Part 3 - Significance of the [Oṃ Maṇi Padme Hūṃ] Mantra

The Amṛta-kaṇika^[1] commentary of Mañjuśrī-nāma Saṇgīti^[2] refers to the six letters as a symbolic expression. The six worlds of the Buddhists sentient beings in the universe (bhava -cakra, Tib. Srid pa' i 'khor lo) are:

1. The animal world including the sentient beings other than the human ones. Sanskrit (S.) Tiryak -loka, Tibetan (T.) ' dud ' gro ba' i srid pa.

2. The human world (S) manuṣya -loka, (T) mi' i srid pa.

3. The super human or divine beings (S) deva -loka, (T) lha' i srid pa.

4. The demons with excessive power to control the supernatural world i.e. (S) asura -loka, (T) mi lha' i srid pa.

5. The departed ones from the human, animal and the titans' world i. e. (S) preta -loka, (T) yi duags kyi srid pa.

6. The beings in the world under constant suffering in the hells according to the degree of the bad deeds already performed i. e. (S) naraka -loka, (T) dmyal ba' i srid pa.

Anagarika Govinda in his work 'Foundation of Tibetan Mysticism'^[3] sums them up in three groups according to the Buddhist pantheon:

1. Inhabitants of higher planes of existence (deva) who, though superior to man in certain ways, yet are subject to the laws of the worlds.

2. Earth -bound spirits, demons and genii of certain places or elements; (the humans are included among the earth bound beings).

3. Mind -created forms or forces, like Dhyanī -Buddhas etc.

The KVS elaborately describes how Avalokiteśvara moves in these six worlds with his compassionate mind. Avalokiteśvara, the great compassionate, delivered all beings of the six worlds by the merits of this mantra Oṃ Maṇi Padme Hūṃ. The Buddhists in Tibet therefore hold deep faith in the six lettered mantra Oṃ Maṇi Padme Hūṃ.

Again the six letters play an important role in order to purify the six plexuses in the body of a person who mutters it; namely: Crown of the head, 2. eye brows, 3. throat, 4. heart, 5. nave, and 6. the sacral plexus. These correspond to the Ṣaṭcakra of the esoteric Tantra Yogatantra practiced by Buddhists and non -Buddhists.^[4] It is accepted that the six lotuses within the human body are related to the five primary elements; namely-the earth, air, fire, water and the sky symbolic to the Śūnyatā (essencelessness). Anagarika Govinda has elaborately discussed the symbolic elucidation of the six syllabled mantra Oṃ Maṇi Padme Hūṃ in his 'Foundations of Tibetan Mysticism.'

In elucidating the relevance of the mantra and the three bodies Anagarika Govinda said thus:

"We have become acquainted with the experience of universality in the sacred syllable Oṃ, with the luminosity of the immoral mind in the 'Maṇi', its unfoldment in the lotus -centres of consciousness 'Padme' and its integration and realization in the seed -syllable Hūṃ.

The way towards the realization of Oṃ is the way of universality, the way of the great vehicle, the Mahāyāna. The way leading from the Oṃ to the Hūṃ is that of relating the universal and the individual. It is the way of the Vajrayāna or the inner (mystic) path of Vajrasattva, who accomplishes the transformation of our earthly, material, world into the deeper, invisible reality from which the visible springs, the reality of the inaudible that pervades thought transcending, awareness that pervades and motivates thought."^[5]

In other words Oṃ Maṇi Padme Hūṃ is a part of integration of the cosmic universe to the individual in the creative vision. In this regard the Vedic explanation of Oṃ is as follows:

The origin of the universe (Viśvam) and its universal character are manifested in the sacred syllable Oṃ.^[6]

The importance which was attached to the word in ancient India, may be followed from the following quotation:

"The essence of all beings is earth,
The essence of earth is water,
The essence of water are the plants,
The essence of plants is man,
The essence of man is speech,
The essence of speech is the Ṛgveda.
The essence of Ṛgveda is Sāmaveda,
The essence of Sāmaveda is the Udgīta (which is Oṃ).
That Udgīta is the best of all essences, the highest, deserving the highest place, the eighth."^[7]

The Chāndogya Upaniṣad has been cited by Lama Anagarika Govinda in connection with the origin and the universal character of the Sacred syllable Oṃ.

