THE SNOW LION NEWSLETTER

The Power of a"Modern" Prayer Wheels
by H.H. Jigdal Dagchen Sakya

In old Tibet, everywhere you looked, you saw people, particularly older people, spinning prayer wheels from morning to night, while reciting the Om Mani Padme Hum mantra to relieve the misery of all beings.

The largest prayer wheel in Tibet once held 100 million mantras. At Sakya Monastery in Seattle, we have 32 traditional prayer wheels surrounding a stupa; each of these prayer wheels contains 100,000 block-printed mantras. The new Sakya Monastery prayer wheels, installed at our Tara Meditation retreat center, use DVD optical disk storage technology to put more mantras inside a prayer wheel than any other prayer wheel ever created. By releasing 1,349,580.000,000 mantras with each revolution, the Sakya Monastery prayer wheels are capable of radiating an incalculable amount of merit, peace, kindness, and relief from suffering to all beings. With pure motivation, both prayer wheel designs are magnanimous.


H.H. Jigdal Dagchen Sakya

Mindfully turning a prayer wheel with 1.3 trillion mantras produces the same merit and benefits as having recited 1.3 trillion mantras At one mantra recitation per second, it would take a person approximately 42,776 years to recite 1.3 trillion mantras. If placed end-to-end, these mantras would stretch from the Earth to the Moon and back 6,075 times!

The word mantra comes from Sanskrit linguistic roots whose literal meaning is "protection of the mind." In Tibetan Buddhism reciting mantras is one of the most effective ways in which a person can actively create a peaceful, relaxed, and happy state of mind.

 

Benefits of Prayer Wheels

The practice of the prayer wheel has many "magical" benefits. According to tradition, the prayer wheel was brought to Earth from the realm of nagas (dragon-like beings who live in oceans) by the great Bodhisattva Nagarjuna because he was told by Avalokiteshvara in a vision that "the benefits to living beings will be enormous." Nagarjuna gave the prayer wheel practice to the Lion-Faced Dakini, who in turn gave it to Padmasambhava, who brought it to Tibet.


Outside of Sakya Prayer Wheel

Sakyamuni Buddha said that turning a prayer wheel once is better than having done years of retreat, intensive spiritual practice. He said, "Turning the Dharma wheel is better than listening, reflecting and meditating for eons."

Use of the prayer wheel is one of the easiest ways to purify past negative karma, nonvirtuous actions, defilements, and obstacles that prevent us from realizing our true self and understanding the true nature of reality. Other prayer wheel benefits:

  • Transforming one's home and property into a very peaceful, pleasant, holy land or "high heavenly realm."
  • Saving all the beings in the area from rebirth in the lower realms (e.g., animal incarnation).
  • Purifying ones's body, speech and mind.
  • Accumulating extensive merit for oneself and all beings in the area.
  • Preventing harm from spirits and negative beings.
  • Healing sicknesses and protecting people from contagious diseases and epidemics.

 

Proper Visualizations While Spinning a Prayer Wheel

Spinning a prayer wheel is not a mindless exercise. Spinning the prayer wheel should be done with the proper intentions. The prayer wheel practice should be visualized as a manifestation of the body, speech and mind of the Buddha. With our hands (body) we spin and move the prayer wheel. With our speech, we recite one of the mantras in the prayer wheel (e.g. Om Mani Padme Hum ). And with our mind, we engage in visualizations or recitations, using our motivation and intention to bless all beings and bring peace to our surroundings and the entire world.


Consecration of Sakya Prayer Wheel

Visualizations and contemplations that can be done while spinning a prayer wheel include:

  • Reciting Om Mani Padme Hum. This strengthens our mind and brings the optimal intention to the spiritual practice and increases the benefits to all sentient beings.
  • Visualizing beams of light, bright like the sun, radiating out from the prayer wheel in all directions. The light beams destroy the negative karma and sufferings of all beings.
  • Dedicating the merit of one's prayer wheel practice to purify the underlying cause of someone's illness in order to promote healing.

The Buddha once said that undedicated merit is like a drop of water on a stone; it soon evaporates and disappears. Dedicated merit is like adding a drop of water to the ocean; it will persist for as long as the ocean exists. After turning the prayer wheel, it is beneficial to dedicate the merit of this spiritual practice for the liberation of sentient beings, the arousal of Bodhicitta (love and compassion for all beings), and the long lives and works of one's teachers (Lamas).

 

How the New Sakya Monastery Prayer Wheels Were Constructed

Prayer wheels were traditionally filled with mantras that were very carefully printed on paper and wound up inside the prayer wheel. The new, contemporary Sakya Monastery prayer wheels are the first to use DVDs to store mantras inside a prayer wheel.

The idea for these "high-tech" prayer wheels came from Chuck Pettis, Sakya Monastery President. He explains:

In the center is a sandalwood life-tree obelisk painted by Yeshi Tulku with the three mantra syllables, Om Ah Hum, symbolizing the Body, Speech, and Mind of the Buddha. Stacked on and around this obelisk are the DVDs.

The Tibet-Tech prayer wheels are the first to use DVDs to store mantras inside a prayer wheel. H.H. Jigdal Dagchen Sakya (Dagchen Rinpoche) selected the mantras, Yeshi Tulku word processed the mantras into text, and Dagchen Rinpoche and Dagmo Kusho proofread the mantras.

The DVDs are enclosed by a copper and brass cylinder housing. This sits on top of a cubical section that includes a bearing and mechanisms to count each revolution of the prayer wheel.

After the prayer wheels were assembled, on May 13, 2004, they were blessed and consecrated by myself (Dagchen Rinpoche) with the assistance of Dagmo Kusho and Yeshi Tulku.

 

Mantras in the Tibet-Tech Prayer Wheel

Each Tibet-Tech prayer wheel includes 16 DVDs of eight magical and powerful mantras (128 DVDs total). The mantras are stacked from the bottom up, starting with 16 DVDs of the A-li mantra; 16 DVDs of the Ka-li mantra, and so on up to the eighth mantra, the 100-syllable Vajrasattva mantra. Tibet-Tech prayer wheels are available for purchase. For information, contact Chuck Pettis of Earth Sanctuary (www.earthsanctuary.org) at 425-637-8777 or cpettis@earthsanctuary.org.

HH Jigdal Dagchen Sakya is a Head Lama of the Sakya sect and Sakya Monastery of Tibetan Buddhism in Seattle.

    For other styles of prayer wheels, see the catalog section of this website.