Om Mani Padme Hum Mantra

Tibetan Buddhists believe that saying the mantra (prayer) invites the blessings of Chenrezig, the embodiment of compassion. Om Mani Padme Hum can not really be translated into a simple phrase or even a few sentences.

Click to play:

There are several different interpretations:

A literal interpretation:
Om "hail", a sacred sound and the first uttered out loud in the newly created universe.
symbolizes the practitioner's impure body, speech, and mind; it also symbolizes the pure exalted body, speech, and mind of a Buddha
Mani - Jewel or bead
Padme - meaning lotus flower, A sacred flower symbolizing wisdom
Hum - the embodiment of enlightenment
lotus-jewel is one of the many names of Avalokiteswara, bodhisattva of compassion.

Although Buddhism originated in 563 BCE, Om Mani Pädme Hum origins date to at least the 1st century CE, the mantra first appears in Buddhist doctrine via the Karandavyuha Sutra (4 or 5th century CE),

Every Tibetan child is taught the mantra by our parents, and we all use it very commonly in daily life, and especially if we make a prayer walk (kora) or go to the temple, or pray using a rosary (mala).

There is another description at What Om Mani Padme Hum Means, in Kindness, Clarity, and Insight, by The Fourteenth Dalai Lama His Holiness Tenzin Gyatso.

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.

Venerable Gen Rinpoche, in his commentary on the meaning of it relates the six syllables to the six perfections of Mahayana Buddhist practice.

Om it is blessed to help you achieve perfection in the practice of generosity,
Ma helps perfect the practice of pure ethics, and
Ni helps achieve perfection in the practice of tolerance and patience.
Paed, the fourth syllable, helps to achieve perfection of perseverance, Me helps achieve perfection in the practice of concentration, and the final sixth syllable
Hum helps achieve perfection in the practice of wisdom.

Recitation of the mantra helps achieve the six perfections or paramitas, of Mahayana Buddhist practice.
It is a path for transforming your impure body, speech, and mind into the pure exalted body, speech, and mind of a Buddha.

The mantra has also been adapted into Chinese Taoism.

last updated 12 Mar 2020