A Journal of gilding gold on Lapis

Mani mantra on lapis-like background ⓒ Tashi Mannox 2013

Who doesn't like richness of gold on deep lapis blue colour? a combination made in heaven, historically used for the most divine of Christian icons, Pharaoh's precious ornamentations and sacred Mantras on lapis lazuli tablets. 

This is a short photographic story of the creation of the sacred Mani mantra oṃ maṇipadme hūṃ according to the proportionate construction of the Uchen script style. 

Available on-line as hand gilded limited edition giclée prints.

This art piece has also been put together with a song by Imee Ooi who sings the Mani mantra beautifully.

Threads of Awakening

Manjushri appliquéd in fine silks by Leslie Rinchen Wongmo.

In regard to the beautiful creation above, Leslie Rinchen Wongmo, master of Traditional Thangka appliqué quotes:

"Manjushri is the embodiment of all the buddhas’ wisdom. His flaming double-edged sword cuts through layers of misconception to discriminate clearly between the independent way things deceptively appear to exist and the interdependent way in with they actually arise. Resting on a lotus in his left hand is the text of the Perfection of Wisdom sutra, considered to be the Buddha’s most profound teaching on the ultimate nature of reality."

The Manjushri mantra om a ra pa tsa na dhi
in the High Uchen script with heading character.
Tashi Mannox 2011

Leslie recently posted a blog about her personal seal design she originally commissioned Tashi to create and tells the story of how she chanced on meeting Tashi, how he created her seal design that ten years on become the logo for her new website 'threads of awakening' showing her beautiful appliqué masterpieces. 

Leslie's personal seal meaning
Rinchen precious in the
Horyig seal script.

If you are interested in commissioning your own bespoke seal that can also be used as a logo, all that you need to know about seal design and how to order is clearly explained on the page link here:

www.tashimannox.com. 

རྒྱ་

A book of mantras

A resource for visualising and calligraphy of

Buddhist mantras and seed syllables.

The long awaited print version of the popular Buddhist mantra website: 

visiblemantra.org. 

This is a celebration of the visual forms of mantra and other varieties of sacred speech, drawing on Buddhist traditions from India, China, Japan, and Tibet. 

The book includes all the mantras from the website, plus a few more. Each is presented in four scripts: Siddhaṃ (Bonji 梵字), Lantsa (aka Rañjana), Devanāgarī देवनागरी, and Tibetan དབུ་ཅན།. Plus seed-syllables, dhāraṇī and Pāli chants. All accompanied by Jayarava's meticulously researched notes and comments, and background reading drawn from Jayarava's blog. 

An invaluable resource for Buddhist artists, calligraphers and practitioners.

To buy a copy, please follow the link here.

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Karmapa

ཀ་

The badge of Tsurphu monastery,
the original seat of the Karmapas
in Tibet, founded in 1189 by the
Fist Karmapa Dusum Chenpa.

ཀརྨ་བཀའ་བརྒྱུད།

Ka ཀ་ is the first letter of the Tibetan alphabet and the first letter of the name Karmapa ཀརྨ་པ།

But more notably; the latter ka also refers to speech, that is of the aural transmission of the Dharma though the Kagyu lineage known as the 'Golden Rosary' as one bead in a string leads to another, so are the teachings and practices passed on down through  an unbroken lineage to the present day.

The Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje is the head of the Karma Kagyu lineage and the 17th in the line of Karmapa's 

The 16th and 17th Karmapas.

The above photo shows an astonishing resemblance between the 16th and 17th Karmapa of a similar age, not only in photo composition but also in location on grass next to a tent in the grounds of his seat monastery called Tsurphu in central Tibet. 

It was quite by accident that these two photographs found there way together after a life-time had passed between one incarnation to another.  

The 16th Karmapa Rangjung Rigpe Dorje '1924 - 1981'

A a seldom seen and delightful photography of the 16th Karmapa, was taken by Tashi's father Peter Mannox, who documented many other of the Kagyu lineage holders during the 1970's at Rumtek monastery in Sikkim, India.

The 17th Karmapa Ogyen Trinley Dorje, born '1985 -

The present Karmapa now resides in Northern India at his temporary camp at the Gyuto monastery in Dharamsala.

