[Buddha-l] OṂ MAṆI PAD ME HŪṂ (was: Re: "Western Self, Asian Other" )

[Dan Lusthaus]

Thanks, Chris for the 6 Buddha correlative theory. One minor correction.
What you are quoting is not what "Dan Lusthaus wrote," but what Alexander 
Studholme wrote in his book _The Origins of Om Manipadme Hum: A Study of the 
Karandavyuha Sutra_ SUNY Press, 2002.

The Dalai Lama, on the site I previously gave a link to, mentions *five* 
Buddhas re: Om mani padme hum. " In terms of the seed syllables of the five 
Conqueror Buddhas, hum is the seed syllable of Akshobhya - the immovable, 
the unfluctuating, that which cannot be disturbed by anything."

The link, again: http://www.circle-of-light.com/Mantras/om-mantra.html

Since Om can be broken into 3 syllables (a-u-m), shall we go for eight 
Buddhas? A-U-M ma-ni pad-me hum? (or seven, if a-um ma-ni pad-me hum?) If we 
give each ak.sara (letter) its own corresponding bija we could get 10 
Buddhas or more (depending on how you treat the vowels).

Dan

> In the Tibetan tradition the *six* Buddhas that the syllables of the
> saḍakṣara mantra of Avalokiteśvara, OṂ MAṆI PAD ME HŪṂ, are associated
> with are the six nirmāṇakāya muni (sprul-sku  thub-drug)~ aspects of
> Buddha (/Avalokiteśvara) said to manifest in the six realms of living
> beings: