user471: OM or AUM is used in "OM MANI PADME HUM" and some other mantras.
To my knowledge, OM is found only in  Mahayana and Vajrayana schools. It's not found in Theravada. The 14th Dalai Lama explained the meaning of OM here: On the meaning of OM MANI PADME HUM.
It's an extremely important and venerated word in Hinduism -- see "What is the significance of ॐ (Om/Aum)?" on Hinduism.SE.
Is OM in Buddhism an imported religious term from Hinduism?
Or like "namo" which means "salutations" or "adoration", does OM have an ordinary meaning and therefore not considered an imported religious term?

user11541: Namo Buddhaya. Aum stands for states of consciousness. A , U , M stands for wakened consciousness , dreaming consciousness , sleeping consciousness.
Hinduism and Buddhism share a common heritage of the great sages who discovered OM and many other Truths. It would be inappropriate to say those sages were Hindu or Buddhist. Therefore Aum is not an imported religious term from Hinduism. Aum is not a religious term. Aum predates religion.

user254: does OM have an ordinary meaning
Although it's hard to prove a negative, people don't explain its "ordinary meaning" when they explain it, so I assume the answer is "no".
I guess it has two actual meanings.
The first "actual meaning" IMO is that people explain that it has three syllables (or four if you count the silence afterwards); and, that each of the three syllables refers to different things ... but, there are diverse explanations of what those three things are.

The Hinduism.SE topic says they refer to:

"Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva"
and/or to "creation, preservation, and annihilation"
and/or to "satva (goodness), rajas (passion), and tamas (ignorance)"

H. H. The Dalai Lama's explanation says that they refer to:

the practitioner's impure body, speech, and mind
the pure exalted body, speech and mind of a Buddha


So the symbolic meaning seems to be "three syllables representing three things" -- but (importantly) what those three things are, what the symbol represents, differs.
So (perhaps like other words, karma for example) it's a word repurposed by Buddhism. If it has a different meaning in Buddhism, I don't know whether you'd want to think of it as the same word.
The second "actual meaning" of it is (or comes from) where and how it's used, its positional or contextual meaning -- i.e. it's used to begin mantras. I think that, in the real world, people tend to learn words from hearing them in place, in context, in practice (and not from dictionary definitions). So the basic meaning of "om" is "here starts a mantra" and/or "prepare to be conscious of a mantra".
It's hard to think of an equivalent in English ... possibly "Amen" which has an overtly religious origin but may possibly be used in other contexts to mean "I solemnly agree with what was just said."
Perhaps this could be called a "formulaic" meaning -- possibly for example like:

"Evaṃ me sutaṃ" -- prepare yourself to hear a sutta
"Once upon a time" -- prepare yourself to hear a children's story
"Dear sir" -- prepare yourself to read a business letter
Ringing a little bell at the beginning of a period of silence


471: <p>OM or AUM is used in "OM MANI PADME HUM" and some other mantras.</p>

<p>To my knowledge, OM is found only in  Mahayana and Vajrayana schools. It's not found in Theravada. The 14th Dalai Lama explained the meaning of OM here: <a href="http://www.sacred-texts.com/bud/tib/omph.htm" rel="nofollow noreferrer">On the meaning of OM MANI PADME HUM</a>.</p>

<p>It's an extremely important and venerated word in Hinduism -- see "<a href="https://hinduism.stackexchange.com/q/737/4596">What is the significance of ॐ (Om/Aum)?</a>" on Hinduism.SE.</p>

<p>Is OM in Buddhism an imported religious term from Hinduism?</p>

<p>Or like "<a href="https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/namo" rel="nofollow noreferrer">namo</a>" which means "salutations" or "adoration", does OM have an ordinary meaning and therefore not considered an imported religious term?</p>
 11541: <p>Namo Buddhaya. Aum stands for states of consciousness. A , U , M stands for wakened consciousness , dreaming consciousness , sleeping consciousness.
Hinduism and Buddhism share a common heritage of the great sages who discovered OM and many other Truths. It would be inappropriate to say those sages were Hindu or Buddhist. Therefore Aum is not an imported religious term from Hinduism. Aum is not a religious term. Aum predates religion.</p>
 254: <p><strong>does OM have an ordinary meaning</strong></p>

<p>Although it's hard to prove a negative, people don't explain its "ordinary meaning" when they explain it, so I assume the answer is "no".</p>

<p>I guess it has two actual meanings.</p>

<p>The first "actual meaning" IMO is that people explain that it has three syllables (or four if you count the silence afterwards); and, that each of the three syllables refers to different things ... but, there are diverse explanations of what those three things are.</p>

<ul>
<li><p>The Hinduism.SE topic says they refer to:</p>

<ul>
<li>"Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva"</li>
<li>and/or to "creation, preservation, and annihilation"</li>
<li>and/or to "<em>satva</em> (goodness), <em>rajas</em> (passion), and <em>tamas</em> (ignorance)"</li>
</ul></li>
<li><p>H. H. The Dalai Lama's explanation says that they refer to:</p>

<ul>
<li>the practitioner's impure body, speech, and mind</li>
<li>the pure exalted body, speech and mind of a Buddha</li>
</ul></li>
</ul>

<p>So the symbolic meaning seems to be "three syllables representing three things" -- but (importantly) what those three things <em>are</em>, what the symbol <em>represents</em>, differs.</p>

<p>So (perhaps like other words, <em>karma</em> for example) it's a word repurposed by Buddhism. If it has a different meaning in Buddhism, I don't know whether you'd want to think of it as the same word.</p>

<p>The second "actual meaning" of it is (or comes from) where and how it's used, its <em>positional</em> or <em>contextual</em> meaning -- i.e. it's used to begin mantras. I think that, in the real world, people tend to learn words from hearing them in place, in context, in practice (and not from dictionary definitions). So the basic meaning of "om" is "here starts a mantra" and/or "prepare to be conscious of a mantra".</p>

<p>It's hard to think of an equivalent in English ... possibly "Amen" which has an overtly religious origin but may possibly be used in other contexts to mean "I solemnly agree with what was just said."</p>

<p>Perhaps this could be called a "formulaic" meaning -- possibly for example like:</p>

<ul>
<li>"<em>Evaṃ me sutaṃ</em>" -- prepare yourself to hear a sutta</li>
<li>"Once upon a time" -- prepare yourself to hear a children's story</li>
<li>"Dear sir" -- prepare yourself to read a business letter</li>
<li>Ringing a little bell at the beginning of a period of silence</li>
</ul>
