Prayer wheel
A prayer wheel , also known as a mani mill or mani wheel (from Tib. Ma ni 'khor lo ), is a wheel or roller that contains prayers or mantras printed on a roll of paper or is decorated with such on the outside. Prayer wheels are reminiscent of the initiation of the wheel of teaching ( dharmachakra ) by Buddha himself and are intended to open up opportunities for those who are unfamiliar with reading to acquire positive karma .
history
Classical Indian and East Asian Buddhism have no prayer wheels; these only appear after the Buddha's teachings spread to Tibet and Ladakh in the 4th to 8th centuries . More precise original data have not yet been researched. In the beginning there were probably small hand mills used by pilgrim monks . With the Tibetan refugees in the second half of the 20th century, prayer wheels also came to northern India.
meaning
In Tibetan Buddhism , prayer wheels are turned in order to combine physical activity and mental and spiritual content.
A fundamental goal of this act and the fundamental 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 perspective can be linked to this form of spiritual practice.
According to Buddhist belief, turning the prayer wheels serves to accumulate good karma . A simple motivation for this practice is, while turning the prayer wheel, to cherish the wish that all the mantras in the cylinder will work for the benefit of sentient beings through the rotation, remove their suffering and bring them happiness.
A further motivation for this practice is to visualize (mentally project) while turning the prayer wheel, that all mantras contained in it radiate light to all sentient beings during the turning, eliminate their suffering and dissolve bad karma.
An advanced practice of spinning a prayer wheel , approaching the highest point of view of Buddhism , is to concentrate while spinning the prayer wheel on that both the spinning and the act of spinning and the spinning prayer wheel, including the mantras and Asked to be inseparable from a “nondual nature” in its origin - everything is ultimately one.
Types
There are fixed, medium-sized prayer wheels at stupa surrounds which can be set in motion when walking around ( pradakshina ) ; on temple walls they are often arranged in a straight line next to one another. Lone standing huge prayer wheels were developed as well as small hand mills. In addition to the prayer wheels set in motion with human power, there are also those that are powered by wind or water power.
Phrase
The almost always pejorative adjective “prayer wheel-like”, which describes the monotonous and persistent repetition of a thought or a context, is derived from the practice of long-term turning of a prayer wheel .
See also
literature
- L. Carrington Goodrich: The Revolving Book-Case in China . Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, vol. 7, Cambridge, Mass., 1942-43, p. 130-161.
- Alwin Hunter: Tibetan Prayer Wheels . Arts of Asia, vol. 15, no.1 (January / February 1985), p. 74-81.
- Dan Martin: On the Origin and Significance of the Prayer Wheel According to two Nineteenth-Century Tibetan Literary Sources . Journal of the Tibet Society, vol. 7, Indiana University, 1987
- Elisabeth von Samsonow : drawing machines. On the subject of writing and machines using the example of the prayer wheel. In: Werner Stegmaier (ed.): Culture of signs. Signs and interpretation, part: 6. Suhrkamp stw 1488, Frankfurt / M. 2000, ISBN 978-3-518-29088-0 , pp. 136-150
- William Simpson: The Buddhist Praying Wheel . London, 1896
