Guru Rinpoché Mantra
OM AH HUM
“The first three sylables of the mantra represent the three kayas, as well as the vajra body, speech, and mind of all the buddhas. OM corresponds to the dharmakaya, the nature of Buddha Amitabha; AH corresponds to the sambhogakaya, and the Lord of Compassion, Avalokteshvara; HUM corresponds to the nirmanakaya manifesting as the Lotus-born Guru, Padmasambhava.”
VAJRA
“The vajra (dorje in Tibetan) refers to the diamond, the hardest and most precious of all stones. A diamond can cut through all other substances, yet cannot itself be cut by any of them. This symbolizes the unchanging, non-dual wisdom of the buddhas, which cannot be affected or destroyed by ignorance, but cuts right through all delusions and obscurations. It indicates too that the qualities and activities of the body, speech, and mind of the buddhas can benefit all sentient beings, without hindrance from negative forces. Like a diamond, the vajra is free from all defects. Its indestructible strength comes from the realization of the dharmakaya nature, the nature of Buddha Amitabha.”
GURU
“As we have seen, the word ‘guru’ in Sanskrit means ‘weighty’, or ‘heavy’. Just as gold is the heaviest and most precious of all metals, the guru is the most weighty and most precious of all beings, because of his inconceivable and flawless qualities. Here the guru corresponds, on the sambhogakaya level, to Avalokteshvara, who is endowed with the seven branches of union.”
PADMA
“Padma, meaning ‘lotus’ in Sanskrit, indicates the padma family from the five buddha-families. These five families – buddha, vajra, ratna, padma, and karma – are represented by the five buddhas: Vairocana, Akshobhya, Ratnasambhava, Amitabha, and Amoghasiddhi, respectively. Guru Rinpoche is the nirmanakaya emanation of Amitabha, who corresponds to the lotus famili and the speech aspect of the buddhas. It is stated in the sutras that simply by uttering the name of Buddha Amitabha, you wil be reborn in Sukhavati, the Paradise of Great Bliss, never to be reborn again in lower realms. In the same way, reciting the name of the Lotus-born Guru will bring us every kind of realization.
The incomparable qualities of the six-syllable mantra, the ‘Mani’, are also described in all the scriptures as being able to bring us to the realization of the bodhisattva levels, or ‘bhumis’. The Mani mantra of Avalokteshvara is the sambhogakaya aspect of the Vajra Guru mantra, and also corresponds to the great Vairocana Buddha. This buddha, who is the size of the whole universe, holds a begging bowl in his two hands in the mudra of equanimity. It is said that within his begging bowl is a lotus with twenty-five rows of petals arranged one upon the other. These rows correspond to the various aspects of the body, speech, mind, qualities, and activity of the buddhas. For example, the body alone has five subdivisions: body-body, body-speech, body-mind, body-qualities, and body-activity. The present nirmanakaya paradise of the Buddha Shakyamuni is said to rest at the level of the heart, and corresponds to the row of the mind-mind subdivision, this being the reason why in this paradise the precious teachings of the Secret Mantrayana – the Vajrayana – could be taught and spread.”
SIDDHI
“The word ‘siddhi’ means ‘true accomplishment’. By remembering and praying to the body, speech, mind, qualities, and activity of Guru Rinpoche, both ordinary and supreme accomplishments will be ours. Ordinary accomplishments include freedom from sickness and endowments such as wealth and prosperity; the supreme accomplishment is to attain the complete realization of Guru Rinpoche himself.”
HUM
“Reciting the sylable HUM is like requesting or invoking the guru to come and to bless us with all the siddhis, ordinary and supreme.
Our master, Guru Rinpoche, and the mantra are inseparable. So when we utter the name of the guru by reciting the mantra, it’s as if we are calling out repeatedly to someone who simply cannot fail to reply. The guru cannot but turn his compassion towards us, and so, if we pray one-pointedly like this, there is absolutely no doubt that Guru Rinpoche will come at once to grant us his blessings. When rain falls on the earth, it falls evenly everywhere, but only the good seeds will germinate, not the rotten ones. In the same manner, the compassion of Guru Rinpoche is unbiased; it is direct universally to all beings, and yet his blessings will be swifter for those who have devotion and faith.
It is only through the blessings of a buddha that we can achieve realization. So a prayer like this, one that invokes Guru Rinpoche’s very name, must go out from the marrow of our bones, from the core of our heart; then gradually our devotion will become spontaneous and unceasing. Remember that without faith, there will be no accomplishment. At the time of the Lord Buddha, for example, there were those who could see and hear him in person, and still had no faith in him. Some of the heretical teachers even tried to poison him. Similarly, when Guru Rinpoche went to Tibet, the evil ministers plotted and schemed to kill him. For people such as these, spiritual accomplishment is out of the question.
This shows how important it is to have a faith that is very pure and genuine. And so, as a support, we visualize our outer environment as Zangdopalri, the beings around us as dakas and dakinis, ourselves as Yeshe Tsogyal, and above our head Guru Rinpoche, surrounded by his retinue. Then we pray, reciting the prayer in seven branches and the outer prayers in the practice, with the confidence and trust that by so doing, accomplishment will surely blossom.”
Kyabje Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, Guru Yoga – According to the Preliminary Practice of Longchen Nyingtik (pg 54 )How To Practice Mantra Recitation
As you recite your mantra continuously try and recognize all outer sounds as mantra. Focus your mind just on this as you continue to recite the mantra. Then as you habituate to that, all the movement of your breath and all external perceived sounds become like a natural sound re-sounding of the mantra. When you hear all sounds as mantra, you will not engage in grasping at thoughts about those sounds. Then when you do not grasp at sounds, not even the most subtle thoughts of attachment and aversion can tie you down.
Normally when a thought arises in our mind we instantly react and we say something, or we hear something and then we cling, grasp at these thoughts that combine or conflate words and meaning, so when you do not grasp at these words then you recognize that these words are like illusions, and then even though words are being said there's no grasping. That does not mean, however, that when you hear something that you just don't even understand anything, that you don't perceive it like an animal. You hear it and you know it but there is no grasping. You see it all as illusory and so that is the empty nature of sound.
The Buddha had said that all sounds are empty by nature. So, when you do not grasp at sound, then the sounds that you hear will not place a karmic imprint into your mind. So then as all sounds become the mantra and you keep reciting the mantra in your mind and verbally, then instead of placing further imprints into your mind, actually, the mantra purifies the mind of all these imprints. When you visualize the form as the deity and there's no grasping at form, then the physical are purified and when there is no grasping at speech, then the speech obscurations are purified, and when there is no grasping at sights or sounds then the mind remains naturally pure.
HE Garchen Rinpoche
