Om mani padme hum

[Guest guest]

Dear list members:

 

The very famous mantra, " Om mani padme hum " is usually rendered as " Om

jewel in the lotus. " But some time ago I had come across an argument

that the mantra really invokes a female deity called Manipadma.

Unfortunately, I have lost the source of this alternative

interpretation. What is the more likely meaning (assuming that mantras

are not meaningless) of this mantra? Thanks,

 

Shrinivas Tilak

[Guest guest]

This may be useful:

 

LC Control No.: 2002020933

Type of Material: Book (Print, Microform, Electronic, etc.)

Personal Name: Studholme, Alexander, 1967-

Main Title: The origins of Oṃ manipadme hūṃ : a study of

Kāraṇḍavyūha sūtra/ Alexander Studholme.

Published/Created: Albany : State University of New York Press, 2002.

Description: ix, 222 p. : 23 cm.

ISBN: 0791453898 (alk. paper)

0791453901 (pbk. : alk. paper)

Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 205-213) and index.

Subjects: Tripiṭaka. Sūtrapiṭaka. Kāraṇḍavyūhasūtra.

Oṃ maṇipadme hūm.

LC Classification: BQ2240.K347 S78 2002

Dewey Class No.: 294.3/437 21

Electronic File Information:

Table of contents

http://www.loc.gov/catdir/toc/fy037/2002020933.html

Links: Table of contents

http://www.loc.gov/catdir/toc/fy037/2002020933.html

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Allen W. Thrasher, Ph.D.

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tel. 202-707-3732; fax 202-707-1724; athr

The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the Library of

Congress.

 

>>> " shrinivast_k11612 " <shrinivast_k11612 07/22/08 11:52 AM >>>

 

Dear list members:

 

The very famous mantra, " Om mani padme hum " is usually rendered as " Om

jewel in the lotus. " But some time ago I had come across an argument

that the mantra really invokes a female deity called Manipadma.

Unfortunately, I have lost the source of this alternative

interpretation. What is the more likely meaning (assuming that mantras

are not meaningless) of this mantra? Thanks,

 

Shrinivas Tilak

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

Usually Buddhist Mantras Invoke the Deities in the Female Vocative, if

you see Various Dharanis and Mantras.

 

Manipadma - It actually refer Avalokiteshvara himself. He who holds

the Chintamani Chakra and the Lotus. Padmapani/Padmahasta (One who

holds the Lotus in the Hands) are all epithets of Avalokiteshvara

Bodhisattva Mahasattva.

 

As far as I know Both Mahayana and Vajrayana doesn't have a female

Deity named Manipadma.

[Guest guest]

 this website has a detailed explanation about this Mantra:

 

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

 

The mantra originated in India; as it moved from India into Tibet, the

pronunciation changed because some of the sounds in the Indian Sanskrit language

were hard for Tibetans to pronounce.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sanskrit

 

form

 

 

Om Mani Padma Hum

 

mantra of Avalokiteshvara

 

 

 

Tibetan

 

form

 

 

Om Mani Peme Hung

 

mantra of Chenrezig

 

 

 

 

 

The Common Mani Scripts

The mantra Om Mani Padme Hum is found written in two different ways in (and on)

Mani wheels and on jewelry, etc.: in the ancient Indian Ranjana script and in

Tibetan script:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tibetan script

 

 

 Ranjana script

 

" There is not a single aspect of the eighty-four thousand sections of the

Buddha's teachings which is not contained in Avalokiteshvara's six syllable

mantra " Om Mani Padme Hum " , and as such the qualities of the " mani " are praised

again and again in the Sutras and Tantras.... Whether happy or sad, if we take

the " mani " as our refuge, Chenrezig will never forsake us, spontaneous devotion

will arise in our minds and the Great Vehicle will effortlessly be realized. "

Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche

-- Heart Treasure of the Enlightened Ones

 

 

 

Om mani padme hum is the universal mantra of Love and Compasion, and its

immediate meaning is " Hail, the Jewel in the Lotus " . When this mantra is

recited, it is in fact continually repeating the name of Avalokiteshvara, the

Bodhisattva of all compassion and love.

 

This mantra is invested by the grace and power of the mind of Avalokiteshvara

Bodhisattva who himself gathers the grace of compassion of all the buddhas and

bodhisattvas. In this view, the mantra is endowed with the capacity to purify

our mind from the veils that obscure it. The mantra opens the mind to love and

compassion and leads it towards awakening.

 

 

 

This mantra is indicated by the next four syllables. MANI, meaning jewel,

symbolizes 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.

The two syllables, PADME, meaning lotus, symbolize wisdom. Just as a lotus grows

forth 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.

Purity must be achieved by an indivisible unity of method and wisdom, symbolized

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.

Each syllable has a genuine purifying effect: OM purifies the veils of body, MA

purifies the veils of speech, NI purifies the veils of mind, PAD purifies the

veils of conflicting emotions, ME purifies the veils of latent conditioning, HUM

purifies the veil that covers knowledge.

Thus the six syllables, ?Om mani padme hum?, mean that in dependence on the

practice of a path which is an indivisible union of method and wisdom, you can

transform your impure body, speech, and mind into the pure exalted body, speech,

and mind of a Buddha.