“But, though composed of three Thibetian words, it is evidently of Indian origin, and I have proved it botanically. The lotus is a plant peculiar to the lukewarm and temperate waters of India and Egypt. There is not one of its genus, or even of its family, in Thibet.”
The words, however, are not, as M. Jacquemont says, Thibetian, but Sanscrit; and, although one of the characters in which they are clothed is the current Thibetian, it would appear that neither their true pronunciation nor actual meaning is known to the people who thus make such frequent use of them.
The sentence itself is in the mouths of all. In the monastery of Hemis alone, probably as many as a hundred wheels are in continual motion, bearing it within their folds not less than 1,700,000 times. The [[375]]very stones by the wayside present its well-known characters in countless numbers, and the hills repeat it, and yet to those into whose daily religious observances it thus so largely enters, it comes but as a vain and empty sound, without either sense or signification. The Lamas themselves, no doubt, believe that the doctrine contained in these marvellous words is immense, and the higher dignitaries of the Church may know their derivation; but, to the great majority, even the mystic meaning and dim legendary history which the true pronunciation and rightful origin of the words would bring to their minds, are unknown, and they are thus deprived of that large amount of comfort and consolation which they would otherwise derive from the glowing and all-powerful sentence—
“Oh, the jewel in the lotus, Amen!” [[376]]
[1] Padmà pâni, fils céleste du Bouddha divin du monde actuel, est, dans cette qualité, entré en fonction depuis la mort du Bouddha terrestre Sakya mouni, comme son remplaçant, chargé d’être après lui le protecteur constant, le gardien et le propagateur de la foi bouddhique renouvelée par Sakya. C’est pour cette raison qu’il ne se borne pas à une apparition unique comme les Bouddhas, mais qu’il se soumet presque sans interruption à une série de naissances qui dureront jusqu’à l’avénement de Maitreya, le futur Bouddha.
On croit aussi qu’il est incarné dans la personne du “Dalai Lama,” et qu’il paraîtra en qualité de Bouddha, le millième de la période actuelle du monde.
Le Tibet est sa terra de prédilection; il est le père de ses habitants, et la formule célèbre: Om mani padmè hom, est un de ses bienfaits.—Rélation des Royaumes Bouddhiques, par Chy Fa Hian, traduit par M. Remusat. [↑]
[2] Le mot Khoubilkhan, en Mongol, désigne l’incarnation d’une âme supérieure. [↑]
[3] Khoutoukhtou, en Mongol, signifie “Un Saint Maître.” [↑]