Cast iron, colorfully painted prayer wheel from Nepal. A prayer wheel (also called a mani mill in Tibet) is a wheel or roller that contains prayers or mantras, or is decorated with them on the outside. A special form in the Khumbu region are so-called mani stones, where mantras are carved into stone slabs. In Tibetan Buddhism, prayer wheels are turned to combine physical activity and mental-spiritual content. A fundamental goal of this action and basic method of Vajrayana is to integrate all aspects of the reality of life, including the simplest physical actions such as turning a prayer wheel, into the path to enlightenment. Various levels of spiritual outlook can be attached to this outwardly quite simple form of spiritual practice. Performed with the right motivation, the spinning of prayer wheels serves, according to Buddhist belief, to accumulate good karma. A simple motivation of this practice is to wish, while spinning the prayer wheel, that all the mantras in the wheel will work through the spinning for the benefit of sentient beings, eliminating their suffering and bringing them happiness. A more advanced motivation of this practice is to visualize (mentally project), while spinning the prayer wheel, that all the mantras contained in it will radiate light to all sentient beings during the spinning, eliminate their suffering, and dissolve bad karma. An advanced practice of spinning a prayer wheel, approaching the highest view of Buddhism, is to focus, while spinning the prayer wheel, on the fact that the spinner, the act of spinning, and the spinning prayer wheel, along with the mantras and prayers contained therein, are inseparable from one, non-dual nature in their origin. From the practice of the prolonged turning of the prayer wheel derives the adjective prayer mill-like, which describes the monotonous protracted repetition of a thing. Also common in Buddhism is the prayer chain mala.
Origin
Fair trade in Nepal
Importeur
Guru-Shop GmbH
(MEHR)
Guru-Shop GmbH, Pappelallee 2, 10437 Berlin (Verantwortlich im Sinne ProdSG)