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Om is the sacred sound of the universe, that which created all, shanti is peace. It is basically a prayer for peace."Om Shanti" is used more as a salutation as a way of sending one off with well wishes.

Simply knowing that the word "shanti" means "peace" doesn't get us very far. We need to learn how to cultivate peace in our lives. Meditation — especially mindfulness meditation and lovingkindness meditation — is a simple tool for helping us find peace.

In Buddhist practice śānti, or peace, primarily means inner rather than outer peace. Through practice it's possible to cultivate a still mind even in surroundings that are anything but tranquil.

It's definitely helpful to have peaceful surroundings for the development of meditative states of mind, but if one cultivates a mind that is completely nonreactive then it's possible to peacefully accept the presence of noise and bustle around us.

In the long-term, however, some external quiet is well-nigh indispensable for the arising of deep mental tranquility, and so meditators frequently seek out quiet places for their practice.

To say that inner peace is what's important doesn't mean of course that we can be internally peaceful and yet caught up in all kinds of arguments and fights. It simply means that it's not possible for us to be in harmony with others unless we've learned to develop harmony within our own minds.

Śhānti, or inner peace, arises when the mind has let go of both grasping and aversion.