Lama Anagarika Govinda adds in this regard:

"Thus we discern in the figure of the Buddha three 'bodies' or principles. That in which all enlightened ones is the same: the experience of completeness, of universality, of the deepest super individual reality of the Dharma that is Dharmakāya. Also the primordial law and cause of all things, from which emanates the physical or ideal character of a Buddha, the creative expression or formulation of this universal principle in the realm of inner vision: that is the Sambhogakāya, the 'Body of Bliss', (rapture or spiritual enjoyment), from which all true inspiration is born."

That in which this inspiration is transformed into visible form and becomes actions: the Nirmāṇakāya: the body of transformation, the human embodiment or individuality of an enlightened one. In the Dharmakāya, the universal principle of all consciousness, the totality of 'becoming' and being is potentially contained.

Yet we can neither say that space is identical with the things, nor that it is different from them. As little as we can become conscious of space without its opposite pole, i. e. form, so the Dharmakāya cannot become reality for us without descending into forms.^[8]

Importance of Number Six in Buddhism:

Lama Anagarika Govinda in his book 'Foundation of Tibetan Mysticism' refers to number six as an auspicious number and six pāramitās are enumerated in the pāramitānaya.

These pāramitās or perfections are:

1. The perfection of benevolence (dāna pāramitā), culminating in self -sacrifice;
2. The perfection of moral precepts (śīla pāramitā), culminating in all -embracing love;
3. The perfection of forbearance or patience (kṣānti pāramitā), culminating in forgiveness and eradication of ill -will;
4. The perfection of vigour (vīrya pāramitā), culminating in the unshakeable determination to attain enlightenment;
5. The perfection of meditation or inner vision (dhyāna pāramitā), culminating in the awareness of reality, the realization of the mind itself;
6. The perfection of wisdom (prajñāpāramitā), culminating in perfect enlightenment.^[9]

Again the six families of the Buddhist Tantra (ṇaṇkula) are very important.

Those are as follows in the Nāma -saṇgīti:

Śākyamuni bhagavān sakalaṃ mantra -kulaṃ mahat /
mantra uidyādhara -kulaṃ vyavalokya kulatrayaṃ //
loka-lokottarakuiaṃ lokāloka kulaṃ mahat /
mahā -mudrā -kulaṃ cāpyam mahoṣṛūsa kulaṃ mahat //^[10]

Also six -fold esoteric practice (ṣaḍaṅgayoga), six psychic remembering (ṣaḍānasmṛti) and six guardian deities (saḍdevī) may be mentioned.^[11]

In Tibetan Buddhism two courses (lam gnyis) are followed -course of pāramitā and the course of mantra as discussed above.^[12]

Oṃ Maṅi Padme Hūṃ Mantra:

In the Tāngur (bstan 'gyur) some mantras developed in Indian practice became prominent such as, Arapacanāya Namaḥ. and Oṃ Maṇi Padme Hūṃ. Two separate texts of the mantras are preserved in Tānjur (No. 575/ 917 Tohoku;Ṣaḍakṣara-mahāvidyā-3405). Arapacanāya mantra is in dedication of Mañjuśrī while Oṃ Maṇi Padme Hūṃ refers to Avalokiteśvara-sādhanā.^[13]

In this connection scholar Lokesh Chandra raised a critical question about Avalokiteśvara by analyzing it linguistically in two ways i.e. Avalokiteśvara and Avalokita-īśvara. He further deduced that Avalokiteśvara is a manifestation in assimilation of several deities. Here the Lokeśvara and Avalokiteśvara may be identified as a whole and a part. Here Lokeśvara is a wider concept as a 'jig rten dbang phyug: whereas Avalokiteśvara is spyan ras gzigs, he who sees by the eyes. Thus it corresponds to the Vedic description of Viṣṇu whose eyes are as wide as the effulgent space divīva cakṇurātatam. Oṃ tadviṣṇuḥ paramaṃ padaṃ sadā pashyanti sūrayaḥ. Oṃ divīva cakṣurātataṃ. (Ṛgveda 1.22.20)^[14]

It is therefore evident that the six -syllabled mantra Oṃ Maṇi Padme Hūṃ is all -pervading in efficiency to make the six worlds vibrate as the Ārya Kāraṇḍyavyūha Sūtra describes. A. Studholme sees this famous mantra as being a declarative aspiration, possibly meaning 'I in the jewel-lotus',^[15] with the jewel-lotus being a reference to birth in the lotus made of jewels in the Buddhist Paradise, Sukhāvatī, of Buddha Amitābha. The mantra is the very heart of Avalokiteśvara (the supreme Buddha of Compassion) and can usher in Awakening.

