[Buddha-l] OṂ MAṆI PAD ME HŪṂ

[Chris Fynn]

Dan Lusthaus wrote:

> Thanks, Chris for the 6 Buddha correlative theory. One minor correction.
> What you are quoting is not what "Dan Lusthaus wrote," but what Alexander 
> Studholme wrote in his book _The Origins of Om Manipadme Hum: A Study of the 
> Karandavyuha Sutra_ SUNY Press, 2002.

Sorry Dan, missed that - Does Studholme reference any of the innumerable 
Tibetan texts on this mantra?

> The Dalai Lama, on the site I previously gave a link to, mentions *five* 
> Buddhas re: Om mani padme hum. " In terms of the seed syllables of the five 
> Conqueror Buddhas, hum is the seed syllable of Akshobhya - the immovable, 
> the unfluctuating, that which cannot be disturbed by anything."
> 
> The link, again: http://www.circle-of-light.com/Mantras/om-mantra.html

But in this the DL actually connects only one of the 5 Buddhas, 
Akṣobhya, to a syllable of the Mantra (HŪṂ) giving no correlations for 
the rest. Since Akṣobhya usually represents the "mirror-like" wisdom, 
the purity of anger-aversion, and the muni Yama Dharmaraja in the list I 
gave is supposed to purify anger-aversion there seems no real conflict 
between the two versions.

As well as the usual fivefold list, there is sometimes a sixfold list of
Conqueror Buddhas: Samantabhadra, Vairocana, Akṣobhya-Vajrasattva,
Ratnasambhava,  Amitābha, and Amoghasiddhi - which is the same as the 5 
fold list with the addition of Samantabhadra.

> Since Om can be broken into 3 syllables (a-u-m), shall we go for eight 
> Buddhas? A-U-M ma-ni pad-me hum? (or seven, if a-um ma-ni pad-me hum?) If we 
> give each ak.sara (letter) its own corresponding bija we could get 10 
> Buddhas or more (depending on how you treat the vowels).

You can break it down however you choose but, in Tibetan, oṃ ma-ṇi 
pad-me hūṃ is inevitably referred to as the "six-syllable" or "six 
letter" (yi-ge drug-pa) mantra ~ even though, as you point out, some of 
these yig-ge have more than one component.

> Dan
> 
>> In the Tibetan tradition the *six* Buddhas that the syllables of the
>> saḍakṣara mantra of Avalokiteśvara, OṂ MAṆI PAD ME HŪṂ, are associated
>> with are the six nirmāṇakāya muni (sprul-sku  thub-drug)~ aspects of
>> Buddha (/Avalokiteśvara) said to manifest in the six realms of living
>> beings:

These muni are often depicted - one in each realm - in Tibetan paintings 
of the "Wheel of Life"  (sid pa'i kor lo) - a theme which is described 
in Gunaprapha's Vinaya-sūtra. Early examples of paintings of the Wheel 
of Life depict only five realms of beings; those of gods, humans, 
animals, anguished spirits and hell beings, - while later versions from 
Tibet and Central Asia often divide the gods realm into two: gods and 
jealous gods making six. These later paintings often depict the six muni.
<http://www.himalayanart.org/image.cfm/57616.html>
<http://www.himalayanart.org/image.cfm/91037.html>

I wonder if this change was made to bring it in line with the popular 
traditon of Avalokiteśvara and the six syllable mantra in Tibet?

There are of course numerous forms of Avalokiteśvara surrounded by 
completely different retinues and numbers of of deities ~ but these 
different forms are usually also associated with different mantras. Oṃ 
ma-ṇi pad-me hūṃ is most often associated with the white four armed 
seated form popular in Tibet.

- Chris

<http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:OM_MANI_PADME_HUM.svg>
<http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Om-mani-padme-hum_01.svg>
<http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Om-mani-padme-hum_02.svg>