Tibetan Buddhists believe that the mantra (prayer) Om Mani Padme Hum invites the powerful benevolent attention and blessings of Chenrezig (Avalokiteshvara), who offers the distilled essence of the compassion of all the Buddhas. They tell us it will do so whether we say it, hear it, see its written form, stand near a prayer wheel or walk around it, or merely think of the mantra in any form at all.

In the vast Central Asian realms influenced by Tibetan Buddhism, visual images of the mantra are often carved onto stones, which are placed where people can see them. It is also painted on rocks and on walls.

a mani stone

Mani wall at Tashi Lhunpo

When the mantra is painted, traditional colors are used.

OM is WHITE; MA is GREEN; NI is YELLOW; PAD is SKY BLUE; ME is RED; HUNG is BLACK (or DARK BLUE)

Carved on stone and painted Techno Feng-shui

These days we have more options than rocks and walls. This Mani Bumper Sticker came from Glimpse of Tibet, a Tibetan handicrafts store in Northampton, Massachusetts.

From this Web page you can download several different types of digital images of the mani mantra, including high-resolution versions that are suitable for printing and framing for display in your home, workplace or meditation space, and smaller versions that are optimized for use on Web pages and e-mail messages. You can use one on the background of your computer screen. The High resolution versions can be reduced for use in print media.

All the images below this point on the page were developed for  Dharma Haven, and you are welcome to use them for any respectful purpose.

Images of the Mantra

We hope you will also look at some of our other pages, focusing on various aspects of the mantra and its meaning. One good place to start would be our page on Chenrezig (Avalokiteshvara). The mantra is said to bring his benevolent gaze to us and those we wish to help:

Here's a page that describes the mantra, how it's pronounced and written, and some the many different explanations of what it means:

According to the teachings, spinning the written form of the mantra around in a Mani wheel gives the same benefit as saying the mantra:

This page gives information on how mantras are used in meditation:

Photoshop Document with 5 Layers Note: The image shown above is not a Photoshop image. It is a Web optimized JPEG image made from the Photoshop images below.
Small Image Photoshop PSD 298 x 116  Pixels 217 KBytes	Large Image Photoshop PSD 596 x 232  Pixels 506 KBytes	Very Large Image Photoshop PSD 1192 x 464 Pixels 1030  KBytes

If you download one of these images, you can modify it in many different ways using Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Photoshop Elements, Adobe PhotoDelux, or any other graphics editor that can work with the layers in Photoshop's PSD files. Some editors that are available free can do this. For Windows machines, the GIMP Windows Port and Oriens Enhancer should both be able to do this. Similar free software is available for other operating systems.

The image has the following five layers:
 

		"Background" layer with traditional syllable colors
		Gradient Fill Layer 1 For Backgrounds
		Gradient Fill Layer 2 For Mantra
		Border Layer
		Brightness/Contrast 1

Changing the Background
 

This image was made by turning off the Gradient Fill Layer 2. Change the background, Gradient Fill Layer 1, in any way you please.

(Please note that the background you see in the composite image is not given by the so-called 'background' layer, which is just the bottom layer in the stack.) For example, to make the background a solid color, you can use the same color for the two end points of the fill gradient. The programs include many different types of fill gradients, and ways of modifying them.  

Changing the Mantra Colors 

This image was made by turning on both Gradient Fill Layers, 1 and 2, and changing the angle of the fill gradient in Layer 1 to 90 degrees.

Gradient Fill Layer 1 changes only the background, and Gradient Fill Layer 2 changes only the syllables. Change the background and the syllables in any way you please.

More Effects

For some effects, you should forget about the Mani Workshop images and start fresh with one of the "Mani black on white" images.

This image was made by using the "Neon Glow" and "Blur" filters in Photoshop Elements, along with other tools like "Auto Contrast".

The image in the Books section of a woman turning a large gold Mani wheel is from the cover of Wheel of Great Compassion.

Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche's teaching "Heart Treasure of the Enlightened Ones," was given at Tibet House in New York in 1984 and published in the volume titled Essence of Buddhism: Teachings at Tibet House.