The Prayer Wheel

Tibetan prayer wheel is a device for spreading spiritual blessings and well being. Rolls of thin paper, imprinted with many, many copies of the mantra (prayer) Om Mani Padme Hum, printed in an ancient Indian script or in Tibetan script, are wound around an axle in a protective container, and spun around and around. 

Tibetan Buddhists believe that saying this mantra, out loud or silently to oneself, invokes the powerfully benign attention and blessings of Chenrezig, the embodiment of compassion. Spinning the written form of the mantra around in a prayer wheel is said to have the same effect, and including many copies of the mantra multiplies the benefit.