Manjushri (lit. “Gentle Glory”) is a visualization representing the transcendent wisdom (prajna) aspect of enlightened mind/reality. He is thus both a psychological and an ontological symbol. Such visualizations are universal archetypal expressions of experiential spirituality and skilled means by which the mind may use the right-brain faculty of visualization, with its superlative data-processing capability, to enter into a higher state of consciousness characterized by intimate communion with the reality that they represent. They are often also associated with prayers, mantras, or vocalizations that serve the same function. Manjushri is the original Mahayana bodhisattva (lit. “enlightenment being”). He is associated with the East and has a Pure Land associated with him called Vimala, which is simply an imaginal world projected by him and those who commit themselves to his conceptualization. Je Tsongkhapa, the founder of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism, received his teachings from Manjushri. His female consort, with whom he is shown in intimate embrace, is Saraswati.
Manjushri is visualized as a male figure wielding a flaming sword in his right hand. In his left hand, he holds the Prajnaparamita Sutra. He may be depicted sitting on a blue lion or seated on a lion skin. The iconographies of the Catholic saints and Vodun loa are similar in principle. His Sanskrit mantra is oṃ arapacana dhīḥ, which may be separated into Om plus the six syllables, Ah Ra Pa Cha Na Dhi. 
In his wrathful form, he is Yamantaka, the Destroyer of Death. Mipham the Great, who authored the standard textbook on Tibetan MO divination, is considered a human emanation of Manjushri. In Japan, Manjushri is credited with the invention of male homosexual love. In Indonesia, Manjushri was portrayed as a youthful handsome man with the palm of his hands tattooed with the image of flower. His right hand lies down in open palm with his left hand holding an Utpala blue lotus. The Utpala is used as a medicinal plant in Ayurvedic medicine and has psychedelic properties. Manjushri also uses the necklace made of tiger canine teeth.
Astrologically, Manjushri is clearly a solar symbol associated with the astrological sign of Leo, the Lion. The universality of archetypal symbolism is clearly shown by the number of syllables that constitute his mantra, 6 in the Cabalistic Tree of Life being the number of the Sun. Tibetan Buddhist symbolism exhibits many similarities with the Western Esoteric Tradition. For example, the six sacred syllables of the mantra of Manjushri are equated with various types of activities, elements, parts of the body, objects of the senses, spheres of the world, genders, directions, colours, shapes, etc., similar to the Cabalistic system of correspondences. These are shown below.
The constituent syllables of the mantra of Manushri are also associated with the numbers 1 to 6, beginning with Ah, in the order 6, 2, 3, 5, 4, 1. If we resequence them in numerical order, they match perfectly with the first six spheres (sephiroth) of the Cabalistic Tree of Life, which are all joined by linear pathways with the first sephira, whereas the lowest four sephiroth (7-10), representing the four elements, have no such direct connection. This shows how accurately the Tibetan and the Cabalistic systems map onto each other. They also appear to map the chakra system too.
The sequence in which they appear in the mantra appears to represent a descending hierarchy from Spirit, through Fire, Water, Air, and Earth (from least to most material), to Semen, the quintessence or essential animal principle and the corollary of Spirit.
The MO is based on the casting of dice. Thus, it is a system of divination or prognostication based on sampling chance, like the I Ching. C.G. Jung has discussed the concept of obtaining meaning from chance in his essay entitled “Synchronicity: An Acausal Connecting Principle,” which he co-authored with his friend, quantum physicist and Nobel laureate Wolfgang Pauli. Jung’s conception of synchronicity arose out of conversations he had with Albert Einstein prior to World War I. The fundamental conception underlying Jung’s concept of synchronicity is that events may be meaningfully correlated by relationships outside physical cause and effect, which Jung called “temporally coincident occurrences of acausal events.” Jung’s concept of synchronicity is often misunderstood as coincidence, but this is actually a misunderstanding of the concept, since “meaningful correlation” implies that the correlation is ontologically given and not arbitrarily misinterpreted by the meaning-seeking mind. Synchronicity is not a “psychological error.” Such correlations may or may not be statistically demonstrable. They may be singular events that, as such, cannot be analyzed but are nonetheless valid. In other words, meaningfully related events tend to co-occur even if they are not mutually causally connected. Jung believed that the phenomenon of synchronicity demonstrated the significance of higher dynamics of meaning and order operating throughout the universe. The occurrence of synchronicities is often associated with altered, artistic-creative, and visionary states of consciousness, and are commonly reported by writers, artists, and mystics. In Buddhist thought, synchronicity attests to the truth of the doctrine of pratityasamutpada (Pali paticcasamuppada), the phenomenon of interdependent co-arising by which all phenomena appearing in the universe are mutually inter-involved to an infinite extent. This was proved by Bell’s Theorem in 1964. In such a worldview, consulting a chance event like throwing a die may actually reveal a deeper underlying meaning that is obscured by the complexity of physical events.
