[Buddha-l] "Western Self, Asian Other"

[Dan Lusthaus]

Richard,

>> Passing to the following words of the formula, mani padme means “the 
>> jewel
>> in the lotus.” Here we seem to find a meaning that is immediately
> >intelligible,

>Absolutely false.

The last paragraph was not Studholme's own explanation, but his quotation of 
Alexandra David-Neel. Perhaps my excerpts from his chapter were insufficient 
to indicate that he had already fully dispelled those ideas. His claim is 
that the formula manipadme has strong rebirth in the pure land connotations 
(I skipped the pages where he compiles that evidence -- again the book can 
be downloaded in pdf format for free). Hence he cites David-Neel precisely 
because she evinces agitation and disdain based on thinking she understands 
the mantra better than the practitioners, who all *mistakenly* think it is 
about rebirth in the western paradise. Studholme believes that is exactly 
what it originally meant, and the meaning has survived misguided Tibetan 
elitist exegesis as well as Western patronizing. The common folk knew 
exactly what it meant and what it was designed to do.

Personally, to borrow an Arkansas expression, I have no dog in that fight. 
Since manipadme is some sort of nominal compound with no verb in sight (hum 
was not a verb, last I checked), do with it what you will. It's not a 
sentence, and according to some Skt grammarians meaning resides only in 
complete sentences, not words or letters.

Dan