OṂ MAṆI PADME HŪṂ

Oṃ maṇi padme hūṃ is the mantra of the bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara. In recitation, rotation, and writing, the six-syllable mantra, as it is popularly known, is deeply embedded in daily life throughout the Tibetan cultural sphere. It is an invocation to the bodhisattva in the guise of Maṇipadma (the final e is a vocative case ending to the feminine noun). It might therefore be rendered "Oṃ O [thou who] hast a jewel and lotus Hūṃ." This interpretation, though familiar to Tibetan exegetes since at least the ninth century, has largely eluded Westerners, who have commonly misconstrued its meaning as some variation of "Hail to the jewel in the lotus."

While multiple Avalokiteśvara dhĀraṆĪ and mantra were in circulation by the third century c.e., the six-syllable mantra seems to have first appeared in the Kāraṇḍavyūha-sūtra. This text, composed as early as the fifth century c.e., offers extensive description of the mantra's power, chief among them rebirth in the pure realms contained within the hair pores of Avalokiteśvara. According to legend, a copy of the Kāraṇḍavyūha-sūtra—or alternatively simply the six syllables contained in a jeweled casket (kāraṇḍa means casket)—fell out of the sky onto the roof of the semihistorical sixth-century Tibetan king Lha tho tho ri. The sūtra was translated some time before 812, as it is included in the Ldan dkar ma catalogue of imperialperiod translations published in that year. Although comparable mantras associated with Avalokiteśvara are found in several Dunhuang texts, usage of the six-syllable mantra appears to have gained wide popularity only in the eleventh century.

Tibetans traditionally interpret the mantra and its six syllables in terms of numerical correspondences, such as to the six realms of existence. Oral recitations of the mantra, commonly counted on prayer beads, are said to prevent rebirth in the six realms and purify even the gravest of sins. Recitation is often supplemented by simultaneous spinning of the well-known prayer wheel (mani 'khor lo, chos 'khor lo, or lag 'khor). This is a device that allows the practitioner to activate the mantra's efficacy through spinning the wheel. According to tradition a single revolution produces an amount of merit equal to reading all of the Buddha's discourses; ten revolutions purify an amount of sin equal to Mount Meru, and so forth. The mantra is also written, engraved, and painted on rocks, its physical presence understood to offer protection to those nearby.

Western travelers to Tibet have been fascinated by the prevalence of the mantra since the thirteenth century, when the Franciscan missionary William of Rubruck observed the continual chanting of on mani baccam, as he recorded it. The mantra, and its ubiquitous mistranslation, Jewel in the Lotus, has over the centuries worked its way into the Western fascination with all things Eastern, engendering any number of mystical (including sexual) interpretations, and seeping into various Western countercultural movements, spiritual and otherwise.

See also:Heart Sūtra

Bibliography

Imaeda, Yoshro. "Note préliminaire sure la formule Oṃ maṇipadme hūṃ dans les manuscripts tibétains de Touenhouang." In Contributions aux études sur Touen-houang, ed. Michel Soymié. Geneva, Switzerland: Librairie Droz, 1979.

Kyabje Yonzin Trijang Dorje Chang Losang Yeshe Tenzin Gyatso Pal Zangpo. "The Significance of the Six Syllable Mantra OM MA NI PAD ME HUM." Tibet Journal 7, no. 4 (1982): 3–10.

Lopez, Donald S., Jr. Prisoners of Shangri-La: Tibetan Buddhism and the West. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998.

Martin, Dan. "On the Origin and Significance of the Prayer Wheel, According to Two Nineteenth-Century Tibetan Literary Sources." Journal of the Tibet Society 7 (1987): 13–29.

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

Verhagen, P. C. "The Mantra 'Oṃ maṇi-padme hūṃ' in an Early Tibetan Grammatical Treatise." Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies 13, no. 2 (1990): 133–138.

Alexander Gardner