Troll, I am not being condescending and hope I am not coming off as a patronizing pedant, but you made your statements pretty emphatically. I hate postings that begin 'did you perhaps mean MANI?' pointing out an obvious typing error and adding nothing to the discussion. In this case since most people are not familiar with Sanskrit, or Tibetan Buddhist Sanskrit it seemed a correction was in order.

FYI Om is widely used in Hindu religious practices. It begins every prayer offered to any of the gods in Hinduism. The use of OM in lamaistic buddhism comes directly from Hindu based Yoga practices of Tantra, which include mantra (sound) and yantra (image) where both OM and the six pointed star are in use and have been since about 4000 BC or so, some say longer, some a bit shorter.