Om mani padme hum
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Posted by Maha Thera in Religion section |
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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.
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