Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 30-minute meditation, Ven Sanghy Khandro teaches Om Ah Hum, a purification practice originally shared by Lama Yeshe in a course on death and dying. The practice unfolds in three phases, each visualizing a sacred syllable as radiant light: Om (white) purifies the body and physical negative imprints; Ah (red) purifies speech and its hurtful consequences; Hum (blue) purifies the mind of distracted and dualistic thoughts. Each phase combines visualization, chanting, and silent awareness. The meditation balances wisdom—direct awareness of consciousness—with method, cultivating loving kindness for all beings. Suitable for practitioners at all levels, the practice can be used during life or at the moment of death.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 3.15 Meditation 6_Om Ah Hum Meditation.mp3
UUID: dc3edbe2-6dbf-4724-894d-d923c3cc47a1
Teacher: Ven Sanghy Khandro aka Kathleen McDonald
Collection: Heart advice (Ven Sanghy Khandro aka Kathleen McDonald)
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 30.6 minutes
Words: ~1,283
So, now let’s do a meditation. This is another practice that we can do to purify our energy of negative energy, negative imprints of the actions that we did in the path. So it’s a purification practice and it was taught by Lama Yeshe when he was teaching a course on death and dying. So it’s something we can do during our life, and if we are familiar with it, we can also do it at the time of death to purify our mind and bring our mind into a more peaceful and positive state. So to begin with, sit comfortably with your back straight.
Let your energy settle down. Let go of any tension you might have anywhere in your body. Settle your mind down by keeping your mind in the present, not thinking about the past or the future or other places. Just being right here, right now. If you focus on your breathing, be aware of your breath, coming in, going out for a few minutes.
That will help you to settle your mind in the present. And then generate a positive motivation for doing the meditation. For example, you can think, I am doing this meditation in order to increase the positive thoughts and feelings in my mind, decrease the negative ones so that my mind will be more peaceful and positive. And in my interactions with other people, friends, family and anyone I meet, I’ll be able to bring more positive energy, more energy of love and compassion and helpfulness. And be less likely to do things or say things that would be hurtful to others, that would cause problems to others.
Or you could think, I’m doing this meditation in order to bring myself closer to enlightenment, developing my potential for enlightenment, so that I can become more and more beneficial for others. Now visualize within your head in the centre of your brain, a white OM. If you know what this looks like in Sanskrit or Tibetan, you can visualize that. Otherwise, just visualize the Roman letters OM. And recognize that the OM is the pure energy of the divine body of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, or whoever you think of as pure, wholly enlightened.
Then for several minutes recite Om. And while reciting this visualise that from the OM inside your head rays of white light radiate out filling your head and filling your body. So that your whole body becomes filled with this pure radiant white light. And as this happens, imagine that all your distortions and the impure energy of your body are cleansed and purified. So, if you think of any negative actions you may have done in the past with your body, like killing or harming any living being, or stealing, or doing anything that caused harm to others, or created negative energy within yourself, you can think of that negative energy being purified.
Imagine your entire body, from your feet to the top of your head, is completely filled with radiant, blissful, white energy. Really feel this and really feel that you’re being purified. When you wish to stop chanting the Aum, just stay for a while in silence and just be aware. Not thinking about anything. Not thinking anything is good or bad.
Not reacting, judging, making mental conversation. Just stay in silence And focus all your attention on the light consciousness at the centre of your brain. Just be there. Be intensely aware and let go without distraction and without sluggishness. And now visualize in your throat, at your throat chakra, a red Ah.
Again, you can visualize this Sanskrit or Tibetan or just the Roman letters Ah. And again these letters are made of light, transparent, radiant. It looks similar to the sun when it is setting. This glowing reddish light. And recognize that the A is the pure speech energy of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas or whoever you think of as pure.
Then as you recite Ah slowly for a few minutes, visualize that red light radiates from the Ah at your throat and your entire body is embraced by this blissful, radiant light energy. It purifies your speech. Purification means that the uncontrolled mind and speech work interdependently with each other. Negativities of speech mean harming and giving pain to others through lying, slander, hurtful words and gossip. So you can imagine that the imprints of negative actions of speech that you did in the past are completely purified by the blissful red light.
And it helps you to have a clean, clear mind and controlled speech. This enables you to purify impure and uncontrolled speech. After reciting Ah for several minutes, let your mind just be in a state of intense awareness on your own consciousness. Stay there without any expectation or interpretation. Comprehend your experience of the non dual, non self existent I, nothingness, zero, empty space as truth reality.
This experience is much more real than your waking fantasy sensory world. If an uncontrolled, distracted thought comes, remember that not only you but all other sentient beings are in this situation of having their minds invaded by disturbing thoughts. So cultivate loving kindness for them. Feel the wish for them to be free of all disturbing thoughts and all other problems. Then, when loving kindness arises, direct intense awareness of loving kindness towards your own consciousness.
So there are two things: place intense awareness on your own consciousness, and when distractions arise, generate loving kindness for others, and then direct intense awareness of loving kindness to your own consciousness. So, you alternate these two. Next, visualize your loving kindness energy manifesting at your heart chakra in the centre of your chest in the aspect of a full moon lying flat horizontal. Then visualize that standing on the moon disc is a blue radiant HUM. Again, you can visualize this in the Sanskrit or Tibetan form or as the Roman letters H U M.
Made of light, blue light, radiant, transparent. Recognize that the HUM is the non-duality wisdom of the Buddha’s and Bodhisattva’s energy. Your heart is pure, cool and calm, opened by the radiant light of the moon and the hum. Infinite blue light radiates from the HUM and fills your entire body. Your entire body feels blissful.
All narrow thoughts disappear. All indecisive minds disappear. All obsessed thoughts disappear. All negative thoughts disappear. Being embraced by the infinite blue light leaves no room for fanatical, dualistic concepts.
So, do this while reciting HUM slowly for a few minutes. After this, feel infinite blue light like your consciousness, embracing the entire universal reality. Your intense awareness is embracing the entire universal reality. Feel and be without any expectation or interpretation. We need two experiences: Wisdom and Method.
Wisdom experience is intense awareness of your own conscious reality. This is the way of wisdom. Method is when you again become out of control, distracted. That distracted experience is a big resource to again generate loving kindness. When there is no distraction, stay in the wisdom.
So, two things: When there is no problem, place your attention on the wisdom aspect. When you are distracted, switch to method, which is loving kindness. And finally, conclude the meditation by dedicating the merit or positive energy of doing the meditation and also of listening to this talk. To all living beings, may it be the cause for all beings to be free of their suffering and the causes of suffering uncontrolled, disturbing, negative thoughts and emotions, negative aspects of the mind. May they be free of all of these, and may they all attain perfect peace and happiness up to the highest happiness of enlightenment.