OM MANI PADME HUNG represents the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara and it purifies all the karma we have accumulated through countless lifetimes. The Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara's compassion manifests as OM MANI PADME HUNG to purify all the karma we have accumulated through pride, jealousy, attachment, ignorance, stinginess and anger over countless lifetimes. It purifies all of the causes and conditions for the suffering of samsara and if all our karma and defilements are purified, then we are left with pureness itself, our ultimate essence, the tathagatagarbha – the Buddha-nature.
This means that OM MANI PADME HUNG is the simplest, easiest, most complete and convenient practice for everybody. I sometimes get the feeling that when I tell some of my disciples that they should only practice OM MANI PADME HUNG, this does not make them very happy. Then I realize that they think it is too simple, it is a practice for peasants who do not know how to read or write. This is absolutely wrong. OM MANI PADME HUNG is for everybody. It is also a practice for intellectual, learned people who know how to read and write.
Nobody can attain Buddhahood without overcoming the five – or as outlined in this practice, the six defilements; nobody can attain Buddhahood without purifying all their karma, it is impossible. Therefore I would say that on top of the practices you have from your guru, in any extra time you get – on the bus, the airplane, the couch or in the restaurant waiting for your food to be served – you quietly say OM MANI PADME HUNG. You have plenty of time in these situations. Don’t come and tell me that you don’t have any time.
~ 12th Kenting Tai Situpa from “Ground, Path & Fruition”
