The ''Maṇi Kambum'' (Tibetan: མ་ཎི་བཀའ་འབུམ་, Wylie: ''ma Ni bka' 'bum,'' "Collected teachings on Mani") is a

Tibetan Buddhist Tibetan Buddhism is a form of Buddhism practiced in Tibet, Bhutan and Mongolia. It also has a sizable number of adherents in the areas surrounding the Himalayas, including the Indian regions of Ladakh, Darjeeling, Sikkim, and Arunachal Prades ...

terma text which contains teachings connected with the bodhisattva

Avalokiteśvara In Buddhism, Avalokiteśvara (meaning "the lord who looks down", International Phonetic Alphabet, IPA: ), also known as Lokeśvara ("Lord of the World") and Chenrezig (in Tibetan), is a Bodhisattva#Bhūmis (stages), tenth-level bodhisattva associ ...

. The ''Maṇi Kambum'' was composed over time by different hands. It was likely composed from the 12th century to the 13th century.

Overview

The ''Maṇi Kambum'' is traditionally attributed to the Tibetan king

Songtsen Gampo Songtsen Gampo (Classical , pronounced ) (; (601–683 CE, reign 614-648) was the 33rd Tibetan king of the Yarlung dynasty and the founder of the Tibetan Empire. The first of three Dharma Kings of Tibet, he formally introduced Buddhism to Tib ...

. It is traditionally said to be a revelation of three different Tibetan masters: siddha Ngöndrup,

Nyangrel Nyima Özer Nyangrel Nyima Özer (, 1124–1192) was an important Nyingma tertön, a revealer of terma treasure texts in Tibetan Buddhism. Overview Nyima Özer was considered to be a reincarnation of King Trisong Detsen. He was a lay yogi and had two son ...

, and Śākya Ö. The work focuses on the compassionate bodhisattva

which is promoted here as the

patron deity A tutelary (; also tutelar) is a deity or a spirit who is a guardian, patron, or protector of a particular place, geographic feature, person, lineage, nation, culture, or occupation. The etymology of "tutelary" expresses the concept of safety and ...

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ), or Greater Tibet, is a region in the western part of East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are other ethnic groups s ...

. In the ''Maṇi Kambum'', Songtsen Gampo is said to be an emanation of

who arrived in Tibet in order to spread the Buddha's

Dharma Dharma (; , ) is a key concept in various Indian religions. The term ''dharma'' does not have a single, clear Untranslatability, translation and conveys a multifaceted idea. Etymologically, it comes from the Sanskrit ''dhr-'', meaning ''to hold ...

. The ''Maṇi Kambum'' is a very important work for the culture and history of Tibetan Buddhism as well as Tibet in general. The text is connected with the rise in popularity of Avalokiteśvara devotion in Tibet from the 12th to the 14th century.Kapstein, Matthew (1992) ''Remarks on the Mani bka 'bum and the Cult of Avalokitesvara in Tibet'', Goodman & Davidson (redactie), Tibetan Buddhism, Reason and Revelation It is also influenced by the ''

Kāraṇḍavyūha Sūtra The ''Kāraṇḍavyūha Sūtra'' ("''The Basket's Display''", Full Sanskrit: ''Āryakāraṇḍavyūhanāmamahāyānasūtra'', Tibetan: phags paza ma tog bkod pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po'i mdo; zh, t=佛說大乘莊嚴寶王經, p=Fó s ...

'', which is the source of the Mani mantra. The ''Maṇi Kambum'' is divided into three major sections or cycles: # ''The Cycle of Sūtras'' (''mdo skor''), revealed by Śākya Ö, which contains myths and legends of Avalokiteśvara and Songtsen Gampo. # ''The Cycle of Attainment'' (''sgrub skor'') by siddha Ngöndrup, which contains several ritual manuals for

deity yoga The fundamental practice of Vajrayana and Tibetan tantric practice, Tibetan tantra is deity yoga (''devatayoga''), a form of Buddhist meditation centered on a chosen deity or "cherished divinity" (Skt. ''Iṣṭa-devatā,'' Tib. ''yidam''). Thi ...

. These manuals are called "means of achievement" (''sgrub thabs''; Skt. ''sādhanas'') and focus on Avalokiteśvara. # ''The Cycle of Precepts'' (''zhal gdams kyi skor'') by Nyangrel Nyima Özer, which contains 150 short texts dealing with doctrine and meditation.

References

Citations

Sources

* Phillips, Bryan (2004). “Consummation and Compassion in Medieval Tibet: The Mani bka’-‘bum chen-mo of Guru Chos-kyi dbang-phyug” (unpublished PhD thesis),

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson and contains his The Lawn, Academical Village, a World H ...

. * Kapstein, Matthew
"Remarks on the Maṇi Kabum and the Cult of Āvalokiteśvara in Tibet"
in ''The Tibetan History Reader'' by Gray Tuttle and Kurtis R. Schaeffer, Columbia University Press, 2013. * Kapstein, Matthew
"The Royal Way of Supreme Compassion"
in ''Religions of Tibet in Practice'', edited by Donald S. Lopez Jr., Princeton University Press, 1997.

External links

Collaborative Documents of the Tibetan Renaissance Seminar, University of Virginia
English translations from the Tibetan text
Drikung Meditation Center, Boston {{TibetanBuddhism Nyingma tantras History of Tibetan Buddhism Buddhist texts