Various ways of writing "Om mani padme hum"?

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M1NDFUL
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Various ways of writing "Om mani padme hum"?

Post by M1NDFUL »

I'm not really sure how tattoos are viewed in traditional Buddhism, but prior to taking my practice seriously I covered myself in ink. I would like to have this mantra tattooed on my body to signify this new chapter in my life going forward. I'd like to know if it is still proper for this mantra to be written right side up, but typed going downwards vertically? I hope that makes sense.

Gassho,
- Jeff
Mindful among the mindless
Namgyal
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Re: Various ways of writing "Om mani padme hum"?

Post by Namgyal »

Welcome :hi:
I've seen lots of OmManiPadmaHum tattoos, but never a vertical one. On the other hand 'OmAhHum' goes vertically...
Image
As for tattoos in Buddhism, they are mainly a feature of the Theravada tradition (google: 'sak yant')
(never, ever get one of these unless it is from a well respected monk!)
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Dorje Jampel
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Re: Various ways of writing "Om mani padme hum"?

Post by Dorje Jampel »

Hi Jeff.
I don't know if you have already done the tattoo (your topic is dated March...). If you want, check this out:
http://dorjejampel.deviantart.com/art/O ... -396461087
It is from my DeviantArt page... :buddha1: :smile:
May I be protector for those without one, 
A guide for all travellers on the way; 
May I be a bridge, a boat and a ship 
For all who wish to cross
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Palzang Jangchub
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Re: Various ways of writing "Om mani padme hum"?

Post by Palzang Jangchub »

Opinions on tattoos within the Tibetan tradition varies as widely as the dialects of Tibetan language. As always, carefully examine your intention for getting it done. If you have a guru, I'd ask him or her before getting it (if you haven't already). If not, try to generate bodhicitta when it's emblazoned on your skin and, ideally, view it as a reminder to practice. All too soon the mind, the guest, will depart the guesthouse of the body. It's far more important to internalize the practice and qualities of Chenrezig, in this case.

That said, Tashi Mannox is one of the most skilled calligraphers of Tibetan I've ever seen, and has dedicated a good portion of his time and effort to ensuring the accuracy and integrity of tattoos done in the various Tibetan scripts.

Here are the pieces he's done of just the Mani, including several done vertically:
http://store.tashimannox.com/catalog/re ... 862884dd55
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"The Sutras, Tantras, and Philosophical Scriptures are great in number. However life is short, and intelligence is limited, so it's hard to cover them completely. You may know a lot, but if you don't put it into practice, it's like dying of thirst on the shore of a great lake. Likewise, a common corpse is found in the bed of a great scholar." ~ Karma Chagme

དྲིན་ཆེན་རྩ་བའི་བླ་མ་སྐྱབས་རྗེ་མགར་ཆེན་ཁྲི་སྤྲུལ་རིན་པོ་ཆེ་ཁྱེད་མཁྱེན་ནོ།།
རྗེ་བཙུན་བླ་མ་མཁས་གྲུབ་ཀརྨ་ཆགས་མེད་མཁྱེན་ནོ། ཀརྨ་པ་མཁྱེན་ནོཿ
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Dorje Jampel
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Re: Various ways of writing "Om mani padme hum"?

Post by Dorje Jampel »

I agree 100% with Karma Jinpa.
And Tashi la is, IMHO, the best calligrapher of our times. I'm going to learn from him next February. I'm looking forward to it!
May I be protector for those without one, 
A guide for all travellers on the way; 
May I be a bridge, a boat and a ship 
For all who wish to cross
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