καιρός remembered

Mani stone

‘Mani Padme’ of the mantra ‘Om Mani Padme Hum’ is generally translated as ‘the Jewel in the Lotus’. And this pair of words is held for the equivalent of the Hindu pair of lingam and yoni, the male and female sex (of Shiva and Parvati).

My film In the beginning was desire deals at length with the representation of this word pair in the imagery of Hinduism and Tibetan Buddhism.

Photo of the week: Rock with ‘Om Mani Padme Hum’, Milarepa trek, Tibet, China 1996