A Commentary on "Mantras for Specific Occasions"
Mantra to Bless the Feet
Recite the mantra seven times and then spit on the soles of your feet. It is taught that any insects that die under your feet will be reborn as devas in the Realm of the Thirty-Three.
ༀ་ཁྲེ་ཙ་ར་གྷ་ན་ཧཱུཾ་ཧྲཱི་སྭཱཧཱ།
OṂ KHRETSA RAGHANA HŪṂ HRĪ SWĀHĀ (7x)
* This mantra can also be used to bless the wheels of vehicles and other things that can crush and kill sentient beings. It should be recited when the specific need arises such as having to walk on ground where there are many insects or other small creatures and when driving a car, riding a bicycle, and so forth.
Here in my Tibetan prayer book it doesn’t mention from which text this mantra comes. However, I found it in the Manjushri Root Tantra.
Some texts say to recite this mantra seven times, but here it says to recite it three times.[1] After reciting it, don’t only blow on the soles of your feet, spit on them. Then, any insects that die under your feet that day will be reborn in the deva realm Thirty-Three. Although the text says to spit on your feet, since you usually wear shoes, after reciting it seven or three times you should spit on the soles of your shoes because they are what actually kill the insects. If you generate faith and do this practice, it will be of great benefit to sentient beings.
It is especially good to recite this mantra and then spit a few times on your feet or shoes when you are going to walk on a beach where there are tiny crabs that you can’t see at the edge of the water, or when you are going to walk on grass, across a field, or in a forest where there are many tiny insects that you can’t see. Although the insects try to escape by flying or jumping away, because you can’t see them many of them will get killed, but at least they won’t be reborn in the lower realms. But I’m not saying that if you see earthworms that have come out in the rain, crickets, spiders, mice, and so forth, you should recite the mantra on some heavy shoes and then jump on them! I’m not saying that! It depends on where you are walking—if there are a lot of small creatures, you should recite this mantra.
I also suggest that when you need to drive somewhere that you chant this mantra and then spit on the wheels of the car, which are what touch the ground. Or you can chant the mantra over some water, blow on it, and then sprinkle it on the wheels. Since there are definitely many insects on the roads, they will get killed when you drive a car, but if you do this at least they will get a higher rebirth. If you are working in a garden or building something, you can also recite this mantra and spit on the tools you are using. Don’t only think to bless your feet or shoes—you can bless anything that could kill sentient beings.
In short, any time you find yourself in a place or situation where there is the danger of crushing and killing sentient beings, it is good to recite this mantra. Therefore, you should write it in a notebook and carry it with you all the time in case you need to recite it but won’t remember it. Reciting it makes your life very fruitful and beneficial for other sentient beings. You should think from your heart that this mantra for blessing the feet and other things is important. It is one way to make your life meaningful. I want to emphasize this because otherwise, although this mantra is in your prayer book, you might never use it. Don’t do that! You must take advantage of this practice since it is Buddha’s way of helping you by making it very easy for you to purify negative karmas, collect merits, gain realizations, and achieve enlightenment quickly. You must think about that and you must take each opportunity to use it. Don’t just leave this mantra in your prayer book and then die without ever having taken advantage of it while you were alive!