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Sitaram · Site Admin Joined: 14 Sep 2005 Posts: 1079

Date: Sun May 11, 2003 7:27 am
Subject: Behold! The Jewel! Om Mani Peme Hum

http://www.sulekha.com/chpost.asp...ilosophy&show=0&cid=58821

Om Mani Peme Hum

One reader inquires:

Dear Sitaram:

Would you happen to know the translation of "om mani padme aum
(hum?)"?

Sitaram answers:

I think it is, roughly, "We bow to the jewel in the lotus."

http://www.dharma-haven.org/tibetan/meaning-of-om-mani-padme-hung.htm

Although it may be easy to consider speech as intangible, that it
simply appears and disappears, we actually relate to it as something
real. It is because we become so attached to what we say and hear
that speech has such power.

Mere words, which have no ultimate reality, can determine our
happiness and suffering. We create pleasure and pain through our
fundamental clinging to sound and speech.

In the Vajrayana context, we recite and meditate on mantra, which is
enlightened sound, the speech of the [Bhodisattva of Compassion], the
union of Sound and Emptiness. It has no intrinsic reality, but is
simply the manifestation of pure sound, experienced simultaneously
with its Emptiness. Through mantra, we no longer cling to the reality
of the speech and sound encountered in life, but experience it as
essentially empty. Then confusion of the speech aspect of our being
is transformed into enlightened awareness.

Om Mani Peme Hum

"Behold! The jewel in the lotus!"

Om, it is composed of three letters, A, U, M; these symbolize the
pure exalted body, speech and mind of a Buddha and Bodhisattva.

Mani, meaning jewel, symbolizes the method, great compassion and
love. Just as a jewel is capable of fulfilling the outer needs of
sentient beings, similarly, love and compassion are capable of
fulfilling the inner needs of sentient beings.

Peme, meaning lotus, symbolizes wisdom. Just as a lotus grows from
mud but is not polluted with mud, similarly, wisdom "the supreme
knowledge" is grown from ordinary mind but not polluted with ordinary
thoughts.

Hum, indicates union. The union of method and wisdom leads to pure
exalted body, speech and mind of enlightened beings.

Om purifies bliss/pride in the samsaric realm of gods

Ma purifies jealousy/lust for entertainment in the realm of jealous
gods

Ni purifies passions/desire in the human realm

Pe purifies stupidity/prejudice in the animal realm

Me purifies poverty/possessiveness in the hungry ghost realm

Hung purifies aggression/hatred in the hell realm

Buddha Amitabha instructed Avalokiteshvara: "If you want to relieve
the suffering of the six realms, you must propagate the Six-Syllable
Mantra "OM MA NI PAD ME HUNG" which will stop the rebirth and
sufferings of the beings of the six realms. Each of the syllables
will eliminate the cause and condition to be reborn in one of the
respective six realms. "OM" 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 demi-gods 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. "HUNG" 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."

Whoever keeps this mantra, his body will transform into the vajra
body, his bones will transform into the relics of the Buddha and his
ordinary mind will transform into the wisdom of the Buddhas.

Whoever recites the mantra for even one time will obtain immeasurable
wisdom. He will eventually develop compassion and perfect the six
paramitas. He will be born as a universal monarch. He will achieve
the irreversible stage of the Bodhisattva and finally attain
Enlightenment.

If this mantra is carved onto rocks and mountains, and a human or non-
human being comes into contact and sees the mantra, he will develop
the cause to be a Bodhisattva in the next life, thereby relieving his
sufferings.

H.H. The Dalai Lama has provided just such an analysis, in a Web page

http://www.zamba.com/BuddhasVillage/teachings/hhomph.htm

It is very good to recite the mantra OM MANI PADME HUM, but while you
are doing it, you should be thinking on its meaning, for the meaning
of the six syllables is great and vast. The first, OM is composed of
three letters, A, U, M. These symbolise the practitioner's impure
body, speech and mind; they also symbolise the pure exalted body,
speech and mind of a Buddha.

Can impure body, speech and mind be transformed into pure body,
speech and mind, or are they entirely separate? All Buddhas are cases
of beings who were like ourselves and then in dependence on the path
became enlightened; Buddhism does not assert that there is anyone who
from the beginning is free from faults and possesses all good
qualities. The development of pure body, speech and mind comes from
gradually leaving the impure states and their being transformed into
the pure.

How is this done? The path is indicated by the next four syllables.
MANI, meaning jewel, symbolises the factors of method, the altruistic
intention to become enlightened, compassion and love. Just as a jewel
is capable of removing poverty, so the altruistic mind of
enlightenment is capable of removing the poverty, or difficulties, of
cyclic existence and of solitary peace. Similarly, just as a jewel
fulfils the wishes of sentient beings, so the altruistic intention to
become enlightened fulfils the wishes of sentient beings.

The two syllables, PADME, meaning lotus, symbolise wisdom. Just as a
lotus grows from mud but is not sullied by the faults of mud, so
wisdom is capable of putting you in a situation of non-contradiction
whereas there would be contradiction if you did not have wisdom.
There is wisdom realising impermanence, wisdom realising that persons
are empty of being self-sufficient or substantially existent, wisdom
that realises the emptiness of duality - that is to say, of
difference of entity between subject and object - and wisdom that
realises the emptiness of inherent existence. Though there are many
different types of wisdom, the main of all these is the wisdom
realising emptiness.

Purity must be achieved by an indivisible unity of method and wisdom,
symbolised by the final syllable HUM, which indicates indivisibility.
According to the sutra system, this indivisibility of method and
wisdom refers to wisdom affected by method and method affected by
wisdom. In the mantra, or vajrayana vehicle, it refers to one
consciousness in which there is the full form of both wisdom and
method as one undifferentiable entity. In terms of the seed syllable
of Akshobhya - the immovable, the unfluctuating, that which cannot be
disturbed by anything.

Thus the six syllables, Om Ma ni Pe me Hum, mean that through the
practice of a path that is a union of love and compassion with
wisdom, you can transform your impure body, speech and mind into the
pure exalted body, speech and mind of a Buddha. The merits of
reciting this Mantra are limitless and cannot be fully described even
by the Buddha. It is said that the sand of the Ganges and the drops
of water in the ocean can be counted but not the merits from the
recitation of this Mantra.

This Mantra is the great love and compassion manifestation of all the
Buddhas. It helps us to develop the love and compassion to make our
life full of meaning. Also this mantra can bring healing and can be
use as a prayer for other sentient being.

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