A. Studholme writes:

"Oṃ Maṇi padme Hūṃ, then, is both the paramahṛdaya, or “innermost heart,” of Avalokiteśvara and a form of the nāma, or “name,” of the bodhisattva.It is also, as we have seen, a mahāvidyā, a mantra capable of bringing about the “great knowledge” of enlightenment itself, or perhaps, in this context, a means of acquiring, or entering into, the enlightened mind of the great bodhisattva. He who knows the formula, it is said, knows liberation (mokṣaṃ jānāti). One who wears the formula on the body or around the neck is said to be known as the ultimate in the wisdom of the tathāgatas. Merely to bring it to mind is to destroy all evil and to attain extraordinary enlightenment (bodhiṃ).

Oṃ Maṇi padme Hūṃ, finally, we have argued, is to be regarded as a kind of Buddhist praṇava. It is the “rice grain” of the Mahāyāna (taṇḍulavatsāraṃ mahāyānasya), that which is both the nourishing essence of the whole plant and, also, the seed from which the whole plant springs. Merely to recite it is to bring sublime liberation (śivaṃ mokṣaṃ). It is, moreover, the indestructible instruction on all wisdom (sarvajñānasya akṣayaṃ nirdeśaṃ). To write it is equivalent to writing the eighty-four thousand parts of the Dharma. It is that by which the twelve-fold wheel of Dharma is turned.

It is the equivalent of many Mahāyāna sūtras being sung and of a great variety of Buddhist texts being taught. The six syllables of Oṃ Maṇi padme Hūṃ are believed to contain, in some sense, all the teachings of the Mahāyāna."^[16]

"Oṃ Maṇi Padme Hūṃ" is one of the most recited mantra among all faith traditions combined, every where in the world this mantra is found to be repeated. In Tibet there are adept monks to be found who chant it during all their waking hours as long as they live. The vibrational effect it produces when in a large hall of a Buddhist monastery all the monk chant this mantra together is both tremendous and beautiful. Chanting of a mantra is the perfect way of awakening the consciousness within and can demonstrate a therapeutic effec on the body. Oṃ Maṇi Padme Hūṃ, out loud or silently, invokes the powerful benevolent attention and blessings of Chenrezig, the embodiment of compassion. Many layers of meanings, the book 'Foundations of Tibetan Mysticism' by Lama Anagarika Govinda, are a classic example of how a mantra like Oṃ Maṇi padme Hūṃ can contain many levels of symbolic meaning.

Donald Lopez gives a good discussion of this mantra and its various interpretations in his book 'Prisoners of Shangri-LA: Tibetan Buddhism and the West'. Lopez is an authoritative writer and challenges the stereotypical analysis of the mantra as meaning "The Jewel in the Lotus", an interpretation that is not supported by either a linguistic analysis, nor by Tibetan tradition, and is symptomatic of the Western Orientalist approach to the 'exotic' East.

The middle part of the mantra, maṇipadme, is often interpreted as "jewel in the lotus,"Sanskritmaṇi "jewel, gem, cintamaṇi" and the locative of padma "lotus", but Donald Lopez things that it is much more likely that maṇipadme is in fact a vocative, not a locative, addressing a bodhisattva called maṇipadma, "Jewel-Lotus"-an alternate epithet of the bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara.^[17] It is preceded by the oṃ syllable and followed by the hūṃ syllable, both interjections without linguistic meaning.

Lopez also states that the majority of Tibetan Buddhist texts have regarded the translation of the mantra as secondary, focusing instead on the correspondence of the six syllables of the mantra to various other groupings of six in the Buddhist tradition.^[18] In the Chenrezig Sādhana, Tsangsar Tulku Rinpoche expands upon the mantra's meaning, taking its six syllables to represent the purification of the six realms of existence:^[19]

"Maṅi" means jewel, diamond or precious and "Padme" means lotus flower -a popular symbol in eastern tradition. Oṃ is salutation (as well as the primordal vibration / sound), Hūṃ externally means 'to be in'. The literal translation of "Oṃ maṇi padme hūṃ"based on the individual syllable is 'Behold the Jewel in the Lotus' / 'Praise the Jewel in the Lotus'.

In apparent symbology 'maṅi' or the Jewel refers to the mind or consciousness and 'padme' or the lotus refers to the Heart that is the source of Love energy. In this sense it is also a mantra of union and harmony of mind consciousness and inner heart-a hallmark of perfect human being or Buddha (awakened one). Thus Oṃ Maṇi Padme Hūṃ can also be interpreted as, "Salutations to the Jewel of consciousness which has reached the Seat of the Heart." Interestingly inner meaning of Hūṃ referers to "indivisible" or an unified whole. Esoterically Oṃ Maṇi Padme Hūṃ can thus be translated as, "hail to the one who is in union."

