Step 7: Om Mani Pame Hum

I realized after I posted my last blog that many people won't know what was meant when my sister's boyfriend said "Om mani pame hum." It also makes a great step in surviving life after college, so here's your crash course on a great Buddhist mantra.

Yes, Buddhist. My sister and her boyfriend are both Buddhist (my sister's actually the teacher at the Dromtonpa Kadampa Meditation Center in Indianapolis - there are some great classes there and at other locations around Indy that you should check out sometime), and though I'm not a Buddhist myself I do like their peaceful, meditative lifestyles. And my favorite practice of theirs is by far the om mani pame hum mantra.

This mantra is associated with Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva of compassion (you'd have to ask my sister or another Buddhist to explain exactly what a bodhisattva is, but the best I can explain it is as a Buddha - there's the main guy, but then there are a bunch of different Buddhas who stand for different things). When you chant "om mani pame hum" it's supposed to help bring about an air of peacefulness and calm.

The best way I can describe it is with an example.

I'm TERRIFIED of needles. You know that Hepatitis B immunization that you're supposed to get before you go into high school, the one that's supposed to prevent you from being in horrible pain should you get Hepatitis. Yeah. Never got it. On the rare occasions when my school system would find out that I'd missed a vital vaccination and they forced me to go to the doctor, I would scream so loud that other nurses would come into my room to see if my doctor needed any help. Happy to say I never had to be held down.

Anyways, a person who's terrified of needles never wants to be told that they're anemic. Especially severely anemic. Especially when they have a cross country coach who will force them to get their blood checked on a regular basis. The first few times I had to get my blood drawn, I cried. I stopped myself from screaming the very first time because my coach and her four-year-old daughter were there with me - I didn't want to freak the little girl out more than I already had.

Then my sister suggest I try chanting om mani pame hum before I went into the doctors office and while I was getting my blood drawn. I didn't have to chant it very loud - in fact, I think most of the time I was just running it through my head over and over. But that was the first time in 21 years that I didn't cry while having a needle stuck in me.

Granted, I'm still terrified of needles, but that mantra has made it easier to get the necessary blood work done (still holding off on the shots, though). It's also helped in all kinds of other stressful situation (if you want to hear about an example with my dog, check out my very first post in How to Survive the Animals After College).

So, my question to you: What's something that you're terrified of?
And my challenge to you: The next time you know you're going to be in that terrifying situation, try chanting om mani pame hum beforehand. You'll be amazed at what it can do.