Om Mani Padme Hum
by Tamara Aires
Large mani Wheel
If you have even been lucky enough to go to Nepal or Tibet, you probably saw many prayer wheels there. Prayer wheels are round spinning cylinders that have mantras (special prayers) written on them, carved into them, or have many layers of mantra papers glued to them. Prayer wheels are generally turned or spun using the right hand, several times a day, particularly upon waking, and before bedtime. Spinning the wheel symbolically sends your prayers spiraling up to heaven, carried upward on a wind of positive energy. It’s a very powerful way to start and end your day.
Prayer wheels, also called Mani wheels, can be small and hand-held, or can line the walls of a temple and be as big as a person. Spinning a prayer wheel, or even just touching one, can bring an immediate energy shift and flood you with the sense of purification and goodness. Since many hundreds or thousands of mantras are on a prayer wheel, turning it just once is the same thing as chanting or reciting the same number of mantras (prayers). But since most Americans don’t have easy access to a prayer wheel, I would like to teach you the special mantra and visualization that a prayer wheel represents.
The mantra is called the ‘Six True Words’ or ‘Six Syllables’ mantra and goes like this… chant the words in a sing-song voice with extra emphasis on the first syllable… “OM mani padme hum… OM mani padme hum… OM mani padme hum.” Besides leaving you clean and purified, speaking or chanting this mantra will bring you understanding, compassion, wisdom, protection, and relief from suffering. Although the mantra is not easily translated into a simple sentence, many people believe this single phrase contains ALL the teachings of Buddha in one single mantra – now that is powerful! Because this mantra originated in India before it moved to Tibet, there is more than one way to pronounce the syllables, but any version is equally effective.
Each of the six syllables is also associated with a color: om – white, ma – red, ni – yellow, pad – green, me – blue, hum – black. If you can chant the mantra “Om mani padme hum”, and at the same time, close your eyes and visualize the colors moving from bottom to top in order to match the syllables, white, red, yellow, green, blue, black, you have mastered a very, very sacred and powerful feng shui cure.
Any time you feel stressed, burdened, depleted, scared, lonely, powerless, depressed, or any other negative feeling, then by simply chanting the six true words and visualizing the six true colors, you are turning yourself into a virtual prayer wheel and your wishes and needs are immediately carried toward heaven, your prayers and thoughts are heard by God, and purifying, compassionate energy will instantly surround you.
My desire is for all readers to learn this powerful mantra and the associated visualization. Memorize it, keep it in your pocket of feng shui tools, and use it any time you feel, see, or hear, or have a thought of negative energy. You can use it for protection if you have to walk somewhere alone at night, or to get rid of bad dreams, or to give your brain a boost before a test. You can use it to symbolically ‘bite your tongue’ and keep yourself from thinking or saying something bad. You can use it to clear your mind from hearing something bad, like two people arguing, or seeing something bad, like a traffic accident (which by the way, chanting this will also send positive energy to anyone injured). Or you can simply use it to start and end each day on a positive note with prayer. The power of prayer is undeniable, and beyond limits. This knowledge is my gift to you.
If you are in Colorado Springs on Oct 10-11, please visit me in booth #658 at the Women’s’ Living Expo and spin a real-life prayer wheel. Got a feng shui question? Please send it my way!
Tamara Aires, Colorado Harmony
Feng Shui Education and Services