Name this syllable...

A reader recently sent in this image:

I'm a reiki master and found that the origins of the reiki symbols come from sanskrit. I managed to discover the correspondent syllables from two symbols but can't find for one of them. Can I please ask your assistance for that, please? Could you give me the name and the letter for that symbol?

The syllable is vai written in Chinese brush style Siddhaṃ. In Reiki it apparently symbolises 'light'. This is presumably because it is related to the seed syllable of Vairocana - "the illuminator".

Spelling Manjusri, and Devanagari

Mafalda wrote in recently to ask about the spelling of the name Mañjuśrī and what it and the associated mantra look like in Devanāgarī. Here is my reply:

Manjusri the bodhisattva is spelt with a long final i (ie ī sometimes written ii) - mañjuśrī. Mañjuśrī in devanāgarī is मञ्जुश्री or मंजुश्री (i.e. maṃjuśrī - this is how you'd write it in Sanskrit, but it would still be pronounced the same because ṃ before j is assumed to be ñ).

The mantra (oṃ a ra pa ca na dhīḥ) is ओं अ र प च न धीः
Note this is oṃ not auṃ - generally speaking Buddhists use oṃ (short o sound) whereas Hindus use auṃ (long au). They sound similar, and nobody pronounces it as written anyway. Auṃ would be written either आं or ॐ

Do write to me if you have a question and I'll do my best to answer it.