{"collection":"Buddhism","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/bud/tib/omph.htm","path":"bud/tib/omph.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/bud/tib/omph.htm","text":"On the meaning of: OM MANI PADME HUM\nThe jewel is in the lotus or praise to the jewel in the lotus\nby His Holiness Tenzin Gyatso The Fourteenth Dalai Lama of Tibet\nIt is very good to recite the mantra OM MANI PADME HUM, but while\nyou are doing it, you should be thinking on its meaning, for the\nmeaning of the six syllables is great and vast. The first, OM, is\ncomposed of three pure letters, A, U, and M. These symbolize the\npractitioner's impure body, speech, and mind; they also symbolize the\npure exalted body, speech and mind of a Buddha.\nCan impure body, speech and mind be transformed into pure body,\nspeech and mind, or are they entirely separate? All Buddhas are cases\nof being who were like ourselves and then in dependence on the path\nbecame enlightened; Buddhism does not assert that there is anyone who\nfrom the beginning is free from faults and possesses all good\nqualities. The development of pure body, speech, and mind comes from\ngradually leaving the impure states and their being transformed into\nthe pure.\nHow is this done? The path is indicated by the next four syllables.\nMANI, meaning jewel, symbolizes the factor of method- the altruistic\nintention to become enlightened, compassion, and love. Just as a\njewel is capable of removing poverty, so the altruistic mind of\nenlightenment is capable of removing the poverty, or difficulties, of\ncyclic existence and of solitary peace. Similarly, just as a jewel\nfulfills the wishes of sentient beings, so the altruistic intention to\nbecome enlightened fulfills the wishes of sentient beings.\nThe two syllables, PADME, meaning lotus, symbolize wisdom. Just as\na lotus grows forth from mud but is not sullied by the faults of mud,\nso wisdom is capable of putting you in a situation of non-\ncontradiction where as there would be contradiction if you did not\nhave wisdom. There is wisdom realizing impermanence, wisdom realizing\nthat persons are empty of self-sufficient or substantial existence,\nwisdom that realizes the emptiness of duality (that is to say, of\ndifference of entity between subject and object), and wisdom that\nrealizes the emptiness of inherent existence. Though there are may\ndifferent types of wisdom, the main of all these is the wisdom\nrealizing emptiness.\nPurity must be achieved by an indivisible unity of method and\nwisdom, symbolized by the final syllable, HUM, which indicates\nindivisibility. According to the sutra system, this indivisibility of\nmethod and wisdom refers to one consciousness in which there is a full\nform of both wisdom affected by method and method affected by wisdom.\nIn the mantra, or tantra vehicle, it refers to one conciousness in\nwhich there is the full form of both wisdom and method as one\nundifferentiable entity. In terms of the seed syllables of the five\nconqueror Buddhas, HUM is the is the seed syllable of Akshobhya- the\nimmovable, the unfluctuating, that which cannot be disturbed by\nanything.\nThus the six syllables, OM MANI PADME HUM, mean that in dependence\non the practice which is in indivisible union of method and wisdom,\nyou can transform your impure body, speech and mind into the pure\nbody, speech, and mind of a Buddha. It is said that you should not\nseek for Buddhahood outside of yourself; the substances for the\nachievement of Buddhahood are within. As Maitreya says in his SUBLIME\nCONTINUUM OF GREAT VEHICLE (UTTARA TANTRA) all beings naturally have\nthe Buddha nature in their own continuum. We have within us the seed\nof purity, the essence of a One Gone Thus (TATHAGATAGARBHA), that is\nto be transformed and full developed into Buddhahood.\n(From a lecture given by His Holiness The Dalai Lama of Tibet at the\nKalmuck Mongolian Buddhist Center, New Jersey.)\nTranscribed by Ngawang Tashi (Tsawa), Drepung Loseling, MUNGOD, INDIA","title":"Om Mani Padme Hum by The Dalai Lama","type":"page"}