The MO may be consulted in different ways, all based on the idea of selecting two syllables of the mantra of Manjushri as discussed above, in order. One common method is tossing a single die that is inscribed either with the syllables themselves or numbers corresponding to them.
The die is tossed twice, one after the other, generating one of 36 possible combinations. This procedure is preceded by visualizing the image of Manjushri, invoking his assistance, reciting the mantra of Manjushri, and reciting the mantra of Interdependent Origination (pratityasamutpada). This is the statement that Shariputra heard from the monk Ashvajit when asking for a summary of the teachings of the Buddha. Shariputra passed the message onto his close friend Maudgalyayana and together they became followers of the Buddha, and went on to become his foremost disciples. When it is used as a mantra, oṃ is added at the beginning for auspiciousness and svāhā at the end for the sake of stability. One then formulates the question, breathes onto the die, and throws it twice.
The Dalai Lama uses the MO when faced with a difficult decision, including the selection of tulkus. One way that the MO may be used is to cast a MO for each possible course of action. If there is any ambiguity, additional MOs may be cast until the matter is clarified. The MO has a reputation in Tibet as being a very clear and decisive method for resolving confusion and making decisions. In my experience this is far clearer than the Chinese system of the I Ching, which suffers from obscurity and is so abstract that it can be interpreted in many different ways. Although the MO only generates 36 possible scenarios compared with the I Ching’s 64, many MO have double meanings in different circumstances, one positive, one negative, so in fact there are potentially 72 possible interpretations of the MO. The Shaivites have 36 tattvas, whereas the archetypal associations of 72 are too numerous to mention. It is one-fifth of the circle, and the number of stupas at Burubador, the world’s largest Buddhist temple. In the MO, sequence matters so that a throw of 1, 2 is not the same as a throw of 2, 1, again exactly as in the I Ching.
In important questions two MO divinations should be performed in sequence, thus tossing the die four times. This generates a second MO, similar in principle to the “reversed” hexagram in I Ching divination. The second MO will be in one of three possible states:
- It may replicate the original MO. This means that the answer is strong.
- It may reverse the sequence of the original MO. This means that the answer is weak and is likely to be reversed or superseded in some way.
- If the second toss produces a different combination of syllables, then the answer is sound.
This is part of the procedure that the Dalai Lama uses when choosing a tulku. Another approach is to identify a series of alternatives and cast a MO for each one. One can also perform a MO for the present and one for the future. When casting a MO for two people, one can interpret the first syllable as representing oneself and the second as representing the other person, or you can cast two MO, one for yourself and one for the other person. All of this must be very clear in the mind before casting the MO in order for there to be no confusion. For this purpose, a written form is useful. In addition, each syllable is believed to be intrinsically binary, having an inner and an outer meaning. If the two syllables are identical, the inner and the outer meaning is the same.
There are also idiosyncratic rules concerning the significance of the syllables in themselves and in different positions (i.e., first or second). Below are some of the qualities of the syllables:
- DHI. Excellence. Wisdom. Mind. Thought. Semen. In the first place, in combination with another DHI, it indicates “increasing.” With AH, it indicates equanimity. With RA, unimpeded continuity. With TSA, favour and likelihood of quick accomplishment. With PA, marriage and engagements are indicated.
- RA. Power. Fire. Eye. Form. Heart. Desires of the mind. Voice and speech.
- PA. Peace. Water. Tongue. Joy of property.
- NA. Increasing. Earth and Air. Neighbourhood or country.
- TSA. Violence. Air and Earth. Body. Messages. Airs of the body. Breath.
- AH. All-Pervading. Space. Spirit. AH in the first place means that the answer is mediocre. In the second place it means that there are no obstacles.
AH, DHI, RA, and TSA all share insight, wisdom, violence, and the waning moon and are therefore negative or yin. NA and PA have concentration, gentleness, and the waxing moon in common and are therefore positive or yang.
