The Origins of Om Manipadme Hum, A Study of the Karandavyuha Sutra, by Alexander Studholme

Softcover, 232 pages, New York 2002, new

Softcover Fr. 41.00, Hardcover Fr. 84.00

Sets out a history of the famous Buddhist mantra,
Om Manipadme Hum, and offers new insights on its meaning.

Om Manipadme Hum,
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, and presents a new interpretation of the meaning of Om Manipadme Hum, and includes a detailed, annotated precis of the Karandavyuha Sutra, opening up this important Mahayana Buddhist work to a wider audience.

The Karandavyuha— the earliest textual source for Om Manipadme Hum—which describes both the compassionate activity of Avalokitesvara, 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 sutra, Studholme explores the historical and doctrinal forces behind the appearance of Om Manipadme Hum in India at around the middle of the first millennium C.E. He argues that the Karandavyuha has close affinities to non-Buddhist puranic literature, and that the conception of Avalokitesvara and his six-syllable mantra is informed by the conception of the Hindu deity Siva 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.

 

Table of Contents


Acknowledgments

 

INTRODUCTION
The Importance of Om Manipadme Hum

CHAPTER 1
Background to the Karandavyuha Sutra

CHAPTER 2
Puranic Influence on the Karandavyuha Sutra

CHAPTER 3
Avalokitesvara as the Buddhist Isvara

CHAPTER 4
Om Manipadme Hum and Namah Sivaya

CHAPTER 5
Om Manipadme Hum and the Mahayana

CHAPTER 6
The Meaning of Om Manipadme Hum

CONCLUSION
The Original Six-Syllable Formula?

APPENDIX
Annotated Précis of the Karandavyuha Sutra

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Autor: Alexander Studholme
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