Film: Prayer Wheels (Tibet)

Now Viewing: Prayer Wheels

Prayer wheels — called Mani wheels by the Tibetans — are devices for spreading spiritual blessings and well-being. They are spindles wrapped with rolls of thin paper, on which are imprinted many copies of the mantra (prayer) Om Mani Padme Hum. The mantra is written in Sanskrit or Tibetan.

: Tibet
Location:: Lhasa
Date:: April 2006

Related Films

Explore China 00:48:49

Culture
Tibet 00:09:33

Spirituality
Buddhist Debate 00:00:57

Spirituality

Prev Next

Recent Comments: Prayer Wheels

I love how "prayer" and "spirituality" is now always associated with the east...and how the west is almost always completely ignored by human rights and "justice" organizations such as your own. In your attempt to be open, time and time again you show yourself only to be closed. This is ignorance at its finest, showing up in place where supposedly it would never be expected, in places where it is supposedly avoided. There is not one video here that features a Catholic monastery for example. What a joke. And prayer is not something we turn to only when disater strikes, it is what allows us to live with a constant awareness that enables us to live well and fully at ALL TIMES, and to deal with such crises when they present themselves. So here's to ignorance and "progressivity"!
Tim MARCH 7, 2009
Tim, first of all thank you for taking the time to comment on the video series celebrating the diversity of prayer, and I can absolutely see where you are coming from in your criticism on the constant association of spirituality with the East. It is definitely a stereotype that we do not wish to perpetuate, and do not mean to ignore the presence of spirituality in the West. You mentioned that there is not one video here that features a Catholic monastery. If you dig a bit deeper into Explore's library, you will find a film called "Christianity in India," as well as "Saving Me" -- which we featured last week in our newsletter -- that shows the role of the Baptist church in New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Prayer and spirituality is obviously is not confined to the East, or to monasteries for that matter. Secondly, I'd like to agree that prayer is not only used in times of crisis, and we do not deny the reality of religion in people's everyday lives. However, it is often more visible when "disaster strikes," as you said, and Explore as a philanthropic, grant-making project, tends to travel to those regions where conflict and strife are prevalent. We think it's important to show the presence of prayer and spirituality in that environment.
Ana Decrop MARCH 9, 2009