted during my practice and I felt like a robot chanting these sounds, and these sounds are just sounds to me, without significant spiritual meanings, although the teacher says it has a spiritual effect on us, since it's a way of projecting energy through sound vibration. I don't know.
As a former practitioner I became curious about experiences I was having so I researched transcendental meditation. At my downtown library I found the Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics. In it I found that in the 1800's the yogi's taught that, what we are told now is nonsense syllables, were actually names of spirits. The British researchers at that time estimated that Hindus had 187,000 million gods and goddesses. When I questioned my instructors about my findings they immediately looked at each other. They quickly regained their composure and then my male instructor said, ';We told you, it's just a nonsense syllable';. I quit practicing. I would suggest that you research it thoroughly. Studies have been done by universities that show great benefits in the short-term, with those benefits declining into severe bouts of moodiness and disorientation over time.
They should not.