Om mani padme hum (was: Karandavyuha)

[Rolf Koch]

In regards to the difference between mantra and vidyA I came across the
following AryA stanza in the Avazyaka-niryukti vs. 931 (according to the
version of the Niryukti as cited by the commentator Haribhadra):
itthi vijjA-abhihiyA
puriso mantu tti tav-viseso-ayaM
vijjA sa-sAhaNA vA
sAhaNa-rahio a mantu tti
"vidyA is feminine,
mantra is masculine, that is the difference between both of them.
vidyA is done with or without sAdhana
and mantra is done without sAdhana"



Georg von Simson wrote:

> >Isn't there a more recent study that explains maNipadme as the vocative of
> >a feminine maNipadmA (as the name of a goddess)?--"O jewel-lotus goddess!"
> >I cannot recall the reference.
> >
> >>
> >> Is it at the fountainhead of Buddhist Tantra literature,
> >>because Avalokitesvara's important mantra - Om maNi padme hUm -
> >>is explained there. maNi refers to linga of 'Saivism and
> >>padma is yoni (A. Francke, The meaning of Om maNi padme hUm
> >>formula, JRAS, 1915, 0. 397-404.)
> >
> >
> >Burt Thorp
> >English Department
> >University of North Dakota
> >Grand Forks ND 58202-7209
>
> See David L. Snellgrove, Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, London 1987, p. 195, where
> he quotes the spell "OM MANIPADME HUM = O thou with the jewelled lotus"
> adding a footnote (no. 134): "These "spells" (vidyA) are all feminine in
> form, which is entirely normal, and the oft seen translation of "Jewel in
> the Lotus" is a later misunderstanding of someone who is unaware of the
> nature of such "spells" and the whole feminine context of their
> application."
>
> Regards,
> G.v.Simson