In classical Sanskrit grammar, padme would be the locative case, which has led to the interpretation of Oṃ Maṇi Padme hūṃ as “jewel in the lotus.” However, mantras are typically given in the vocative or dative case, usually with the name of a deity being invoked. Padme is in fact the vocative for padma, this being Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit. In classical Sanskrit, the eending vocative form is only used for feminine nouns.^[20] P.C. Verhagen has translated one of the few native Tibetan texts to be found in the Tengyur, a grammar text that uses this very mantra to explain the e-ending vocative form for masculine nouns.^[21] This vocative form of masculine nouns is a characteristic of the Māgadhi, or northeastern Middle Indic, dialect. However, this form appears to have been much more widespread, extending as far as Sanskrit loan words in the Tocharian language of Central Asia.^[22] Maṇipadma is therefore a compound and is a name for Avalokiteśvara meaning “Jewel Lotus.”

Six-Syllable Mantra "Oṃ Maṇi Padme Hūṃ" which will stop the rebirth and sufferings of the beings of the six realms. Each of the syllabuses will eliminate the cause and condition to be reborn in one of the respective six realms. "Oṃ" will eliminate the cause and condition to be borne in the gods' realm. "Ma" will eliminate the cause and condition to be borne in the demigods realm. "Ni "; will eliminate the cause and condition to be borne in the human realm. "Pad " will eliminate the cause and condition to be borne in the animal realm, " Me " will eliminate the cause and condition to be borne in the hungry ghost realm. " Hūṃ" will eliminate the cause and condition to be borne in the hell realm. You must engage, keep, recite and absorb this. This will empty the six realms. "

The most important mantra for the Tibetian Buddhists associated with the bodhisattva–Avalokiteśvara is the six syllable mantra Oṃ Maṇi Padme Hūṃ. His Holiness, the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet says, the six syllable chant OṂ Maṇi Padme Hūṃ is great but you need to think of each syllable when you chant it. The first, OṂ, is composed of three pure letters, A, U, and M. The OṂ is an indivisible union of method and wisdom that can transform your impure body, speech, and mind into the pure exalted body, speech, and mind of a Buddha. MAṆI, the jewel, symbolizes factors of method, compassion and love, the altruistic intention to become enlightened. PADME means lotus and symbolizes wisdom. Growing out of mud, but not being stained by mud, lotus indicates the quality of wisdom, which keeps you out of contradiction. The last syllable, Hūṃ, means inseparability;symbolizing purity and can be achieved by the unity of method and wisdom^[23]

Buddhist teachings claim that by chanting the OṂ syllable, an impure body, speech and mind can be transformed into pure ones of a Buddha, who was once impure and later by removing negative attributes, achieved enlightenment on his path^[23]. His Holiness The 14th Dalai Lama states that just by chanting the Oṃ Maṇi Padme Hūṃ mantra would not help, but chanting each syllable with precision of note and frequency would definitely show a meaningful effect.

Robert Ekvall has described the various uses of Oṃ Maṇi padme Hūṃ in Tibetan society in the course of a discussion of chos’don, or “express verbalized religion.” He writes, at one point:

“When a Tibetan takes a vow of silence for a period of time, the only utterance permitted is the verbalization of religion; therefore, in theory he is bound to the utterance of prayers alone. In such a case, the mantra Oṃ Maṇi padme Hūṃ may serve many conversational needs. The tent wife who is bound by a vow of silence for the day may shout it in your ear to call attention to the fact that she waits to fill your tea bowl, and I have seen many a trespassing dog rise and depart with speed when told Oṃ Maṇi padme Hūṃ”.^[24]

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Amṛta-Kaṇikā Commentary of Mañjuśrī-nāma Sangīti refers to the six letters as a symbolic expression. The six worlds of the Buddhists sentient beings in the universe (bhava -cakra, Tib. Srid pa'i 'khor lo) are: 1. The animal world including the sentient beings other than the human ones. Sanskrit (S) Tiryak-loka, Tibetan (T) 'dud 'gro ba'i srid Pa. 2. The human world (S) manusya -loka, (T) mi'i srid pa). 3. The super human or divine beings (S) deva-loka, (T) lha'i srid pa) 4. The demons with excessive power to control the super natural world i. e. (S) asura -loka, (T) mi lha'i srid pa). 5. The departed ones from the human, animal and the titans world i. e. (S) preta -loka, (T) yi dvags kyi srid pa). 6. The beings in the world under constant suffering in the hells according to the degree of the bad deeds already performed i. e. (S) naraka -loka, (T) dmyal ba'i srid pa. Amṇtakaṇikā commentary, Ed. Banarasi Lal, Sarnath, 1996, pp. 215.

