Subject: Mani Mantra & the Mani Kabum
Sutra Texts & Tantric Subjects Subjects & Topics:
- Description (below)
- Avalokiteshvara Main Page
- Tibetan Letters
- The Dialectics of Tradition: Avalokitesvara and the Mani Kabum (essay)
- Confusions
- Others...
OM MA NI PAD ME HUM (audio).
The Buddhist mantra - om mani padme hum - originates in the Karandavyuha Sutra written in prose dated to the 4th-5th century (possibly Kashmir). In Tibet the mantra was also popularised in the text of the Mani Kabum, a curious manuscript whose date appears to be anywhere from the beginning of the 11th century up to the 15th century.
The images in this gallery are mostly initiation cards used in Tantric rituals. Paintings of the pureland of Lokeshvara, Potalaka, generally depict a self-arising stone image of Lokeshvara along with the mani mantra inscription.
The letters themselves are typically written in Tibetan script following the words and sounds of the Sanskrit mantra. The letters can also be found in the Nepalese Lantsa and Ranjana scripts which are often considered to be more decorative and formal. The Sanskrit 'seed syllable' HRIH is often added to the end of written formulas and represents the sound essence of Lokeshvara. However, this mantra syllable does not originate from the source text of the Karandavyuha Sutra and was added some time later.
There are generally two different ways of interpreting the meaning of the mantra. The earliest interpretation is followed by the Sakya, Jonang and Gelug traditions. The later interpretation is followed mostly by the Nyingma and some Kagyu traditions.
Jeff Watt 8-2016
84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha:
Toh 116. The Basket’s Display. Kāraṇḍavyūha, ’phags pa za ma tog bkod pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo.
Toh 575/917. The Six Syllable Spell. ཡི་གེ་དྲུག་པའི་རིག་སྔགས། · yi ge drug pa'i rig sngags. ṣaḍakṣaravidyā.
English:
"Remarks on the Mani Kabum and the Cult of Avalokitesvara in Tibet." Matthew Kapstein. The
Tibetan History Reader, edited by Gray Tuttle and Kurtis R. Schaeffer, Columbia University Press, 2013, pp. 90-107.
