Some of the incantations chanted today are derived from Buddhist mantras that aim to venerate the goodness of Lord Buddha, enlightened monks and many other deities. As a result, a wide variety of incantations are available and in order to make the chanting as accurate and sacred as possible, many gurus recorded the holy words in the form of Yantras, the drawing of religious mystical symbols. There are various types of Yantras today. Many of them contain drawings of animals, gods, characters from legends or even human beings. As well as pictures, Yantras also have sanctified traditional Thai or Khmer numerical figures on them. Yantras are made in different forms depending upon their purpose. For instance, triangular Yantras represent the Buddhist Three Refuges: The Buddha, The Dharma and the Sangha. Rectangular Yantras symbolize the four elements: Earth, Water, Air and Fire. Elliptical Yantras signify the Brahmin. The Yantra with the traditional Thai figure 9 is called ‘Una-Loam’. Yantras with letters or words are called the holy words of Lord Buddha or of Brahmin. Each type of Yantra, with its different use, has been employed since ancient times.
A tattoo on the human body, using characters or pictures
found in Yantras, is another way to sanctify a person, granting them some
supernatural powers. It is believed that tattoos are a way to augment the
sanctity of the words, by puncturing them into the skin. So people with many
tattoos are not only unassailable from all harm, but are also thought to possess
a lot of spiritual power. Generally, red or black ink, or sesame oil is used
to make the tattoo. Once the skin is marked with the sacred words or figures,
the tattooed person will be granted the power accorded by those drawings.
For example, those who are tattooed with a picture of Hanuman, the monkey
god, will at times act like a monkey and become invulnerable to all weapons.
Those who use sesame oil for the tattoo must chant some sacred words or no
picture will appear on the skin. With the incantation, the red marks will
appear as a tattoo.