Padmasambhava mantra

Oṃ Āḥ Hūṃ Vajra Guru Padma Siddhi Hūṃ

Without diacritics: Om Ah Hum Vajra Guru Padma Siddhi Hum

Padmasambhava was a historical teacher who is said to have converted Tibet to Buddhism. He was a renowned scholar, meditator, and magician, and his mantra suggests his rich and diverse nature.

Om ah hung benza guru pema siddhi hung

In Tibetan Buddhism the mantra is pronounced differently. There it’s Om ah hung benza guru pema siddhi hung. The difference arises solely because Tibetan and Sanskrit are from different language groups, and the sounds of Sanskrit are not easily pronounced by Tibetans. This doesn’t mean that the Tibetan form is wrong; Om ah hung benza guru pema siddhi hung is the official and correct form of the mantra in Tibetan.

The Meaning of the Padmasambhava Mantra

The three syllables Oṃ Āḥ Hūṃ have no conceptual meaning. They’re symbolic, and have symbolic meanings.

Oṃ Āḥ Hūṃ Meaning

Oṃ is often regarded as being the primeval sound, and in fact the sound-symbol of reality itself. It represents the universal principle of enlightenment. You can read about Om in more detail on the page about the Om Shanti mantra.

Āḥ, in traditional explanations, is usually said to be connected with speech (more about that in a moment) but in Sanskrit “ah” is a verb meaning “to express , signify ; to call (by name).” So it suggests evoking, or calling forth, the manifestation of enlightenment.

Hūṃ is often thought of as representing the manifestation of enlightenment in the individual human being. This may be a complete coincidence, but hum is similar to the first person singular “aham,” which means of course “I.”

Often these three syllables are associated with body, speech, and mind respectively (i.e. the whole of one’s being). So there’s a suggestion that we are saluting the qualities that Padmasambhava represents with all of our hearts (and minds, and bodies).

Vajra Guru Padma Siddhi Meaning

Vajra means thunderbolt, and represents the energy of the enlightened mind. It can also mean diamond. The implication is that the diamond/thunderbolt can cut through anything. The diamond is the indestructible object, while the thunderbolt is the unstoppable force. The vajra also stands for compassion. While it may seem odd to have such a “masculine” object representing compassion, this makes sense in esoteric Buddhism because compassion is active, and therefore aligned with this masculine symbol. (The term “masculine” does not of course imply that compassion is limited to males!)

Guru, of course, means a wise teacher. It comes from a root word, garu, which means “weighty.” So you can think of the guru as one who is a weighty teacher. Padmasambhava is so highly regarded in Tibetan Buddhism that he is often referred to as the second Buddha.

Padma means lotus, calling to mind the purity of the enlightened mind, because the lotus flower, although growing in muddy water, is completely stainless. In the same way the enlightened mind is surrounded by the greed, hatred, and delusion that is found in the world, and yet remains untouched by it. The lotus therefore represents wisdom. Again, while westerners would tend to assume that the flower represents compassion, the receptive nature of the flower gives it a “feminine” status in esoteric Buddhism, and to the lotus is aligned with the “feminine” quality of wisdom. And once again, there is no implication that wisdom is in any way limited to those who are female. The words masculine and feminine here are used in a technical sense that’s completely unrelated to biology.

And Siddhi means accomplishment or supernatural powers, suggesting the way in which those who are enlightened can act wisely, but in ways that we can’t necessarily understand. Padmasambhava is a magical figure, and in his biography there are many miracles and tussles with supernatural beings.

The Final Hūṃ

Many Buddhist mantras start with Oṃ and end with Hūṃ.

One way you can think of this is that Oṃ represents the abstract principle of enlightenment, or the potential for awakening that exists in the world and in our minds. Hūṃ on the other hand represents our individual selves (hūṃ may be an ancient and non-standard equivalent of ahaṃ, which is the Pali and Sanskrit word for “I” (the first person singular pronoun). The middle part of the mantra is the invocation that connects us, as individuals, with enlightenment. In other words we’re inviting enlightenment to transform us.

In this case it’s the qualities of Padmasambhava (as “the thunderbolt teacher” and the “lotus realized one”) that are our bridge to enlightenment.

Recording of the Padmasambhava Mantra

To hear the pronunciation of the Padmasambhava mantra, Om Ah Hum Vajra Guru Padma Siddhi Hum, click below to hear a recorded version chanted by Bodhipaksa:

Pronunciation notes for Oṃ Āḥ Hūṃ Vajra Guru Padma Siddhi Hūṃ:

  • a is pronounced as u in cut
  • aa (ā) is long, as in father
  • ṃ in hūṃ is pronounced ng, as in long. In “Oṃ” it’s pronounced as a standard English “m” sound.
  • j is hard, like j in judge
  • u is short, as in put
  • ū is long, as in school

