Om Mani Padma Hung

This Sanskrit Mantra invokes the jewel in the center of the lotus, Avaloketesvara, a physical manifestation of which is the Dalai Lama who is supposed to be the Deity of Compassion incarnate in a physical body on earth. Often Tibetans and Tibetan Buddhists will carry pictures of the Dalai Lama and touch it to their foreheads to invoke compassion, protection and blessings upon themselves and friends and loved ones in dangerous situations while trekking in the Himalayas or anywhere on earth.

My direct experience with all this began for me around 1980 when I met my first Tibetan Lama in Ashland, Oregon. This sequence of my life grew and prospered until I was initiated by the Dalai Lama, along with 500,000 other Tibetan Buddhists into the Kalachakra initiation in Bodhygaya, India, near where Buddha achieved enlightenment under the Bodhi tree over 2500 years ago there. In 1980 I was a Christian mystic and constantly searching for the truth and for God in everything everywhere I physically went or thought about. The idea of having compassion for all beings in all time and space throughout the universe appealed to me. For, you see when I grew up in a Christian cult I was told only about 10,000 people in my cult were going to heaven. I always felt upset about this growing up. So as an adult I wanted to include all beings in all time and space in my prayers of compassion for all beings. In this way I could facilitate the end of suffering for all beings eventually beginning right now by consciously moving toward Buddha hood like Buddha and I believe Jesus also did through becoming enlightened and helping all beings toward compassion, enlightenment and the permanent end of suffering.

This mantra facilitates the end of suffering of all beings on earth and beyond. Tibetan bracelets have this carved into them in either Tibetan or Sanskrit. Sanskrit is the root language of both Tibetan and Hindi just like Latin is the root language of all romance languages like French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese etc.

About 20% of all Buddhists worldwide or more also believe in God and I am one of them. Though I consider myself to be what I would call a universalist in that I believe in the 49,000 correct paths to enlightenment as talked about by Tibetan Buddhists which include all compassionate religions and philosophies, I also consider myself to be a Tibetan Buddhist, Catholic and mystic. So, for me, God is where I find him, her, the being. Wherever I look I see God even in your eyes. Namaste. (which means, "I bow to the God within you".