3. Points to take note of when reciting the Little Houses
- It is best to recite the Great Compassion Mantra several times for yourself to enhance your energy before reciting a Little House. There is no particular sequence for reciting the Buddhist scriptures. If you feel physically or emotionally unwell, do not perform recitation of a Little House as it will exhaust your energy, affecting your ability to concentrate, and the quality of your Little House will be compromised.If you feel exhausted or debilitated during recitation, pause and recite the Great Compassion Mantra several times for yourself to enhance your energy. If you are very anxious to help spirits ascend to a higher spiritual realm and you recite so much that blisters form in your mouth, then it is a sign that you are overexerting yourself. One should avoid doing so.
- Find a suitable time and a quiet place at home to perform recitations and avoid interruptions such as calls, visitors, etc.If you are interrupted while reciting a long sutra, you should excuse yourself by reciting “Ong Lai Mu Suo He” once topause your recitation. Once you have finished attending to the tasks that interrupted you, you may resume your recitation by reciting “Ong Lai Mu Suo He” once again. For short mantras, it is best to start over. You should also start over if the pause is longer than two hours.
- You can recite aloud or in silence. However, reciting too loudly is detrimental to your energy flow (known as Qi or Chi) while reciting in silence may cause poor circulation of blood. Generally, recitation should be performed softly.
- The full title of the Great Compassion Mantra and the Heart Sutra should be recited with the scripture each time. The full title of the Great Compassion Mantra is Qian Shou Qian Yan Wu Ai Da Bei Xin Tuo Luo Ni. The full title of the Heart Sutra is Bo Ruo Bo Luo Mi Duo Xin Jing.It is highly recommended that you recite the title each time for the Amitabha Pure Land Rebirth Mantra and the Qi Fuo Mie Zui Zhen Yan. However, you may recite the title only once when you begin recitation of the two scriptures above.
- Minor pronunciation errors are acceptable, as long as they do not deviate too much from the intended sound. However, you should still recite the Mantra for Rectifying Errors in Recitation 3 to 7 times in such a case.Non-Chinese speakers can recite the Buddhist scriptures according to the Wade-Giles Romanization or Hanyu Pinyin and achieve the same effect. It is best if you can recite from memory, and you must not miss out any words or phrases in the Buddhist scriptures during recitation.