Buddhism is a religion that is based mainly on the use of Human intelligence in reasoning the whole system of the religion and implementing it. Buddhism is not about just the complete faith and believing in the god blindly. This is the sort of explanation I perceived from the introductory note given by His Holiness the Dalai Lama prior to explaining the meaning of Om Mani Padme Hung.
The recitation of the mantra is most useful when recited with clear understanding of the whole system of transformation of our mind with an ultimate aim and sincere motivation.
The explanation of the six syllabi mantra goes like this:
- Om: It is composed of three letters, ‘Aa Oo Ma’. They represent our Body, Mind and Speech which can be at two levels; Impure level and Pure Level. The experiencer’s sufferings are based on the impure level of Body and Mind. This impure levels have to be transformed into pure level for ever pleasant experience.
- Mani: Mani means joy. Here joy means infinite altruism.
- Padme: Padme means wisdom.
- Hung: Hung carries the combined meaning of Altruism and Wisdom.
Through that way we can transform the three impure levels of body, mind and speech to pure levels of body, mind and speech.
This post is adapted from this video.