The-Tibetan-Book-of-Living-and-Dying

TWO MANTRAS 397
hell realms, ascending gradually through the world of hungry ghosts,
up to the realm of the gods. From there he happened to look down
and saw, aghast, that though he had saved innumerable beings from
hell, countless more were pouring in. This plunged him into the profoundest
grief; for a moment he almost lost faith in that noble vow
he had taken, and his body exploded into a thousand pieces. In his
desperation, he called out to all the buddhas for help, who came to
his aid from all directions of the universe, as one text said, like a soft
blizzard of snowflakes. With their great power the buddhas made
him whole again, and from then on Avalokiteshvara had eleven
heads, and a thousand arms, and on each palm of each hand was an
eye, signifying that union of wisdom and skillful means that is the
mark of true compassion. In this form he was even more resplendent
and empowered than before to help all beings, and his compassion
grew even more intense as again and again he repeated this vow
before the buddhas: "May I not attain final buddhahood before all
sentient beings attain enlightenment."
It is said that in his sorrow at the pain of samsara, two tears fell
from his eyes: through the blessings of the buddhas, they were transformed
into the two Taras. One is Tara in her green form, who is the
active force of compassion, and the other is Tara in her white form,
who is compassion's motherly aspect. The name Tara means "she
who liberates": she who ferries us across the ocean of samsara.
It is written in the Mahayana Sutras that Avalokiteshvara gave his
mantra to the Buddha himself, and Buddha in turn granted him the
special and noble task of helping all beings in the universe toward
buddhahood. At this moment all the gods rained flowers on them,
the earth shook, and the air rang with the sound OM MANI PADME
HUM HRIH.
In the words of the poem:
Avalokiteshvara is like the moon
Whose cool light puts out the burning fires of samsara
In its rays the night-flowering lotus of compassion
Opens wide its petals.
The teachings explain that each of the six syllables of the
mantra—OM MA NI PAD MÉ HUM—has a specific and potent
effect in bringing about transformation at different levels of our being.
The six syllables purify completely the six poisonous negative emotions,
which are the manifestation of ignorance, and which cause us
to act negatively with our body, speech, and mind, so creating samsara
and our suffering in it. Pride, jealousy desire, ignorance, greed,
and anger are transformed, through the mantra, into their true nature,
the wisdoms of the six buddha families that become manifest in the
enlightened mind. 3
So when we recite OM MANI PADME HUM, the six negative