We are chanting the name of our innate wisdom, compassion, courage and energy. We are calling it up. We are engraving it on our heart. We are becoming more and more in tune with it. In many religious traditions, reciting a mantra is a well-established spiritual practice that has beneficial effects.
Mantras are different in that they have different meanings and create different vibrations.
A mantra is basically a vibration. It is said that when you strike a tuning fork to make it vibrate, it can make other nearby tuning forks that are pitched to the same frequency start to vibrate spontaneously. Similarly, the vibe we create when we chant triggers vibration not only in the depths of our life, but in our surroundings. As we tune ourselves more and more to the vibe of this Buddha wisdom, we resonate with the Buddha vibe that is in other people and in our environment. While not everyone agrees on why it works, most chanters agree that it is a worthwhile devotional practice.