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Avalokiteshvara Maha Bodhisattva Mantra Tâm Chú Đại Từ Bi Quán Thế Âm
/ Lục Tự Đại Minh Chơn Ngôn
Seed Syllable Avalokiteshvaraʹs bīja mantra is hrīḥ which is ha + ra + ī + ḥ (visarga)
Mantra in Siddhaṃ
Tibetan (Uchen)
Transliteration
oṃ ma ṇi pa dme hūṃ oṃ maṇi padme hūṃ
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a va lo ki te śva ra
The Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara, or Chenrezig as he is known in Tibet, is associated with the quality of
karuna or compassion. His name literally ʺLord who looks downʺ, and is said to relate to his looking
upon the earth and itʹs suffering beings with compassion. Avalokiteśvara comes in many forms. There are
a number of two armed forms, and a form with one thousand arms! This image is of his four armed form
is known as Ṣaḍakṣarī (six syllabled) Avalokiteśvara, because of the association with the popular mantra
that this page features. He holds a cintamani or wish fulfilling jewel to his heart, and in his upper left
hand a lotus in full bloom, and in his upper right hand a mālā for counting mantras.
In China, where Avalokiteśvara was very popular, he underwent a change and became Kwan Yin (觀音,
also spelt Guān Yīn, in Japanese: Kannon, and in Vietnamese: Quán Âm) a female Bodhisattva. Kwan Yin
actually translates an earlier version of the name of this bodhisattva: Avalokitasvara. Svara means sounds
and the name Avalokitasvara means ʺregarder of sounds or criesʺ which is how the name often appears
in English translations of the Chinese Lotus Sutra for instance. The name changed as the bodhisattva
absorbed some of the qualities of Śiva the Hindu Īśvara ‐ svara became īśvara, and eśvara in combination.
In Chinese Avalokiteśvara would be Kwan tzu‐tsai (觀自在).
Avalokiteśvara is a member of the Lotus family which is headed by Amitabha.
The Bodhisattva Tārā, who has two common forms (green and white) is said to have been born from his
tears when he observed the suffering of beings in the world.
Mani Stones
Stones carved with the Avalokiteśvara mantra are, like prayer flags, a feature of the Tibetan landscape. The stones
are piled up into cairns, or made into walls on all major routes, and in significant places such as mounain summits.
Amitābha : oṃ amideva hrīḥ Amitāyus : oṃ āmaraṇi dziwanateye svāhā
Avalokiteśvara : oṃ maṇipadme hūṃ
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Notes on the Avalokiteśvara Mantra
The earliest known text containing this mantra is the Kāraṇḍavyūha Sūtra. The Kāraṇḍavyūha has not been translated into English but is the subject of an indepth study in Alexander Studholmeʹs book The
Origins of Oṃ Maṇipadme Hūṃ : a Study of the Kāraṇḍavyūha Sūtra . The Kāraṇḍavyūha contains elements which are later equated with Tantric Buddhism, though it is not a tantric text. In this sūtra the
mantra is presented in terms very similar to Pureland Buddhism: the mantra is for instance an example of
namanusmriti or calling to mind the name which is an important practice in the White Lotus Sutra, and in
the Sukhāvatīvyūha sūtras. Reciting the mantra is said to fulfill the six perfections and to protect the
reciter against misfortune. I have summarised some of Studholmeʹs ideas about the origins of the
Avalokiteśvara mantra on my blog.
The six syllable mantra is frequently translated as ʺoṃ the jewel in the lotus hūṃʺ, maṇi being a jewel
and padma a lotus, but this is probably incorrect. In the book Prisoners of Shangrila Donald Lopez argues
that it is more likely that maṇipadmā is the name of a feminine Bodhisattva, and the ‐e ending is the
feminine vocative so that maṇipadme would mean: ʺO (♀) Jeweled Lotus!ʺ. Alexander Studholme however
suggests that maṇipadme is a masculine or neuter locative so that it would mean ʺin the jewel lotusʺ and
refer to the way in which beings are ʹbornʹ in Sukhāvatī. Despite the fact that the grammar of maṇipadme cannot be interpreted as meaning ʺthe jewel in the lotusʺ this is not to say that explanations which employ
the image are doctrinally incorrect.
