OM MANI PADME HUM
It
is very good to recite the mantra Om mani padme hum, but while you are
doing it, you should be thinking on its meaning, for the meaning of the six
syllables is great and vast.
The
first, Om is composed of three letters, A, U, and M. These symbolize the
practitioner’s impure body, speech, and mind; they also symbolize the pure
exalted body, speech, and mind of a Buddha.
Can
impure body, speech, and mind be transformed into pure body, speech, and mind,
or are they entirely separate? All Buddhas are cases of beings who were like
ourselves and then in dependence on the path became enlightened; Buddhism does
not assert that there is anyone who from the beginning is free from faults and
possesses all good qualities. The development of pure body, speech, and mind
comes from gradually leaving the impure states arid their being transformed
into the pure.
How
is this done? The path 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. Similarly, just as a jewel fulfills the wishes of sentient beings, so
the altruistic intention to become enlightened fulfills the wishes of sentient
beings.
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. There is wisdom realizing
impermanence, wisdom realizing that persons are empty, of being self-sufficient
or substantially existent, wisdom that realizes the emptiness of duality-that
is to say, of difference of entity between subject an object-and wisdom that
realizes the emptiness of inherent existence. Though there are many different
types of wisdom, the main of all these is the wisdom realizing emptiness.
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. In the mantra, or tantric,
vehicle, it refers to one consciousness in which there is the full form of both
wisdom and method as one undifferentiable entity. 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.
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. It is said that you should not seek for
Buddhahood outside of yourself; the substances for the achievement of
Buddhahood are within. As Maitreya says in his Sublime Continuum of the Great
Vehicle (Uttaratantra), all beings naturally have the Buddha nature in their
own continuum. We have within us the seed of purity, the essence of a One Gone
Thus (Tathagatagarbha), that is to be transformed and fully developed into
Buddhahood.
