The Origins of Om Manipadme Hum (A Study of the Karandavyuha Sutra)

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Om Manipadme Hûm, perhaps the most well-known of all Buddhist mantras, lies at the heart of the Tibetan system and is cherished by both layman and lama alike. This book documents the origins of the mantra, presents a new interpretation of its meaning, and includes a detailed, annotated précis of the Karandavyūha Sütra, opening up this important Mahāyāna Buddhist work to a wider audience.

The Karandavyüha the earliest textual source for Om Manipadme Hum-describes both the compassionate activity of Avalokiteśvara, the bodhisattva whose power the mantra invokes, and the mythical tale of the search for and discovery of the mantra. Through a detailed analysis of this sūtra, Studholme explores the historical and doctrinal forces behind the appearance of Orm Maņipadme Hüm in India at around the middle of the first millennium CE. He argues that the Karandavyūha has close affinities to non-Buddhist puranic literature, and that the conception of Avalokiteśvara and his six-syllable mantra is informed by the conception of the Hindu deity Šiva and his five-syllable mantra Namah Sivaya. The sutra reflects an historical situation in which the Buddhist monastic establishment was coming into contact with Buddhist tantric practitioners, themselves influenced by Saivite practitioners.

This book provides a very good example of the phenomenon of religious integration, and clearly shows how Buddhism managed to integrate ideas and practices from another spiritual tradition."

"It was fascinating to read the author's brilliant insights into the syncretic construction of early tantric Mahayana Buddhist materials like the Karandavyūha."

Sources of Controversy in India and Tibet Alexander Studholme received a Ph.D. from the Centre for Buddhist Studies, Bristol University, England.

I would like to give particular thanks to Professor Paul Williams and Dr. Rupert Gethin of the Centre for Buddhist Studies at Bristol University for their tuition and to the British Academy for its funding.

The six-syllable Buddhist formula Om Mani Padme Ham needs little introduction. Its form and meaning have long been discussed, though seldom, it must be said, with great accuracy, by European travelers to Tibet and its surrounding regions. In 1254, in what would appear to be the earliest such reference to the formula, the Franciscan friar William of Rubruck remarked of the Mongolians of Karakoram: "Wherever they go they have in their hands a string of one or two hundred beads, like our rosaries, and they always repeat these words, on mani baccam, which is 'God, thou knowest, as one of them interpreted it to me, and they expect as many rewards from God as they remember God in saying this.