[fygESytT]

Does the chanting really work or more mind over matter?

Nothing "works"...it's actually the exact opposite.

Here is ZM Seung Sahn on chanting:

Chanting meditation means keeping a not-moving mind
and perceiving the sound of your own voice. Perceiving your
voice means perceiving your true self or true nature. Then
you and the sound are never separate, which means that you
and the whole universe are never separate. Thus, to perceive
our true nature is to perceive universal substance. With
regular chanting, our sense of being centered gets stronger
and stronger. When we are strongly centered, we can control
our feelings, and thus our condition and situation.

In our Zen centers, people live together and practice
together. At first, people come with strong opinions, strong
likes and dislikes. For many people, chanting meditation is
not easy: much confused thinking, many likes, many dislikes
and so on. However, when we do chanting meditation
correctly, perceiving the sound of our own voice and the
voices all around us, our minds become clear. In clear mind,
there is no like or dislike, only the sound of the voice. Ultimately,
we learn that chanting meditation is not for our
personal pleasure, to give us good feeling, but to make our
direction clear. Our direction is to become clear and get
enlightened, in order to save all beings from suffering.

So when you are chanting, you must perceive the sound of
your voice: you and the universe have already become one,
suffering disappears, true happiness appears. This is called
nirvana. If you keep nirvana, your mind is clear like space.
Clear like space means clear like a mirror. Red comes, red.
White comes, white. Someone is happy; I am happy. Someone
is sad; I am sad. Someone is hungry; give them food.
The name for this is great love, great compassion, the great
bodhisattva way. That also means great wisdom. This is
chanting meditation, chanting Zen.

Perceiving sound means everything is universal sound:
birds singing, thunder, dogs barking—all this is universal
sound. If you have no mind, everything will be perceived just
as it is. Therefore, when you are chanting with no mind it is
also universal sound. If you have “I” then it is “my” sound.
But with a mind clear like space, sometimes even the sound of
a dog barking or a car horn honking will bring enlightenment,
because at that moment you and the sound become
one. When you and the sound become one, you don't hear
the sound, you are the sound.

One famous Zen master only heard the sound of a rooster
crowing and was enlightened. Another Zen master was just
sweeping the yard when his broom threw a rock against a
piece of bamboo with a loud knock and he was enlightened.
He and the sound had become one. So this matter of sound
in Zen practice is really very simple. Any sound will do.

What’s important is to perceive the sound and become one
with it, without separation, without making “I” and “sound.”
At the moment of true perceiving, there is no thought, no
separation, only perceiving sound. This is the crucial point.
So during chanting time, perceive your own voice and the
voice of others, just perceive this bell or drum sound, and cut
off all thinking. Then your wisdom-mind will grow, you will
get enlightenment and thus save all beings.

Zen Master Seung Sahn
vi I have been told by some that this is helpful, so I offer it to you.

good luck and thanks for practicing,
Keith