Each possible combination of the MO is associated with a name and a visual image. The names allude to many phenomena, including astronomical phenomena (sky, sun, moon, star); nature (ground, tree, pool, ocean, lotus, mountain, conch, fish); objects (knot, wheel, lamp, vase, weapon, vessel, streamer, banner); supernatural beings (no less than four combinations are associated with demons); and other things (tone, king of power, vision, medicine, house, mansion, treasury). Only one combination refers to an action (adding butter to the burning flames). Several are abstractions or qualities (visions, good fortune, ignorance). Several refer to ritual objects or practices (ground, vajra, knot, wheel, lamp, vase, streamer, banner, medicine). These provide a general indication of the tenor of the divination, but must also be interpreted in the context of the general area of life to which the divination pertains, which should be decided on when the question is asked. This is similar to geomantic astrology, in which the question is attributed to one of the houses of the horoscope. In addition to the foregoing, the final section of the MO provides guidelines for acts that, through the twin agencies of the law of karma and the power of truth, can neutralize a negative conclusion or enhance a positive one. These include various ritual acts including offerings, building and artistic projects, the use of symbols and symbolic objects, reading and reciting mantras and sutras, and various yoga practices, including dedication to a deity or a guru.
In the MO, the areas of life are:
- Family, property, and life;
- Intentions and aims;
- Friends and wealth;
- Enemies;
- Guests;
- Illness;
- Evil spirits;
- Spiritual practice;
- Lost articles;
- Will they come, and will the task be accomplished;
- All remaining matters.
Sometimes one question may pertain to different areas of life.
In summary, then, the following is the synthetic procedure of the MO:
- Resolve on the question. Make it simple, direct, and unambiguous. Write it down. Include alternative courses of action, persons, or times if appropriate.
- Decide which area(s) of life the question pertains to.
- Visualize Manjushri. If you have difficulty visualizing, gaze at a picture of Manjushri. It is good to perform this practice before an image of Manjushri in any case.
- Recite the incantation (see below).
- Recite the mantra of Manjushri at least three times.
- Recite the pratityasamutpada mantra at least once.
- Repeat the question.
- Blow on the die.
- Cast the die and record the result.
- Repeat 9. If the divination is concerning an important matter, toss the die two more times.
- Examine the first and second syllables of the first throw individually and note any relevant indications or correspondences.
- Examine the combination in general, including the image, interpretation, sign, and prediction.
- Examine the answer in the context of the area of life.
- If a second throw was done, examine the relationship of the syllables of the second throw to those of the first throw with reference to the three possible outcomes.
- Formulate a conclusion. If the conclusion is unclear, reformulate the question more explicitly, perhaps with multiple alternatives, and repeat until a clear conclusion emerges. Ask follow-up questions if appropriate. Record the entire proceeding in writing.
MO divination might be described as a kind of Tibetan Tarot. The images of the combinations (the Flaming Rays of the Sun, the Bright Star, the Demon of Death, the King of Power, the Pool Without a Source of Water, the House of Good Tidings, the Golden Wheel) are very Tarot-like. Like the Tarot, the MO is also spiritual. It is not merely a calculus of material interests, but brings the sense of the numinous into the process of formulating the will and situates it in the context of interdependent origination: everything is interconnected. There are no coincidences.
The Incantation of Manjushri
OM! O you glorious Manjushri, you who possess the Eye of Transcendent Wisdom, you who see past, present and future without limit, please hear me! By the Power of the Truth of the real, interdependently arising Three Jewels and Three Roots, please clarify what should be accepted and what discarded.
