The Origins of Oṃ Maṇipadme Hūṃ

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The Origins of Oṃ Maṇipadme Hūṃ: A Study of the Kāraṇḍavyūha Sūtra

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Descriptionངོ་སྤྲོད།

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 Nama? 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. (Source Accessed Aug 18, 2026)

Citation

Studholme, Alexander. The Origins of Oṃ Maṇipadme Hūṃ: A Study of the Kāraṇḍavyūha Sūtra. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2002.

Table of contents

Acknowledgmentsix
Introduction: The Importance of Oṃ Maṇipadme Hūṃ1
Chapter 1: Background to the Kāraṇḍavyūha Sūtra9
Chapter 2: Purāṇic Influence on the Kāraṇḍavyūha Sūtra19
Chapter 3: Avalokiteśvara as the Buddhist Īśvara37
Chapter 4: Oṃ Maṇipadme Hūṃ and Namaḥ Śivāya61
Chapter 5: Oṃ Maṇipadme Hūṃ and the Mahāyāna77
Chapter 6: The Meaning of Oṃ Maṇipadme Hūṃ105
Conclusion: The Original Six-Syllable Formula?119
Appendix: Annotated Précis of the Kāraṇḍavyūha Sūtra121
Notes155
Bibliography205
Index215
Index to Appendix221

Interconnections

Works related to this item

1 Reviews

Phillips, Bryan. "Review of The Origins of Oṁ Maṇipadme Hūṁ: A Study of the Kāraṇḍhavyūha-sūtra by Alexander Studholme." Journal of the International Association of Tibetan Studies 2 (2006): 1-5.

Articles2006About this item

This compact volume (222 pp.) on a critical Indian Buddhist text (the Kāraṇḍhavyūha-sūtra) will be immediately accessible, and of great benefit, to both Tibetologists and Tibetophiles alike. It firmly anchors one of the most endemic and speculative discourses both on and of Tibetan Buddhism (exegesis and exposition of the ubiquitous maṇi mantra, Oṁ maṇipadme hūṁ) within explicit historical, cultural, and literary contexts. This accomplishment alone makes the study an invaluable tool for instructors seeking to add some meat to the mythos of mantra usage in Indian and Tibetan religion. Read more here

1 Scholarship on

karaṇḍavyūhasūtra [करण्डव्यूहसूत्र]. 'phags pa za ma tog bkod pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po'i mdo [འཕགས་པ་ཟ་མ་ཏོག་བཀོད་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ]. [The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra "The Basket's Display" (84000)]. Kangyur, RKTSK 116 http://www.rkts.org/cat.php?id=116&typ=1.

Classical WorksAbout this item

The Basket's Display (Kāraṇḍavyūha) is the source of the most prevalent mantra of Tibetan Buddhism: oṁ maṇipadme hūṁ. It marks a significant stage in the growing importance of Avalokiteśvara within Indian Buddhism in the early centuries of the first millennium. In a series of narratives within narratives, the sūtra describes Avalokiteśvara's activities in various realms and the realms contained within the pores of his skin. It culminates in a description of the extreme rarity of his mantra, which, on the Buddha's instructions, Bodhisattva Sarvanīvaraṇaviṣkambhin obtains from someone in Vārāṇasī who has broken his monastic vows. This sūtra provided a basis and source of quotations for the teachings and practices of the eleventh-century Maṇi Kabum, which itself served as a foundation for the rich tradition of Tibetan Avalokiteśvara practice. (Source: 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha)