"Just touching and turning a prayer wheel brings incredible purification and accumulates unbelievable merit." 

"One idea I have is to use them for healing. Anyone with a disease such as AIDS or cancer, whether or not they have any understanding of Dharma, can use the prayer wheel for meditation and healing."

An Tibetan grandma is turning the Tibetan prayer wheel when walking on the ruins after the destructive Yushu earthquake.The 7.1-magnitude Yushu Earthquake, which occurred on April 14, 2010, claimed more than 2,200 lives. [Photo/Xinhua]

Tibetan prayer wheels (called Mani wheels by the Tibetans) are devices for spreading spiritual blessings and well being. Rolls of thin paper, imprinted with many, many copies of the mantra (prayer) Om Mani Padme Hum, printed in an ancient Indian script or in Tibetan script, are wound around an axle in a protective container, and spun around and around. Typically, larger decorative versions of the syllables of the mantra are also carved on the outside cover of the wheel.

Tibetan Buddhists believe that saying this mantra, out loud or silently to oneself, invokes the powerful benevolent attention and blessings of Chenrezig, the embodiment of compassion. 

Viewing a written copy of the mantra is said to have the same effect -- and the mantra is carved into stones left in piles near paths where travelers will see them. Spinning the written form of the mantra around in a Mani wheel is also supposed to have the same effect; the more copies of the mantra, the more the benefit. 

The Mantra Om Mani Padme Hum

The mantra Om Mani Padme Hum invokes the spiritual power and blessings of Chenrezig, the embodiment of compassion.  In the words of one source "[Chenrezig] is the awakened nature of each being's own mind, the love and compassion primordially present in the dharmakaya [pure transcending awareness] ... Chenrezig is within us because love and compassion are not qualities added to the mind," but are inherent in our true nature.

These two versions of the mantra Om Mani Padme Hum are found in mani wheels:

Tibetan script

Ranjana script