An early Tibetan text, dated to the 9th century, on Sanskrit grammar favours this reading of the
mantra. It uses the compound maṇipadme as an archetypal example of the ‐e case ending as a vocative:
In this mantra oṃ is uttered first because it is the essence of the five wisdoms; hūṃ which is to be
translated as ʺbe mindful of thisʺ is placed at the end, so the actual vocative (or: invocation) in
between consists of maṇi, to be translated as ʺjewelʺ and padme... (ʺlotusʺ) which is the same word
in Tibetan so remains unchanged in translation.
So, to this ʺjewel‐lotusʺ an invocation by means of a salutation is addressed, which results in the
application of case ending ‐e in the syllable me, which is to be translated as ʺO!ʺ, so that the
translation of the example is: ʺO, jewel‐lotus!ʺ.
A typical Tibetan exegesis relates each of the six syllables to the six realms of conditioned existence.
Avalokiteśvara appears in each realm offering what the inhabitants need in order to awaken from that
state. Often when the mantra is written in Tibet each of the letters is coloured to match the colour of
Avalokiteśvaraʹs manifestation in that realm (see mani stone above right).
Syllable Realm Colour
oṃ devas white
ma asuras green
ṇi human yellow
pa animal blue
dme hungry ghosts red
hūṃ hells black
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The mantra then is seen as activating that quality in the universe which liberates beings in whatever
realm they are in, and this is far more important than the dictionary definitions of the words which make
it up.
On the meaning of: OM MANI PADME HUM
The jewel is in the lotus or praise to the jewel in the lotus
by His Holiness Tenzin Gyatso The Fourteenth Dalai Lama of Tibet
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 pure letters, A, U, and M. These symbolize the practitionerʹs
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 being 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 and their being
transformed into the pure.
How is this done? The path is indicated by the next four syllables. MANI, meaning jewel,
symbolizes the factor 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 where as there would be contradiction if you did not have wisdom. There
is wisdom realizing impermanence, wisdom realizing that persons are empty of self‐sufficient
or substantial existence, wisdom that realizes the emptiness of duality (that is to say, of
difference of entity between subject and object), and wisdom that realizes the emptiness of
inherent existence. Though there are may different types of wisdom, the main of all these is the
wisdom realizing emptiness.
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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 one consciousness in which there is a full form of
both wisdom affected by method and method affected by wisdom. In the mantra, or tantra
vehicle, it refers to one conciousness 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 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
which is in indivisible union of method and wisdom, you can transform your impure body,
speech and mind into the pure 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 GREAT
VEHICLE (UTTARA TANTRA) 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 full developed into Buddhahood.
(From a lecture given by His Holiness The Dalai Lama of Tibet at the Kalmuck Mongolian Buddhist Center, New
Jersey.)
Transcribed by Ngawang Tashi (Tsawa), Drepung Loseling, MUNGOD, INDIA
Source:www. sacred‐texts.com/bud/tib/omph.htm
The Bodhisattva Ideal and the Path to its Attainment
Doers of what is hard are the bodhisattvas, the great beings who have set out to win
supreme enlightenment. They do not wish to attain their own private nirvana. On the contrary.
They have surveyed the highly painful world of being, and yet, desirous to win supreme
enlightenment, they do not tremble at birth and death. They have set out for the benefit of the
world, for the ease of the world, out of pity for the world. They have resolved ʹWe will become
a shelter for the world, a refuge for the world, the worldʹs place of rest, the final relief of the
world, islands of the world, lights of the world, leaders of the world, the worldʹs means of
salvationʹ.
(Prajnaparamita Sutra)
Researched & Compiled by Gelong TENZIN OEDOK, Ph.D
(aka. Tỳ Kheo Thích Nguyên Thiện / Dao M. Le, Ph.D)
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