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  • Just ran across yet another definition/synonym for VAJRA. We all know it is mostly seen as DIAMOND and sometimes as LIGHTNING [BOLT], but now it is also able to been understood as EMPTINESS!!! Reading Conze's translations of the PrajnaParamita Sutras where Emptiness is such a foundational word, I find several times Akshobhya is brought into the sutras. He being the 'father' of the Vajra Family, I identify with that particular 'Family' of Buddhas. With the view that Samantabhadra is the ultimate of Emptiness/the Dharmakaya Buddha, emanating from Him is a group of Buddhas: VajraPani, VajraSattva, and VajraDhara which all have this VAJRA initially in their 'Names'.... From them emanates the 5 Families of Buddhas: Vairocana, Amoghasiddi, Akshobhya, Ratnasambhava and Amitabha. Yet as Manjusri would say, even these Buddhas are non-existent. So looking at the word 'exist' I seem to recall 'ist' is a german word meaning something like 'being' and 'ex' would entail a process concerning 'being'...like thinking. Hence, as I'd again suggest Manjusri is focusing 'nonexistence' on what Conze translates as 'unthinkable' to mean 'pre-thought', 'post-thought' or even 'non-thought'...what seems to me like the silent stillness of Akshobhya wherein 'the small voice' is heard. In the 700 lines, Conze does mention Buddha's explanation about the One Single Array concentration. Seems to be a synonym for the Unthinkability Concentration. Having lots of fun wandering in 'The Range'.

  • Hey Bodhipaksa

    I was just wondering, why did you leave out the visarga in āḥ in the mantra and replace it with an "h"?

    Thanks, your website is great!

    John

    • Hi John,

      The short answer is "sheer carelessness." Thanks for being so sharp-eyed. It's fixed now.

      All the best,
      Bodhipaksa

  • Hey Bodhipaksa,

    Your welcome. I don't mean to nit-pick you but I hope that you put how to pronounce it in the pronunciation notes. :-) I'd be interested to hear how you pronounce it. From the audio file (if that's you) it sounds as if you could be slightly breathing out after the "ā". I've heard so many different ways of pronouncing it, such as an faint echo of the preceding vowel (I've heard others say that you don't say the faint echo if it's midverse) and then I've heard it said that it's a slight aspiration or exhale after the vowel. It's all terribly confusing.

    Thanks,
    John

    • I'm afraid I can't be of any definitive help. The way I've been taught to chant Āḥ, it sounds like what the doctor asks you to say when he wants to look at your throat. But that may be incorrect.

  • Hey Bodhipaksa,

    Is that because of Sandhi rules? I've wondered whether that applied to mantras. Does it? Because if I does you might be right, but I don't know. I bought the book Samskrta-Subodhini: A Sanskrit Primer thinking that it would help me learn Sanskrit so I could better pronounce mantras and it says that a visarga when preceded by an "ā" and followed by a voiced consonant or vowel, is dropped. The "h" in h?ṃ is a voiced consonant so in this case you could be correct but I don't know. I've never taken a class on Sanskrit or Pali or anything Indian related. I'm really an amateur or even less than one.

    Thanks,
    John

    • I studied Pali for a couple of years at university, but we didn't go much into sandhi rules. The person to ask about this would be jayarava, over at https://www.visiblemantra.org. He's studying Sanskrit and is a specialist in mantras and Indic scripts.

  • Hello Bodhipaksa,

    I already asked him and he was very helpful. Jayarava answered all my questions how to pronounce this particular mantra. Sanskrit can be so tricky. I was taught to pronounce the Vajra Guru mantra pretty much like you, with the āḥ sounding like what you described with going to the doctor, though I was taught Padma was Pema instead. Jayarava recommended your website for another perspective.

    Thanks,
    John

  • More and more it becomes clear to me that Buddhism is in fact a holy science of the way things are. Western science already proved that electrons, atoms, neutrons, protons, etc. etc. do not exist as little hard balls (particles) but are properties from waves such as inertia, standing waves, interference, spin, vortex, implosion, etc. etc. Buddhism said the same thing many centuries ago that there is no objective world "out there" but only phenomena rising and fading on the stages of different levels of consciousness. Hard to grasp but the only way things ultimately can be.

  • Thanks for the wonderful explanation of this mantra. It has had excellent beneficial effects for me already. I am considering using this mantra over a long period of time, maybe reciting a few sets of 109 a day (the amount of beads on my necklace). I have been interested in Buddhism for many years and meditate and study a bit. But only through your explanations of mantra and my own awareness have I 'got' the point of it and I'd like to extend these benefits! Peace Jim

    • Hi, James.

      I'm glad to hear you're enjoying this mantra. The Padmasabhava mantra is the mantra and visualization practice I was given at my ordination.

      I'd guess that the 109th bead on your mala is the "guru" bead. Usually this is larger than the others and it marks the start and end of the circle. Traditionally it's not counted as part of the round.

  • Hey Bodhipaksa, can you go more into the Siddhi feature? And are you aware that most Tibetan Disciples have been requested to do 12million recitations? It seems like a couple of years ago the Dalai Lama, the Karmapa and just about all Rinpoches have made this request of their disciples. At rinpoche.com was an aritcle on the Guru Rinpoche Mantra. In it Yeshe Tsogyal asks Padmasambhava to explain it. Very interesting to say the least.

  • I saw on wikipedia about numbers of recitations and I thought it said 1.2 million to get the blessing of Padmasambhava. I thought I could do that in 30 years but 12 million - mmm that's probably a bit too many for me!

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