Benefits of the Mani Mantra

Today, i would like to share a short practice on Chenrezig for anyone who wishes to do this practice.  It was written by the Holy Mahasiddha Drubwang Konchok Norbu Rinpoche (left).  Many people have heard of this master who recently passed into parinirvana in 2007.  He belongs to the Drikung Kagyu Tradition and has attained complete enlightenment due to his efforts in one life.  A contemporary Milarepa, he did retreat for more than 30 years in difficult circumstances and almost no resources.   Many great masters like the Dalai Lama, Garchen Rinpoche, Drikung Chetsang Rinpoche, Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche deeply respect his accomplishment. One of the unique thing about Drubwang Rinpoche is that due to a prophecy he received from Guru Rinpoche in a direct vision,  he would only teach people to do the recitation of the mani mantra almost exclusively.  Sometimes he also advises people to recite the Guru Rinpoche mantra and the Amitabha mantra (these three mantras are collectively the mantras of the 3 kayas or 3 dimensions of a enlightened Buddha mind).

Drubwang Rinpoche completed more than 12 cycles of 100 million mani mantras himself and he has always widely and fearlessly proclaimed that the mani mantra is the all-sufficient and complete practice in itself.  That the mani mantra is the Buddha, that the mani mantra can bring us to realize our true nature of the mind (the inner Buddha) and it can eradicate all the past karmic obscurations and bring us to the pureland.  Especially he has always emphasized that the benefits of the mani mantra, though not obvious now, would be extremely potent and beneficial after our death.  Rinpoche said that for busy people like us with little inclination for more complicated practices, the mani practice can be a most helpful companion in our lives and we should recite the mantra all the time, everywhere.  Rinpoche would even recite this mantra in his sleep.

Now, i will write abit about this precious mantra.  It has been stated that any other form of virtue carries the danger of being destroyed by the power of aggression or other emotions, whereas the recitation of the mani mantra cannot be destroyed by any external, internal or secret force.  There are two kinds of merits: perfect and ordinary merit.  Perfect merit can only be attained if the three excellences of pure motivation of Bodhichitta, pure main practice free from conceptualizations and pure dedication are present in the act of virtue.  However, for the mani mantra, just reciting it is naturally perfect all by itself.   There is limitless benefit in reciting this mantra.

Moreover, reciting this mantra is:

A prayer and offering to the body, speech, mind, qualities and activities of all the Buddhas.

It purifies obscurations of body, speech, mind, afflictive emotions, habitual tendencies and obstructions to omniscience.

It completes the 6 paramitas

It help keeps all the vows of the three levels: hinayana, mahayana and vajrayana

It purifies the 6 kinds of suffering in the 6 realms and closes the doors to the 6 realms

In the Sutra designed as a Jewel, it is mentioned that recitation of this mantra will:

Attract all Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, Gods, Nagas and other dimensions of beings to protect you

You will be blessed to receive enlightenment within 7 lifetimes

All the beings who live in and on your body will also be liberated

You will gain tremendous confidence, wisdom and compassion

You will become a Vidyadhara, and those who contact you will also become bodhisattvas

Guru Rinpoche also said,

The mantra OM MANI PADME HUNG is the embodiment of all the Buddhas’ heart, the root of the eighty-four thousand teachings of the Buddha, the essence of the Five Buddhas, and the essence of the secret holders.

To the knowledge of me, Padmakara,

A teaching more profound and more swift (than this practice of Chenrezig and mani mantra)

Has never been taught by the Buddhas of the three times

Lord Avalokiteshvara also said:

Be motivated by faith, devotion and compassion…

Whatever appears is the form of Avalokiteshvara, in whom all victorious ones unite;

audible sounds are the sound of the six-syllable essence mantra

the absence of any ultimate conceptual reference-point is the uncontrived realm of bodhicitta

Never be separate from these three key points;

continually recite aloud the six syllable mantra- that alone is sufficient

When the dakini Dawa Drolma went to see the enlightened master Drimed Khakyod Wangpo in the pureland of Guru Rinpoche, he offered her this advice:

Be vigilant in your devotion

Seeing the lama as the Dharmakaya of Buddhahood

Understanding the six classes of beings to be your parents

Be vigilant in your practice of virtue

Not tarnishing anything you undertake with selfish vested interests.

Be vigilant in your mantra repetition and meditation practices,

Not falling under the eight worldly attitudes,

Understanding the six syllable mani mantra alone to be sufficient for your practice

Be vigilant in your formal practice, subsuming everything within your own true mind.

Don’t make mistakes, don’t make mistakes!

If one recites the mani mantra 1000 times per day:

1. One’s children up to seven generations will not be reborn in the lower realms. This is one way that parents can benefit their children and grandchildren.
2. Then one’s body becomes blessed. So when a person who recites one thousand OM MANI PADME HUM every day goes into water, into a river or ocean for example, that water becomes blessed. Whoever that water touches fish, tiny or big animals, or tiny insects, the negative karma of all those sentient beings is purified and they do not get reborn in the lower realms.
3. At the time of death, when the body is burnt, even the smoke that comes from it purifies the negative karma of whoever it touches or whoever smells it. The negative karma of those sentient beings to be reborn in the lower realms is purified.

Here is the sadhana practice of Chenrezig composed by Drubwang Rinpoche.  It is short, anyone can practice it and the benefits will be immense.  Especially if you can do it till the end of your life.  Please don’t don’t don’t underestimate this simple and most incredibly effective practice.

You can read more here: 

PDF book of Rinpoche's teachings on Mani mantra