Origins of O? Ma?ipadme H??

Sets out a history of the famous Buddhist mantra, Om Manipadme Hum, and offers new insights on its meaning. O? Ma?ipadme H??, 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 O? Ma?ipadme H??, and includes a detailed, annotated precis of the K?ra??avy?ha S?tra, opening up this important Mahayana Buddhist work to a wider audience. The K?ra??avy?ha- the earliest textual source for O? Ma?ipadme H??-which describes both the compassionate activity of Avalokite?vara, 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 O? Ma?ipadme H?? in India at around the middle of the first millennium C.E. He argues that the K?ra??avy?ha has close affinities to non-Buddhist puranic literature, and that the conception of Avalokite?vara and his six-syllable mantra is informed by the conception of the Hindu deity ?iva and his five-syllable mantra Nama? ?iv?ya. 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.