Prayer Wheel

Item number 1431/4 a-f from the MOA: University of British Columbia.

Public

Item Records

This page shows all the information we have about this item. Both the institution that physically holds this item, and RRN members have contributed the knowledge on this page. You’re looking at the item record provided by the holding institution. If you scroll further down the page, you’ll see the information from RRN members, and can share your own knowledge too.

The RRN processes the information it receives from each institution to make it more readable and easier to search. If you’re doing in-depth research on this item, be sure to take a look at the Data Source tab to see the information exactly as it was provided by the institution.

These records are easy to share because each has a unique web address. You can copy and paste the location from your browser’s address bar into an email, word document, or chat message to share this item with others.

Data
Data Source

This information was automatically generated from data provided by MOA: University of British Columbia. It has been standardized to aid in finding and grouping information within the RRN. Accuracy and meaning should be verified from the Data Source tab.

Description

Tibetan prayer wheels are called mani khorlo (མ་ཎི་འཁོར་ལོ།). Part a: cylinder, part b: lid, part c: handle (wood), part d: base cap for handle (metal), part e: top cap for handle (metal), part f: post with pointed end. The first piece is a plain wood cylinder with a metal bottom and has a brown rope with a ball at the other end attached through a metal loop (part a). The second piece is the flat circular lid (part b). The third piece is the wood handle (part c). The fourth piece is the metal base cap (part d) for the handle. The fifth piece is the wood top cap (part e) for the handle. Inside the cylinder (part a) there is a small rolled scroll.

History Of Use

The handheld mani khorlo (མ་ཎི་འཁོར་ལོ།) or prayer wheel spins with the movement of the wrist, while the knot on the short string sustains the momentum. The wrapped spindle is known as the “life tree.” In spinning the wheel, the practitioner reaps the same benefits of having read the countless prayers coiled inside, a useful means for illiterate Buddhists to attain merit. The wheel should be spun clockwise to coincide with the sun’s movement and the direction of the writing on the wheel to facilitate the release of the blessings into the world.