Karmapa-chenno mantra, Dru-tsa script, Tashi Mannox 2022

As the central figure to the Kagyu linage, the mantra to ask for blessing of the Karmapa is pronounced karmapa chénno which translates as 'Karmapa here me/take heed'.

To the left is an impression of one of the Karmapa's seals, signed by the 16th Karmapa, 

the hand-writing above the seal translates as

'Karma Kagyu Dharma institution'

༄། ཀརྨ་བཀའ་མརྒྱུདཆོས་སྡེ།

At the center of the seal design is the letters 'karmapa'.

A similar seal design to the above, perhaps a copy, clearly shows the letters 'karmapa' carved into the stone seal.

The script style is the father to the Horyig seal script called Phags-pa.

In both seal designs, the Phags-pa letters sit on an open lotus, radiating aura lines, above the letters are three 'jewels' representing the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, either side of which are the sun and moon.  

At The top of this post is a badge of Tolung Tsuphu Monastery, there is an interesting little story to the creation of this badge of an international collaboration. 

Once upon a time... In June 1996 Tashi visited Tsurphu monastery along with Akong Rinpoche and his brother Lama Yeshe Losal, to meet the young 17th Karmapa. This was a particularly special occasion,  as for Lama Yeshe and Tashi, it was the first time they had seen the Karmapa since his previous incarnation.

Akong Rinpoche, Karmapa and Tsering Tashi.

One particular day Akong Rinpoche together with Tashi organized an audience with the Karmapa. The main purpose of this meeting was to take measurements so that Tashi could make robes for the Karmapa at a later date. 

Much of the day was spent in the Karmapa's private quarters where games where played with much enjoyment and laughter.

It was decided to offer Karmapa an embroidered badge, which He liked as something to give to every one of the monks in the monastery representing Tsurphu.

Drawing by Karmapa and Tashi.

As in the Photo, all three huddled around Karmapa's seat table to plot out how the badge should look. Above is a rough sketch that was made by Tashi at the time under the instructions from both Karmapa and Akong, additional marks were added by Karmapa, such as the curls at the top as he explained the decorated surround of the Dharma wheel and swirls to the scroll. Below He added the moon and the sun and even wrote moon and sun next to them. The design session ended with how to draw a star.

Fresh in mind and sketch in hand, Tashi returned to Scotland where he requested Sherab Palden Beru a master of Tibetan art, to create a design based on Karmapa's instruction. The design at the top of this post was created by one of Sherabs students under his direction.

Tashi then contacted some Buddhist friends, Tony and Rose, he had met earlier in that year, who happened to run a badge making business in Australia called 'Badger Makes Badges'. The artwork was sent to them around the globe and being devoted to Karmapa, hundreds of beautifully embroider badges where returned to Scotland and offered to Karmapa by Akong Rinpoche on his next returning visit to Tibet.

THE END

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Another Karmapa related post on the Karmapa's dream flag can be followed here.

The Mani Mantra

The Mani mantra of Avalokiteśvara arranged on a lotus Mandala.
Each of the letters are placed on each petal starting at the bottom
(Easterly quarter) running clock-wise:
oṃ ma ṇi pad me hūṃ 
In the center of the mandala is the seed syllable hri
Copyright Tashi mannox 2018 

"Mani-wood" The famous Hollywood sign adapted by Tashi July 2009.

It is said that on seeing the form of the Mani mantra, to hear the sound of the Mani mantra: oṃ maṇipadme hūṃ is to purify and liberate from the un-enlightened state of ignorance.


The meaning of the Mantra by His Holiness the Dalai Lama:

"It is very good to recite the mantra oṃ ma ṇi pad me hūṃ but while you are doing it, you should be thinking of it's meaning, for the meaning of the six syllables is great and vast. 
The first, oṃ is symbolic of the pure exalted body, speech, and mind of a Buddha. maṇi means jewel, symbolizes the factors of method-the altruistic intention to become enlightened, through compassion and love. padme meaning lotus, symbolizes wisdom. Just as a lotus grows from the mud, but is not sullied by the faults of mud, so wisdom is capable of putting you in a situation of non-contradiction whereas there would be contradiction if you did not have wisdom. ...Purity must be achieved by an indivisible unity of method and wisdom, symbolized by hūṃ which indicates indivisibility...
Thus together these syllables mean that in dependence on the practice of a path which is an indivisible union of method and wisdom, you can transform your impure body, speech, mind into the pure exalted body, speech, mind of a Buddha."

