Sacred Object
Prayer Wheel
Tibetan: མ་ཎི་འཁོར་ལོ།
A prayer wheel is a cylindrical device containing a tightly wound scroll printed many times over with a mantra — most commonly Avalokiteshvara's mantra, Om Mani Padme Hum — which practitioners spin to generate the same merit traditionally understood to come from reciting the mantra aloud.
- Category
- Ritual implement
Material Culture & Craftsmanship
Prayer wheels range from small hand-held versions, spun on a handle with a weighted chain for momentum, to large fixed wheels set in rows along monastery walls and pilgrimage routes, to very large wheels housed in dedicated temple structures and, in some contemporary installations, powered by water or electricity.
Hand-held prayer wheels are typically crafted in metal, with the mantra scroll housed inside a cylindrical drum mounted on a spindle; Newar and Tibetan metalworkers have long produced prayer wheels as part of the broader tradition of Vajrayana ritual implement craft.
Symbolism
Spinning the wheel is traditionally understood to generate the same spiritual benefit as reciting the contained mantra aloud, for each full rotation — reflecting a broader theme in Vajrayana practice in which physical objects and actions are used as supports for mental and spiritual cultivation.
Ritual Use
Prayer wheels are spun by pilgrims and practitioners while walking clockwise around monasteries, stupas and other sacred sites (a devotional circuit called kora or parikrama), and are a common sight throughout Tibetan and Himalayan Buddhist regions, including the Kathmandu Valley's major Buddhist sites.
Sources & References
- The Buddhism of Tibet, or Lamaism — L. Austine Waddell, W. H. Allen & Co. (1895) · Link
Public domain.