[2]:

A complete catalogue of the Tibetan Buddhist canons, Tanjur Tohoku catalogue No. 1395 - 'phags pa mtshan yang dag par brjod pa'i mdor bshad bdud rtsi' i thigs pa shes bya ba (pha - 36a5 - 96b1). Amṛtakaṇikā nāma-āryanāmasaṃ gitī-ṭippaṇī.

[3]:

Foundation of Tibetan Mysticism, Lama Anagarika Govinda, Rider and Co., London 1960, pp. 111.

[4]:

Lama Anagarika Govinda refers to the six cakras in details namely, mūlādhāra-cakra, svādhisthāna -cakra, maṇipura -cakra or nābhipadma-cakra, anāhata-cakra, vishuddha -cakra and ājñā -cakra, Foundation of Tibetan Mysticism, Rider and Co., London 1960, pp. 140-141.

[5]:

In Dhamma -cakka -pavattana -Sutta inner effulgence spread as soon as one attains insight. The text reads, tam kho punidam dukkham ariysaccam time. bhikkhve pubbe annussutesu dhmmesu ckkhum udpadi, jñanam updpadi paññā udpadi vijjā upādi, āloko udpadi (pp. 13 - 14).

[6]:

Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad (5/1/1) reads: Oṃ ṛtam Brahma "Oṃ signifies Brāhmaṇ that abyss of void space, the sky ṛta is Brahma". In Māṇḍukyaupaniṣad therefore confers omityetadaksaramidam saruam "Oṃ as such: this Akṣara or non -decaying is Oṃ which is this all. "

[7]:

Foundation of Tibetan Mysticism, Lama Anagarika Govinda, Rider and Company., London 1960, pp. 21.

[8]:

Foundation of Tibetan Mysticism, Lama Anagarika Govinda, Rider and Company., London 1960, pp. 213 - 214.

[9]:

Amṛtakaṇikā commentary, ed. Banarasi Lal, Sarnath 1996 (pp. 215).

[10]:

Mañjuśrī -nāma-samgīti, Ed. Lokesh Chandra, New Delhi, pp. 114.

[11]:

Guhya Samaja Tantra. Baroda ed, 1958, chapter 18, verse. 140., Amṛtakarṇikā, pp. 321.

[12]:

Advaya-vajra-sangraha ed. H.P. Shastri, Baroda, 1927 p. 14.

[13]:

Arapacanā: The Buddhist Mystic Script, B. N. Mukherjee, Tantric Buddhism, Edited by N. N. Bhattacharya and Amartya Ghosh, Delhi, 1999.

[14]:

Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad (5/1/1) reads: Oṃ ṛtam Brahma "Oṃ signifies Brāhmaṇ that abyss of void space, the sky ṛta is Brahma". In Māṇḍukyaupaniṣad therefore confers omityetadaksaramidam saruam "Oṃ as such: this Akṣara or non -decaying is Oṃ which is this all. "

[15]:

Alexander Studholme, The Origins of Oṃ Maṇipadme Hūṃ: A Study of the Kāraṇḍyavyūha Sūtra, State University of New York Press., Albany, 2002, p. 117.

[16]:

Alexander Studholme, The Origins of Oṃ Maṇipadme Hūṃ: A Study of the Kāraṇḍyavyūha Sūtra, State University of New York Press., Albany, 2002, p. 108.

[17]:

Lopez, 331; the vocative would have to be feminine.

[18]:

Lopez, 130.

[19]:

Tsangsar Tulku Rinpoche, Chenrezig sadhana.

[20]:

Martin (1987, 1).

[21]:

Verhagen (1990, 133–138).47.

[22]:

Cohen (2002, 67–68).

[23]:

Lopez DS Jr. Prisoners of Shangri-la: Tibetan Buddhism and the West. Chicago University Press, USA. 2012;ISBN 022619048X, 9780226190488.

[24]:

Robert Ekvall, Religious Observances in Tibet: Pattern and Function (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1964), pp. 98–149.