Mantra, Chanting & Meditation Bells

Mantra and chanting practice spans every contemplative tradition: Sanskrit mantras (Hindu / Buddhist), Tibetan mantras + dharanis, Pali chants (Theravada), Sufi dhikr, Jesus Prayer (Orthodox / Catholic Hesychasm), Hare Krishna kirtan, Quranic recitation, Jewish niggun. The app side is small: mala counters, mindfulness bells, chant audio. The practice side is everything.

Sister sections: Buddhist Traditions & Apps, Hindu, Vedic & Yoga, Islamic Apps, Christian Liturgy, Jewish Apps & Sefaria, Sangha & Community, Sacred Reading, Meditation Apps, Soundbath & Sound Healing.

Mala / counter apps

• 108 Mala / Mala Counter / Tasbih / many similar — free + paid; simple click-to-count up to 108 (or 99 for Islamic tasbih); various counters work fine.
• Plum Village app — free; includes a mindfulness bell + counters; see Buddhist Traditions.
• ★ Physical mala — wood / sandalwood / rudraksha / tulasi / bone (Buddhist) — $10-100; physical handling is part of the practice; preferred over an app for serious work.
• Tasbih (Islamic) — physical 33 / 99 / 100-bead loop; cheap; preferred over phone counter for prayer.
• Orthodox prayer rope (chotki) — knotted wool rope; 33 / 50 / 100 / 150 knots; for the Jesus Prayer.

Mindfulness bell apps

• ★ MindBell — FOSS Android (F-Droid + Play); periodic mindfulness bells with quiet hours, custom intervals, optional vibration.
  • https://github.com/dpunkr/MindBell (or current fork)
• Plum Village mindfulness bell — free in the Plum Village app; can run as a periodic bell.
• Insight Timer "Bell" feature — free; timer with interval bells.
• iOS shortcuts / built-in alarms — free; can do this without a dedicated app.

Buddhist chants / liturgy

• Forest Sangha chants book — free PDF; Pali chants used in Thai Forest tradition.
  • https://forestsangha.org/
• Plum Village chant book — free PDF.
• Dhamma chants (Theravada) — Buddho.org has audio; see Buddhist Traditions.
• Tibetan mantras: Om Mani Padme Hum (Avalokiteshvara), Om Tare Tuttare Ture Soha (Tara), Vajra Guru mantra, etc.
• Heart Sutra / Diamond Sutra chants — multiple traditions / languages.
• Buddhist chant audio: Imee Ooi, Robert Gass + On Wings of Song; Ani Choying Drolma — paid + some free.

Hindu / Sanskrit chants

• ★ Sanskrit Documents stotras — free; thousands of stotras, suktas, hymns in Devanagari + transliteration.
  • https://sanskritdocuments.org/
• Vedic Heritage Portal — free; chants with audio (Yajur, Sama, etc.).
• Krishna Das, Deva Premal, Snatam Kaur, Jai Uttal, Bhagavan Das — paid kirtan / chant artists; free YouTube samples.
• Hare Krishna apps — free; mantra counters + audio.
• Gayatri Mantra apps — many free / paid.
• Chinmaya / Art of Living chant collections — free + paid.

Islamic dhikr

• Quran.com audio recitation — free; many qaris.
• Tasbih apps — many free.
• Wird / awrad collections — daily Sufi remembrances; tradition-specific (Naqshbandi, Shadhili, etc.); often community-internal.
• La ilaha illa Allah, SubhanAllah, Alhamdulillah, Allahu Akbar — basic dhikrs anyone can recite; no app needed.

Christian (Orthodox / Catholic / monastic)

• ★ The Jesus Prayer (Orthodox Hesychasm) — "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner"; conventionally with a chotki / prayer rope.
• Rosary apps — many free; Hallow has rosary; Laudate has rosary; iRosary free.
• Taizé chants — short repeated meditative chants; Taizé music app + YouTube.
• Gregorian chant — see Christian Liturgy.

Jewish niggun

• Niggunim (wordless melodies; especially Hasidic): YouTube channels; some apps (Niggun apps minimal).
• Pizmonim / Sephardic liturgical melodies — community resources.
• Shema and core daily prayers — see Jewish Apps & Sefaria.

Cross-tradition kirtan / chant in the West

• Bhakti Fest, Kirtan Camp, Wanderlust — paid in-person events; community kirtan culture.
• Krishna Das / Snatam Kaur / Deva Premal — concerts + recordings.
• Caveat: Western kirtan culture has had cultural-appropriation discussions; many practitioners and teachers handle this thoughtfully, others less so.

Recording / metronome / drone tools

• Tanpura apps — free + paid; provides drone for vocal sadhana.
• Sruti / drone apps — free; sustained pitch reference.
• Metronome apps — free; for chanted-rhythm work.

Cost / license honesty

• MindBell / Sanskrit Documents / Forest Sangha PDFs / Plum Village chants / Vedic Heritage Portal / Quran.com / The Jesus Prayer (no app needed) — free.
• Most mala / tasbih / counter apps — free or ~$2-5 one-time.
• Chant artists' albums (Krishna Das, Deva Premal, etc.) — paid (~$10-20 album / streaming).
• Physical malas / tasbihs / chotkis — cheap to luxury (~$5-200).

Practical guidance

• Start with one mantra. Don't collect mantras; deepen one.
• Receive a mantra from a teacher when the tradition prescribes (Vajrayana, some Hindu traditions, Sufi orders).
• Physical mala or rope for actual practice; phone-counter for travel / discreet contexts.
• Chant aloud when alone, sub-vocal when not. The body involvement matters; pure-mental repetition works too.
• Pair with breath. Many traditions integrate mantra with breath cycles.
• Don't multitask. The point of the bell / mantra / mala is to bring attention back, not to fill background time.

Honest limits

• Some mantras are conventionally received from a teacher. Picking a tantric Tibetan mantra off YouTube is not the same as receiving the practice in lineage.
• Mantra-as-self-help-tool flattens what most traditions consider a transmission practice.
• Cultural appropriation concerns: many Indigenous, closed-tradition, or initiatory chants are not for casual external use; Sanskrit / Pali Buddhist / Hindu chants are mostly open; some specific tantric / esoteric ones are not.
• Loud public chanting in non-traditional contexts can be performative; check the room.

Pick this if…

• Want a mindfulness bell: MindBell (FOSS Android) or Plum Village app.
• Want a Sanskrit mantra source: Sanskrit Documents.
• Want Pali chants: Forest Sangha chant book.
• Want Quran recitation: Quran.com audio.
• Want the Jesus Prayer: an Orthodox prayer rope + Hesychasm sources (St Theophan, Way of a Pilgrim).
• Want a physical practice tool: mala, tasbih, or chotki — pick one and use it daily.
• Want a kirtan playlist: Krishna Das, Deva Premal, Snatam Kaur on streaming.