Prayer wheel

Museum number:
9-21910a-d
Permalink:
ark:/21549/hm210921910a@2dd
Alternate number:
BY.T-92 (previous number) and T-92 (original number)
Description:
This is a hand held prayer wheel. A coil of mantras, often hundreds of thousands of mantras, printed from wood blocks on long scrolls, is placed within the cylinder. The meditator spins the wheel, using the lead weight on the end of the chain to accelerate and sustain the spinning. Like other Buddhist ritual devices, the prayer wheel is a support (rten) for meditation. With each revolution of the wheel, the meditator visualizes the mantras going forth to benefit others. Each of hundreds of thousands of mantras becomes the deity of that mantra and goes forth to encompass the welfare and happiness for limitless living beings. The most common mantra in Tibetan prayer wheels is the six syllable mantra of Avalokiteshvara: "Om Mani Padme Hum." This prayer wheel is empty. A new mantra scroll can easily be placed inside.This is a rather crude prayer wheel, lacking the embossed letters of the mantra on the exterior and having little in the way of ornamentation except the coral and turquoise insets in the top. The top, however, is not original and does not match the rest of the object. It does function properly to keep the spinning wheel it place . It may have been fitted to this prayer wheel subsequent to its exiting Tibet. See prayer wheel worn on the belt of a nobelman: Photo T-92. See similar object: T-113
Collection place:
Tibet
Verbatim coll. place:
Tibet
Collector:
Theos C. Bernard
Materials:
Brass (alloy), Copper (metal), Coral (material), Iron (metal), Lead (metal), Turquoise (mineral), and Wood (plant material)
Object type:
ethnography
Function:
5.1 Religion and Divination: Objects and garb associated with practices reflecting submission, devotion, obedience, and service to supernatural agencies
Production date:
19th-20th century
Department:
Asia (except western Russia)
Images:
Hearst Museum object 1 of 2 titled Prayer wheel, accession number 9-21910a-d, described as This is a hand held prayer wheel. A coil of mantras, often hundreds of thousands of mantras, printed from wood blocks on long scrolls, is placed within the cylinder. The meditator spins the wheel, using the lead weight on the end of the chain to accelerate and sustain the spinning. Like other Buddhist ritual devices, the prayer wheel is a support (rten) for meditation. With each revolution of the wheel, the meditator visualizes the mantras going forth to benefit others. Each of hundreds of thousands of mantras becomes the deity of that mantra and goes forth to encompass the welfare and happiness for limitless living beings. The most common mantra in Tibetan prayer wheels is the six syllable mantra of Avalokiteshvara: "Om Mani Padme Hum." This prayer wheel is empty. A new mantra scroll can easily be placed inside.This is a rather crude prayer wheel, lacking the embossed letters of the mantra on the exterior and having little in the way of ornamentation except the coral and turquoise insets in the top. The top, however, is not original and does not match the rest of the object. It does function properly to keep the spinning wheel it place . It may have been fitted to this prayer wheel subsequent to its exiting Tibet. See prayer wheel worn on the belt of a nobelman: Photo T-92. See similar object: T-113Hearst Museum object 2 of 2 titled Prayer wheel, accession number 9-21910a-d, described as This is a hand held prayer wheel. A coil of mantras, often hundreds of thousands of mantras, printed from wood blocks on long scrolls, is placed within the cylinder. The meditator spins the wheel, using the lead weight on the end of the chain to accelerate and sustain the spinning. Like other Buddhist ritual devices, the prayer wheel is a support (rten) for meditation. With each revolution of the wheel, the meditator visualizes the mantras going forth to benefit others. Each of hundreds of thousands of mantras becomes the deity of that mantra and goes forth to encompass the welfare and happiness for limitless living beings. The most common mantra in Tibetan prayer wheels is the six syllable mantra of Avalokiteshvara: "Om Mani Padme Hum." This prayer wheel is empty. A new mantra scroll can easily be placed inside.This is a rather crude prayer wheel, lacking the embossed letters of the mantra on the exterior and having little in the way of ornamentation except the coral and turquoise insets in the top. The top, however, is not original and does not match the rest of the object. It does function properly to keep the spinning wheel it place . It may have been fitted to this prayer wheel subsequent to its exiting Tibet. See prayer wheel worn on the belt of a nobelman: Photo T-92. See similar object: T-113

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