Mantra · Buddhist practice
Om Mani Padme Hum
A mantra invoking Avalokiteśvara. Maṇi means jewel and padma means lotus; traditional commentaries interpret the six syllables in several ways.
ཨོཾ་མ་ཎི་པདྨེ་ཧཱུྃ།
Oṃ maṇi padme hūṃ
The six-syllable mantra of Avalokiteśvara, the bodhisattva who hears the cries of the world. It is the most widely recited mantra in Tibetan Buddhism — said aloud, murmured under the breath, turned on prayer wheels and cut into stone along the paths.
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ཨོཾ་མ་ཎི་པདྨེ་ཧཱུྃ།
Oṃ maṇi padme hūṃ
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What the words say
The mantra has six syllables. Maṇi means jewel, and padme is related to padma, lotus. Its grammar and symbolism receive different explanations; a short English phrase cannot stand for all of them. Tibetan commentaries often explain the syllables through compassion, wisdom and purification rather than treating the mantra as an ordinary sentence.
Where it comes from
The mantra first appears in the Kāraṇḍavyūha Sūtra, a Mahāyāna text compiled around the fourth to fifth century, which presents it as the heart of Avalokiteśvara. It travelled to Tibet with Buddhism and became the mantra of the country: Avalokiteśvara, as Chenrezig, is held to be Tibet's protector, and the Dalai Lamas are regarded as his emanations.
How it is practised
Counted on a mala of 108 beads, one bead to a recitation. It is also turned on prayer wheels, printed on flags, and carved into the mani stones heaped beside mountain paths. Unlike many tantric mantras it asks no initiation and is recited by anyone.
References
- Kāraṇḍavyūha Sūtra
- Donald S. Lopez Jr., Prisoners of Shangri-La (University of Chicago Press, 1998), ch. 4
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