Description
Fantastic CD with, among others, the Ohm mani Padne hum and several other beautiful mantras
Om mani padme hum, correctly written as Om manipadmé hum, is the most recited mantra in Tibetan Buddhism. It is an invocation of the bodhisattva Avalokitesvara, (The possessor of) the Jewel-Lotus. There was certainly a certain veneration of Avalokitesvara present in Tibet even before the 11th century. However, the manner in which Avalokitesvara was worshipped differed from the period after the 11th century. Many mantras venerating Avalokitesvara have been found among the Dunhuang manuscripts dating from before the 11th century. Among these, however, there are only two containing om manipadmé hum, and in both cases, it is not exactly the mantra known today. For example, it has more than six syllables. In the first manuscript, the mantra reads Oṃ maṇi padme hūṃ mitra svāhā, while in the second manuscript it is Oṃ vajra yakṣa maṇi padme hūṃ. All other mantras found for the worship of Avalokitesvara are completely different.
In classical Tibetan historiography, the story appears that during the reign of King Totori Nyantsen, which must be roughly situated in the 5th century, a number of manuscripts miraculously fell from the sky and landed on the roof of the palace. One of those documents is said to have been the Kāraṇḍavyūha, a sutra that must have been written around the year 400. This sutra is the first scripture in which the text of the mantra appears and in which it is stated that reciting it is the most important instrument on the path to Enlightenment.
Classical Tibetan historiography further reports that Songtsen Gampo (601-650), one of the three Dharma Kings, made use of the Kāraṇḍavyūha Sutra when writing the Mani Kabum (Collected Sayings (about) Mani). In the Mani Kabum, Avalokitesvara is described in full for the first time as the protector of Tibet and as the fundamental principle for enlightenment. In the text, Avalokitesvara is the embodiment of Perfect Compassion, which is the basis for love, kindness, and caring for and loving all living beings. At the moment the Tibetans were mature enough to receive these notions, the bodhisattva appeared to them in the form of King Songtsen Gampo. The mantra is the guiding motif in the Mani Kabum. Factually and strictly historically, the text of the Mani Kabum was written in the 11th and 12th centuries, with a few important additions from the 14th century. It is clear, however, that the text already had a certain circulation in Tibet in the 14th century. The Mani Kabum has been of great cultural-historical significance in Tibet. The enormous devotion to the bodhisattva and the great popularity of the mantra only began after works like the Mani Kabum started circulating. In literary genres for ordinary laypeople, such as the stories about the delok (deceased who visit the underworld in a state of bardo), this veneration plays an enormous role. The narrators of these stories are therefore called mani pa.