The Mantra of Manjushri
oṃ a ra pa ca na dhīḥ
Pratityasamutpada Hridaya Dharani
OM
ye dhaṃmā hetuppabhavā
tesaṃ hetuṃ tathāgato āha
tesaṃca yo nirodho
evaṃ vādī mahā samaṇo[1]
SVAHA
Further Reading:
Dorjee Tseten, “Tibetan Art of Divination”
Evan Osnos, “The Next Incarnation,” The New Yorker
Interview with Yogi Walpo Kalsang in Ireland
Jamgon Mipham, MO: Tibetan Divination System
“Mo Divination,” Wikipedia
“Tips on Mo Divination,” Buddha and Me
Review of MO: Tibetan Divination System
As the Western world is exposed to increasing numbers of English translations of Tibetan books – endangered in their own country due to the consequences of the Chinese invasion of Tibet – the deep spiritual connection between Tibetan culture and the shadow side of Western civilization becomes increasingly apparent. I say the “shadow” of Western civilization because this aspect of Western history has been largely suppressed by the Christian church and then by the capitalist establishment as we make the transition to what is to all appearances the brave new world of technocracy. However, beneath the surface Western civilization presents another aspect, dark, mystical, introverted, and profound. I refer to a whole succession of intellectual developments that originated with the Gnostics, Neo-Platonists, and Hermeticists and developed into Cabala, Alchemy, Freemasonry, and Rosicrucianism and on through the Renaissance into our own time in the form of the magical and occult revival and finally the psychedelic revolution and the transpersonal movement, based on the belief in intuition, imagination, symbolism, and personal spiritual experience. Thus, one finds when one read this great Tibetan classic as though one has been transported to an hermetic court of the European Renaissance. MO is no counting of entrails or the flight of birds, however, but rather an expression of a profound underlying philosophical worldview based on profound philosophical doctrines like the universal interconnectedness of things – something that has only come into its own in Western philosophy in the past hundred years. The MO “samples chance” with very much the same assumptions as the I Ching, that one is thereby accessing the underlying mathematical and probabilistic character of existence. This view of existence became scientific with the advent of quantum physics. The concept of the binary pervades the MO: two dice, two throws, two types of throw (waning moon, waxing moon, yin, yang), two aspects (inner and outer), two significations (positive and negative), four elements (2+2), and six itself as the reification of two in three dimensions (the six sides of the cube). The Dalai Lama has used the MO for six decades, and, like C.G. Jung vis a vis the I Ching or Arthur M. Young vis a vis astrology, became convinced of its efficacy. The MO is an expression of a profound spiritual philosophy that surprisingly perhaps gives us immediate access to a lost aspect of our own civilization, which is also the universal primordial inheritance of humanity that is now beginning to reemerge, faced with the twin challenges of communism and militant secularism that are threatening to annihilate the human spirit as predicted by Aldous Huxley.
Appendix
Table of Mo Results Showing Major and Minor Auguries Divided into Positive, Negative, Mixed, and Neutral Biases
Mo Number Name Major Minor 1 Stainless Sky Positive Neutral 2 Flowing Rays of the Sun Positive Mixed 3 Nectar Rays of the Moon Positive Mixed 4 Bright Star Positive Mixed 5 Ground of Gold Positive Mixed 6 Tone of Vajra Positive Positive 7 Bright Lamp Positive Positive 8 Adding Butter to the Burning Flames Positive Mixed 9 Demon of Death Negative Mixed 10 King of Power Positive Mixed 11 Dried Up Tree Negative Negative 12 Door of Auspicious Visions Positive Positive 13 Vase of Nectar Positive Mixed 14 Pool Without a Source of Water Negative Negative 15 Ocean of Nectar Positive Mixed 16 Demon of Afflictions Negative Negative 17 Golden Lotus Positive Mixed 18 Nectar-Like Medicine Positive Positive 19 White Umbrella of Good Fortune Positive Positive 20 Great Fiery Weapon Positive Mixed 21 Empty of Intelligence Negative Negative 22 Streamer of Fame Positive Mixed 23 Mara Demon of the Aggregates Negative Mixed 24 House of Good Tidings Positive Positive 25 Golden Mountain Positive Mixed 26 Demon of the Heavenly Son Negative Mixed 27 Overflowing Jewelled Vessel Positive Positive 28 Scattered Mountain of Sand Negative Mixed 29 Mansion of Gold Positive Mixed 30 Treasury of Jewels Positive Positive 31 Manjushri Appears Positive Positive 32 Endless Auspicious Knot Positive Positive 33 Golden Female Fish Positive Positive 34 White Conch Positive Positive 35 Golden Wheel Positive Positive 36 Jewelled Banner of Victory Positive Positive Table Showing Relative Proportions of Four Biases – Unweighted
Type Major Minor Total Positive 28 14 42 Negative 8 4 12 Mixed 0 17 17 Neutral 0 1 1 72
Table Showing Relative Proportions of Two Biases – Weighted
Type Major Minor Total Positive 28 7 35 Negative 8 2 10 +25 “Minor” refers to the “All remaining matters” category, whereas Major refers to the remaining ten categories. Meanings can often be reversed if the question is contrary to the main signification in some sense. In this way 72 potential meanings emerge – more than the I Ching!
Note:
1. This popular Buddhist mantra explains the Buddhist doctrine of dependent origination (“patticcyasamuppada“). The Sanskrit version is called “Pratityasamutpada Hridaya Dharani” [The Heart Dharani of Dependant Origination]. Om is added to the beginning of the verse, and Svaha added at the end, turning the passage into a mantra based on the power of truth (satyagraha).
Of things that proceed from a cause
their cause the Tathagatha has told
and also their cessation
Thus teaches the great ascetic
Dharmata 