The practice of the Mani mantra and how to integrate pure perception on a spiritual path is explained further here.

In Tibet, whole hillsides are seen as a great opportunity to plot out huge images of the sacred mantra, often with white stones. Such constructions are believed to emanate  blessing across the land, if not as a constant reminder of the mantras sacred and positive meaning.

A enormous Mani mantra in East Tibet.

The mantra was also commonly carved on flat stones and piled up in great heaps that sometimes stretch for a mile or more. As an act of respect, a person would always pass with the mantras on their right, circling clock-wise.

Other such devotional activities, such as hand spinning prayer wheels filled with mantras minutely printed on tight coils of paper, is considered that with a good intention and the act of turning the wheel, the power of the mantra is activated, similarly mantra printed prayer flags utter their prays caught on the wind.

In our modern times the sacred Mani mantra could not be more applicable in meaning and benefit. For the meaning of the Mani mantra is steeped in Loving-kindness and understanding, each of the six syllables purifying and converting negative emotions into wisdom, which is a fundamental basis to our confused state of being, that transformed; can only lead to a happy state of mind.

A modern electric powered prayer wheel,
made by the Father of Tashi: Peter Mannox
precious jewels decorate the rings of the drum
between which the Mani mantra is illuminated
in gold Lantsa Sanskrit lettering.

Our modern world also allows prayer wheels to be driven by electricity. The prayer wheel pictured above, housed at the Samye Ling Temple in Scotland, contains billions of Mantras on micro film. For every one rotation of the wheel; there are seven Mani mantras dedicated to each Human being on the planet, the praying wheel turns continually day and night.

The earliest written version of the Mani mantra is know in the Lantsha and Wartu Sanskrit forms, used by Buddhist monks in India and Tibet in the 11th century.

The mani mantra in the ancient Wartu or Vartu Sanskrit.

© Tashi Mannox 2022

Lantsha Sanskrit Mani mantra.

© Tashi Mannox 2022

The beginning of the Tibetan written language was developed to accommodate the  migration of the Buddhist teachings from India to Tibet. The original Indian manuscripts were scribed in both Lantsha and Wartu, these were fundamental to the Buddhist textual tradition and very much their visual identity. Indeed Lantsha and Wartu is still today considered a sacred and classical written language, which is often upheld; painted and gilded high up on Tibetan temple walls, beams and pillars.

The Mani mantra arranged as a monogram, a very

condensed and convoluted form of

Lantsha Sanskrit called Kutaksyar.

© Tashi Mannox 2022

As the written form of a mantra is considered divine, there was much care and respect when translating Sanskrit to Tibetan. Moreover, most mantras where translated phonetically into Tibetan, maintaing as near correct as possible to the original quality of sound, which is considered integral to the meditation practice they belong to.

The classical Uchen script style is perhaps the most common and recognizable of the Mani mantra in Tibetan, a script style very similar in appearance to Sanskrit to an untrained eye,  so it is somewhat understandable that the Uchen style is often miscalled 'Tibetan Sanskrit'.

The Mani mantra is an early form of Tibetan called High Uchen

© Tashi Mannox 2022

Below follows a list of the Mani mantra in the main Tibetan script styles, these are shown without the traditional 'heading character' the addition of a heading character dose not change the meaning of the mantra, for more explanation on the heading character.

A more standard version of the Mani mantra in the Uchen script.

© Tashi Mannox 2022 

The Mani mantra in a short form called Tsugtung

© Tashi Mannox 2022

A script style derived from East Tibet, Kham, called Petsug or Khamyig

© Tashi Mannox 2022

A more cursive script form called Dru-tsa

© Tashi Mannox 2022

A quick style of hand-writing called Khyug

© Tashi Mannox 2022

The Mani mantra in three scripts,

From left to right:

vertically stacked in Uchen

Horyig seal script

Phags-pa

© Tashi Mannox 2022

The Horyig and Phags-pa scripts are related to Mongolian and where developed for the use of seals across Mongolia Tibet and China. A more in-depth explanation on the Phags-pa script is shown here, and for the Horyig script please click here.

The Mani mantra has in recent times become popular as a tattoo design. Because the mantra is a sacred word, there are advised guidelines as where and where not to place the mantra, this is not only to safe-guard the mantras integrity but also to curb any negative karma to others and ones self in miss-placing the mantra, such as up-side-down or back-to-front.

