Mani Wheel – Rotating Prayer Wheel used by Lamas
You would have seen strange rotating cylindrical objects in the hands of Buddhist Monks or Tibetan Lamas. Most people never know what that thing is called. It’s called a Mani Wheel. It’s an object of religious importance associated with Buddhist and Bon (old native religion of Leh, India) religions. Have a look at the Mani Wheel before we proceed to details about the mystic tool.
These are devices that are believed to spread religious blessings and well being around it when spun. The rotating drum contains long rolls of thin paper imprinted with sacred text. It reads “Om Mani Padme Hum” a Buddhist mantra. This mantra is said to be received form Avalokatishvara (Sanskrit) or Chenrezig (Tibetan), the deity that is the embodiment of compassion. The miniature rolls contain fine prints of this mantra repeated over and over again. The larger the mantra count the more the religious impact. So the size of a Mani Wheel significantly matters. See below some giant wheels at monasteries. But only those carried by hand are referred to as Mani wheels.
The Idea behind the wheel spinning practice is that the texts when spun in radiate the same effect as read or viewed. So the Buddhist monks, Tibetan Lamas and the believers of the religion spin in clockwise direction so that when we imagine the written text unfurling in front of our eyes it would be readable. The direction of rotation matches the path of sun and direction of circumambulation around the stupas.
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