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Tibetan prayer wheels are cylindrical hollow tubes, usually made of metal with a wooden handle attached underneath the cylinder. The tubes are sometimes made of wood, but Tibetan prayer wheels which are made of metal are the most common. The cylindrical tube is covered with
Buddhist mantras which are usually carved with beautiful embossments.
Sometimes they may also be covered using rolls of paper where their mantras are written. These wheels are spun around by the devotees using their hands when they begin to recite their mantras. However, since not all prayer wheels can be carried around by hand, these wheels come in different sizes.
These unique-looking praying device vary in size depending on the occasion and location of where the Buddhist practioner is going to pray. There are prayer wheels which are just small enough to be carried along in their pilgrimage and journeys where the wheels can be spun around by just using the hands. The wheels can also be of mid-size so that they can be positioned at the gates of the temples or monasteries. They can also be really large that they must be spun by a water-driven mill or a wind-driven mill.
Earth, fire, wind and water embodies the types of these prayer wheels. For these very large prayer wheels, devotees believe that having one that touches the water allows the water to be blessed. Thus, if the water travels to a greater body of water, it delivers the capacity to purify millions of animals along the way. For wind-powered wheels, it is believed that the wind that touches it becomes blessed and holds the ability to purify negative energies as it travels its path. The prayer wheel that rotates using a candle heat is believed to bless the light that emanates from it.
Large Tibetan prayer wheels on land containing millions of mantras is said to be very powerful even if it is spun only once. The most common mantra or text written or carved around these wheels reads Om Mani Padme Hum which evokes the Buddha of compassion, Chenzrei. When a Buddhist turns the wheel using his hands and recites the mantra, it builds a positive karma for him. Devotees believe that when one recites the sacred text either silently to oneself or read it aloud, it grabs compassionate and positive attention from the deities.
Because of the power to purify negative energies or negative karma, the Tibetan prayer wheels can bring great benefits to the practioner and his environment. In fact, it is believed that having a prayer wheel is good for sick people as it cleanses nullifying energies around them.