Om Mani Padme Hum (Tibetan chanting)

(Om Mantra Style) This Tibetan mantra changes our state - Himalayan Buddhist meditation for nervous system healing

• Om mani padme hum ("all hail the jewel in the lotus," perhaps referring to the shining adamantine core wrapped in delicate sheaths or koshas, a "soul" or spirit in a corporeal body) is a Sanskrit chant uttered for its vibrational power rather than literal meaning

(Soulful Energy)

Avalokiteśvara as Kwan Yin

Oṃ maṇi padme hūm̐ [1] (Sanskrit ॐ मणि पद्मे हूँ) is a six syllable Sanskrit mantra particularly associated with the four-armed Shadakshari form of Avalokiteśvara (later transformed into Kwan Yin), the Bodhisattva of Compassion.

It first appeared in the Mahayana Kāraṇḍavyūha Sūtra, where it is also referred to as the sadaksara (Sanskrit षडक्षर, the "six syllabled") and the paramahrdaya or "innermost heart" of Avalokiteśvara [2].

In that text the mantra is seen as the condensed form of all Buddhist teachings [3]. The precise meaning and significance of the particular words remain much discussed by Buddhist scholars.

The literal meaning in English has been expressed as "praise to the jewel in the lotus" [4] or as a declarative aspiration, possibly meaning "I in the jewel-lotus" [5].

Padma is Sanskrit for the Indian lotus (Nelumbo nucifera) and mani means "jewel," as in a type of spiritual "gem" or "treasure" widely referred to in Buddhism [6].

The first word, om (aum), is a sacred syllable [bija or seed mantra] in various Indian religions, and hum represents the spirit of enlightenment [7], though it is the sound of the throat chakra.

In Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhism this ubiquitous mantra and its recitation is a popular form of religious practice, performed by laypersons and monastics alike. It is an ever-present feature of the landscape, commonly carved onto rocks, known as "mani stones," painted into the sides of hills, or written on prayer flags and giant rotating prayer wheels [8].

(Mantraon)

 

The mantra is also popularly used in East Asian Buddhist traditions, where it is mainly associated with the Bodhisattva Kwan Yin (Guanyin), who is the female East Asian manifestation (version) of Avalokiteśvara.

In Chinese Mahayana Buddhism, the recitation of the mantra remains widely practiced by both monastics and laypeople, and it plays a key role as part of the standard liturgy utilized in many of the most common Chinese Buddhist rituals performed in monasteries [9, 10, 11].

It is common for the Chinese hanzi transliteration of the mantra to be painted on walls and entrances in Chinese Mahayana Buddhist temples, as well as stitched into the fabric of particular ritual adornments used in certain rituals.

The mantra is also recited in the standard liturgies of temples belonging to the Vietnamese and Japanese Ōbaku Zen Buddhist traditions as well. The mantra has also been adapted into Chinese Taoism [12], which is not Buddhist at all though it came to form the basis of Zen philosophy. More