On the meaning of: OM MANI PADME HUM
  
     The jewel is in the lotus or praise to the jewel in the lotus
  
   by His Holiness Tenzin Gyatso The Fourteenth Dalai Lama of Tibet
  
    It is very good to recite the mantra OM MANI PADME HUM, but while
 you are doing it, you should be thinking on its meaning, for the
 meaning of the six syllables is great and vast. The first, OM, is
 composed of three pure letters, A, U, and M. These symbolize the
 practitioner's impure body, speech, and mind; they also symbolize the
 pure exalted body, speech and mind of a Buddha.
  
    Can impure body, speech and mind be transformed into pure body,
 speech and mind, or are they entirely separate? All Buddhas are cases
 of being who were like ourselves and then in dependence on the path
 became enlightened; Buddhism does not assert that there is anyone who
 from the beginning is free from faults and possesses all good
 qualities. The development of pure body, speech, and mind comes from
 gradually leaving the impure states and their being transformed into
 the pure.
  
    How is this done? The path is indicated by the next four syllables.
 MANI, meaning jewel, symbolizes the factor of method- the altruistic
 intention to become enlightened, compassion, and love.  Just as a
 jewel is capable of removing poverty, so the altruistic mind of
 enlightenment is capable of removing the poverty, or difficulties, of
 cyclic existence and of solitary peace. Similarly, just as a jewel
 fulfills the wishes of sentient beings, so the altruistic intention to
 become enlightened fulfills the wishes of sentient beings.
  
    The two syllables, PADME, meaning lotus, symbolize wisdom. Just as
 a lotus grows forth from mud but is not sullied by the faults of mud,
 so wisdom is capable of putting you in a situation of non-
 contradiction where as there would be contradiction if you did not
 have wisdom. There is wisdom realizing impermanence, wisdom realizing
 that persons are empty of self-sufficient or substantial existence,
 wisdom that realizes the emptiness of duality (that is to say, of
 difference of entity between subject and object), and wisdom that
 realizes the emptiness of inherent existence. Though there are may
 different types of wisdom, the main of all these is the wisdom
 realizing emptiness.
  
    Purity must be achieved by an indivisible unity of method and
 wisdom, symbolized by the final syllable, HUM, which indicates
 indivisibility. According to the sutra system, this indivisibility of
 method and wisdom refers to one consciousness in which there is a full
 form of both wisdom affected by method and method affected by wisdom.
 In the mantra, or tantra vehicle, it refers to one conciousness in
 which there is the full form of both wisdom and method as one
 undifferentiable entity. In terms of the seed syllables of the five
 conqueror Buddhas, HUM is the is the seed syllable of Akshobhya- the
 immovable, the unfluctuating, that which cannot be disturbed by
 anything.
  
    Thus the six syllables, OM MANI PADME HUM, mean that in dependence
 on the practice which is in indivisible union of method and wisdom,
 you can transform your impure body, speech and mind into the pure
 body, speech, and mind of a Buddha. It is said that you should not
 seek for Buddhahood outside of yourself; the substances for the
 achievement of Buddhahood are within. As Maitreya says in his SUBLIME
 CONTINUUM OF GREAT VEHICLE (UTTARA TANTRA) all beings naturally have
 the Buddha nature in their own continuum. We have within us the seed
 of purity, the essence of a One Gone Thus (TATHAGATAGARBHA), that is
 to be transformed and full developed into Buddhahood.
  
 (From a lecture given by His Holiness The Dalai Lama of Tibet at the
 Kalmuck Mongolian Buddhist Center, New Jersey.)
  
 Transcribed by Ngawang Tashi (Tsawa), Drepung Loseling, MUNGOD, INDIA