Bön venerates Jamma as "the mother of all beings," protecting with compassion and rescuing from the eight perils and sixteen fears, like a mother remembering her child. On the plateau, Bön households, before travel, in sickness, at peril, take one Jamma mantra as peace.

Bön practices Jamma through Tonpa Shenrab's view of "compassion and wisdom as non-dual": Jamma is not an external goddess to court but the manifestation of one's own compassionate wisdom. The priest intones the Jamma heart mantra, seeing Jamma radiate light from above the dead or the loved one, dissolving their peril and increasing their merit and life. Maternal tenderness is precisely the teaching's compassion that excludes no one.

• **Swift rescue.** Jamma is famed as "swift as lightning"; in peril, sickness, or fear, the practice brings immediate refuge.
• **Averts disaster, extends life.** Jamma practice for the living transforms obstacles and increases merit and longevity, steadying daily life.
• **Purifies and supports.** For the dead it helps the bardo consciousness leave fear and turn toward good.

The Jamma practice proceeds thus:

• **Set the focus.** Provide for whom and why (a loved one's health / a dead one's deliverance / your own peace); a focus is set before the mandala.
• **Mantra and visualization.** The priest intones the Jamma heart mantra, seeing Jamma radiate light onto the dedicatee, averting peril and increasing blessing.
• **Praise and dedication.** Reciting the Jamma praise, he dedicates all merit solely to the vow.
• **Peaceful completion.** A complete dedication lets the recipient be free of suffering, with merit and life at peace.

You need not be present—only utter "Jamma" once in your heart; that tender light keeps watch for you.