prayer wheel

Revolving wheel or cylinder on which written prayers, mantras, or scriptures are inscribed or fastened by Tibetan Buddhists. As the wheels spin clockwise, the prayers are ‘repeated’. Prayer wheels may vary in size from hand-held ones, 7–10 cm/3–4 in long, to rows of prayer wheels, 6 m/20 ft high, set into the walls of monasteries and turned continuously, sometimes by water power or even electricity.

In a similar way prayer flags, strips of cloth or paper with prayers and mantras written on them, are sometimes tied in long lines to a cord or to tree branches, to blow in the wind and release their prayers.