Many of the above mantras and more are available as high resolution downloadable images from the Tashi Mannox on-line store.

Guru Padma

༄། པདྨ་འབྱུང་གནས་ལ་ན་མོ།

For Tibetans Guru Rinpoche or Padmasambhava in Sanskrit, is regarded as the second Buddha, who historically came to Tibet during the 8th century to transmit Vajrayana Buddhism. At that time Tibetans were known to be wild and unruly, a land to be subdued of its demons. Guru Rinpoche, meaning precious guru, tamed and established Buddhism in Tibet, founding the first monastic community at Samye in central Tibet. This formed the today's oldest tradition called the Nyingma school, which is very much the foundation of the other great schools of Tibetan Buddhism.

As a devotional practice, Guru rinpoche is considered to over-come inner and outer obstacles and therefore furthers ones spiritual progress inwardly and ones outer activity.

Padmasambhava has many names such as Guru Padma and Pema Jungne which mean lotus born. Iconographically he is often depicted seated on a lotus, as above, representing the purity and transformation. His pure land, as much a mind state of liberation, is the place of the copper-coloured Mountain in the North-West part of the sacred realm of Orgyen.

© Tashi Mannox 2022

In the above calligraphy; the mantra of Pema Jungne is shown at the top in a high form of the Tibetan Uchen script, below which is the same mantra in an ancient Lantsha Sanskrit, the original written language from which much of the Buddhist teachings and practices were translated from into Tibetan. The mantra, very much a supplication of the attainment of 'siddhi' and blessing of body speech and mind. In Sanskrit the mantra is pronounced:

oṃ āḥ hūṃ vajra guru padma siddhi hūṃ

The smaller text and as the same in the calligraphy below is known as the 'Seven Line Prayer' of Guru Rinpoche: tsig dun sol deb, this translates as:

hum, to the North-West part of Orgyen, seated in a long stemmed lotus with anthers, such wonder! called lotus born - Pema Jungne, who achieved the highest of spiritual accomplishments and who is accompanied by myriads of Dakinis. I will act according to your example. Please come and grant me your blessing. guru pema siddhi hum.

© Tashi Mannox 2010

Here the seven line prayer has been arranged surrounding the main 'hum' character, the seed syllable of Yidam Pema Jungne. This is a study piece demonstrating the Petsug script style and to work out the layout for the final art piece as shown below. It is often the case when executing a major calligraphy art piece, where a large amount of text needs to fit the confines of a space, the size of the lettering and spacing needs careful consideration and planning.

Tashi adding the finishing touches the multi coloured lotus flower.

☸

ས་མ་ཡཿ རྒྱ་རྒྱ་རྒྱཿ

☸

Emanate from Emptiness

In the beginning there was the word.... It is of course impossible to describe emptiness in a word or to portray emptiness in a calligraphy art piece, other than not painting anything what so ever or just leaving a 'void'.

At the start of just about every Tibetan Sadhana prayer says: "from within emptiness....." (as the text spells out above). Thus the development stage of the practice begins, born out of emptiness, to mind creates the visualization, the text chanted explains and guides step by step to a complete embodiment of body speech and mind, inseparable from the practice 'Yidam' deity, in meditation and mantra, only to dissolve back into emptiness from where it was born, and the practice is completed.

"Emanate from Emptiness" 'a new rendition'. 

© Tashi Mannox 2010

The above calligraphy of the mantra of The Prajnä Päramitä Sutra or more commonly known as the Heart Sutra, sometimes named the Gaté mantra in reference to how the mantra of the Heart Sutra is pronounced:

tayata om gaté gaté para gaté para sam gaté bodhi swa ha.

The calligraphy of the Gaté mantra is painted in the Dru-tsa script style, the tails of the letters extend pointing to the empty center of the paper from where the mantra seems to emanate from.

This is the second rendition of the Gaté mantra that Tashi has created, both based on the same design of the mantra spinning off a central axis, the first piece was sold before a quality photograph was taken of the art piece, then due to popular requests, a second calligraphy was painted and photographed to produce high quality giclée prints. these are available in two sizes of 60x42cm near to actual size of the original and half the size at 42x30cm.

For more details on prints in general and how to place an order, please follow the link here.

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