August 28-B, 2022

Vermillion Lakes Sunrise 08 09/19/2009 Oil Paint Rendered — Banff National Park, Alberta.
"Om Mani Padme Hum"

Is a Buddhist chant,
containing all of the sutras and the Dharma
in six syllables--
and which can be further reduced
to a single "Om," or "Aum." 

Joseph Campbell said,
“AUM” is a symbolic sound 
that puts you in touch 
with that resounding being 
that is the universe. 

If you heard some of the recordings 
of Tibetan monks chanting AUM, 
you would know what the word means, 
all right. 

That’s the AUM of being in the world. 
To be in touch with that 
and to get the sense of that 
is the peak experience of all. 

A-U-M. 
The birth, 
the coming into being, 
and the dissolution that cycles back. 

AUM is called the “four-element syllable.” 
A-U-M—and what is the fourth element? 
The silence out of which AUM arises, 
and back into which it goes, 
and which underlies it. 

My life is the A-U-M, 
but there is a silence underlying it, too. 
That is what we would call the immortal."
(Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth with Bill Moyers 
book, p. 230).

The chant, "Om Mani Padme Hum"
can be understood to mean,
"The Jewel is in the Lotus
("The Jewel" is the Buddha),
and the complete phrase implied 
in these six syllables is,
"and the Lotus is in the Slime
at the Bottom of the Pond."

In the world of non-duality,
where all is One,
The Jewel is the Buddha is the Lotus
is the Slime.

And Jesus and the Father are One.
And Jesus said,
"In as much as you have done it
to the least of my brothers and sisters,
your have done it to me."

Jesus and the Father are One,
and Jesus and the poor are One,
and Jesus and the people of color are One,
and Jesus and the LGBTQ population are One...
and all are one with Jesus and with the Father
and with each other.

Om Mani Padme Hum makes us one with all people
and all things.

All our dichotomies are false dichotomies.
All our distinctions are illusions.
All our caste systems are abominations.

All of that is present in
"Om Mani Padme Hum."

We incarnate that reality
when we chant the chant
and realize we are one with all that is. 

See?

–0–

Published by jimwdollar

I'm retired, and still finding my way--but now, I don't have to pretend that I know what I'm doing. I retired after 40.5 years as a minister in the Presbyterian Church USA, serving churches in Louisiana, Mississippi and North Carolina. I graduated from Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, in Austin, Texas, and Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, Louisiana. My wife, Judy, and I have three daughters and five granddaughters within about twenty minutes from where we live--and are enjoying our retirement as much as we have ever enjoyed anything.

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