Syllable | Six Pāramitās | Purifies | Samsaric realm | Colours | Symbol of the Deity | (Wish them) To be born in |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Om | Generosity | Pride / Ego | Devas | White | Wisdom | Perfect Realm of Potala |
Ma | Ethics | Jealousy / Lust for entertainment | Asuras | Green | Compassion | Perfect Realm of Potala |
Ni | Patience | Passion / desire | Humans | Yellow | Body, speech, mind quality and activity |
Dewachen |
Pad | Diligence | Ignorance / prejudice | Animals | Blue | Equanimity | the presence of Protector (Chenrezig) |
Me | Renunciation | Greed / possessiveness | Pretas (hungry ghosts) | Red | Bliss | Perfect Realm of Potala |
Hum | Wisdom | Aggression / hatred | Naraka | Black | Quality of Compassion | the presence of the Lotus Throne (of Chenrezig) |
The
Meaning Of 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, M. These symbolise the practitioner's impure body, speech and mind; they also symbolise the pure exalted body, speech and mind of a Buddha.
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, M. These symbolise the practitioner's impure body, speech and mind; they also symbolise 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 asset that there is anyone who from the beginning is
free from faults an possesses all good qualities. The development of pure
body, speech and mind comes from gradually leaving the impure states and
their being transformed into the pure.
How
is this done? The path is indicted by the next four syllables. MANI, meaning
jewel, symbolises 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 fulfils the wishes of sentient beings, so the
altruistic intention to become enlightened fulfils the wishes of sentient
beings.
The
two syllables, PADME, meaning lotus, symbolise wisdom. Just as a lotus
grows 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 realising
impermanence, wisdom realising that persons are empty of being self-sufficient
or substantially existent, wisdom that realises the emptiness of duality
- that is to say, of difference of entity between subject and object -
and wisdom that realises the emptiness of inherent existence. Though there
are many different types of wisdom, the main of all these is the wisdom
realising emptiness.
Purity
must be achieved by an indivisible unity of method and wisdom, symbolised
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 vajrayana
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 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 that 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 (Tathagatabarbha)
that is to be transformed and fully developed into Buddhahood.
Reciting
1000 Mantras Each Day
In the teachings it is said that the benefits of reciting OM MANI PADME HUM are so many that the explanation will never finish. It is explained that if one recites OM MANI PADME HUM one thousand times every day, then one's children up to seven generations will not be reborn in the lower realms. So if, for example, parents recite one thousand mantras every day then their children, their children's children and so forth up to seven generations will never be reborn in the lower realms. So parents have quite a responsibility! This is one way that parents can benefit their children and grandchildren.
In the teachings it is said that the benefits of reciting OM MANI PADME HUM are so many that the explanation will never finish. It is explained that if one recites OM MANI PADME HUM one thousand times every day, then one's children up to seven generations will not be reborn in the lower realms. So if, for example, parents recite one thousand mantras every day then their children, their children's children and so forth up to seven generations will never be reborn in the lower realms. So parents have quite a responsibility! This is one way that parents can benefit their children and grandchildren.
If
one recites the OM MANI PADME HUM mantra one thousand times every day,
then one's body becomes blessed. So when a person who recites one thousand
OM MANI PADME HUM every day goes into water, into a river or ocean for
example, that water becomes blessed. Whoever the water touches, fish,
tiny or big animals, or tiny insects, the negative karma of all those
sentient beings is purified and they do not get reborn in the lower realms.
If
one recites one thousand OM MANI PADME HUM every day, then at the time
of death, when the body is burnt, even the smoke that comes from it purifies
the negative karma of whoever it touches or whoever smells it. The negative
karma of those sentient beings to be reborn in the lower realms is purified.
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