Prayer wheels in tibet

Enchantment by Buddhist practices is the goal in terms of making changes in our consciousness. Real, observable changes. Science has been confirming this for a number of year and the correlating data has been growing. Let’s take a look at the lore behind Om Mani Pade Hum which we began exploring in the previous essay Meditation and Buddhism – The Fascinating and Awesome Power of Om Mani Padme Hum

On the Buddhist path to remove suffering from our consciousness we encounter many seemingly strange practices, beliefs and stories. The story behind Buddhist Prayer wheels involves a deity known as Chenrezig, Buddha of Compassion. But, what is a deity?

The meditation deity Akshobhyavajra represents unification of method and wisdom

Buddhist Deities and Their Functions in the Practices

Deities in Buddhism are part of a practice called tantra which simply put is the taking part of rituals, and the deities are symbols that represent qualities of consciousness that one uses to evoke experiences said to facilitate realization of enlightenment. The most common form of this practice is to visualize oneself as a deity. Are they real? Some people believe they are and some don’t but that is not really the point of Buddhism. If you have been following along these series of posts you may be getting the feeling now that belief is not necessary in Buddhism and that would be correct. Buddhism is an experiential path and the practice of meditation and other practices have to be undertaken and done with sincerity then the results speak for themselves. That is the idea.

For the spinning prayer wheels the deity Chenrezig, the Buddha of Compassion is evoked by the spinning the of wheel which contains the mantra Om Mani Padme Hum. Chenrezig is the ultimate manifestation of all the deities and buddhas, of perfect compassion, the Bodhisattva of Compassion. According to lore, Chenrezig made a solemn troth rest would not come to him until liberation occurred for all the beings throughout all the universe that exist in realms of suffering. He had worked with single minded sincerity according to this mission for eons when he observed and realized that the number of beings who were suffering were still not liberated. Upon realizing this he became inconsolable and his head exploded into countless pieces. A deity named Amitabha Buddha pieced them all back together as a form that had a multitude of arms and various heads so that he could send his blessings through a myriad of beings all at once thus reaching further and further through the realms and touching the suffering of as many beings as possible.

Knowing this story we understand ourselves as an extension of Chenrezig and as a being who extends the same compassion. This is not something that is outside of ourselves it is something that is within us. As we’ve discussed in previous essays the seeds of our human consciousness contain the impure and the pure and the seed is part of us. Meditating on this helps us cultivate this seed and we are doing the work with the deity Chenrezig.

Pilgrims in Tibet

The Buddhist Spiritual Technology of Prayer Wheels

So, the idea behind the prayer wheels is this: as in chanting om mani padme hum has the effect of purifying the mind over and over spinning the phrase, or mantra, on a prayer wheel is the same idea. It spins and so is invoking the compassion of Chenrezig. In Tibet, wheels were actually avoided for a very long time and only used for prayer wheels the practice is so important to their culture. The prayer wheels come in all sizes and sometimes the mantra will be written all over very large prayer wheels that are thought to even deepen the effect of the intention of holding this mantra in our consciousness. Immersing oneself in the ideas of compassion for all beings and the idea that we are all born into suffering, even the people we think of as our enemies, is the ultimate goal of this ritual. A beautiful meditation goes:

"Buddha of great compassion, hold me fast in your compassion. From time without beginning, beings have wandered in samsara, Undergoing unendurable suffering. They have no other protector than you. Please bless them that they may achieve the omniscient state of buddhahood.

With the power of evil karma gathered from beginningless time, Sentient beings, through the force of anger, are born as hell beings and experience the suffering of heat and cold. May they all be born in your presence, perfect deity." The Meditation and Recitation of Four-Armed Chenresig

When you think about it that way it’s clear we’re all born into the same boat and people are suffering greatly whether we like them or not. We all go through things in life that challenge us and the ones who have not developed a purity of consciousness will suffer immensely and we see this in our world every day. So, it is imperative that we become healed of this suffering so the ripple effect will go out from us to others and perhaps facilitate the healing inside other individuals.

Buddhist Psychology, Compassion and Science

I briefly touched upon a study that showed * lovingkindness meditation * reduced bias in subjects that did the exercise then were shown pictures of people outside their ethnic group [here]. Another study explored the link between the difference between the effect on bias in people who participate in monotheistic religion and converts to Buddhism or people who East Asian that were Buddhist/Taoist or secular. The findings were that people who adhered to monotheistic belief systems were less tolerant to people outside their group. The staff of Buddhist publication Lion’s Roar wrote in the essay Psychologists say Buddhist concepts activate compassion, tolerance:

For one of the tests, researchers administered regular word searches to a control group and word searches with Buddhist words to another group. The researchers found that the Buddhist concepts activated compassion and tolerance, and undermined ethnic and religious prejudice, especially among those whose personalities were already disposed to open-mindedness.

The paper was published in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin

The thoughts behind this is that the practice of compassion that is ultimately extended to all, even beings in another part of the universe, aliens even, even though it may sound strange has the effect of reducing the biases and feelings and beliefs of difference between beings that are different makes it easier to ultimately extend it to people right here on earth who are all of different ethnicities and other types of groups. It allows us to rise above our inherent tribalism and competition so we can understand the humanness and dignity of everyone. What could be better than that?

Conclusion

I hope this sparks some inspiration and insight into healing and the human mind. I will continue to explore the link between science and Buddhism and hopefully soon will have some wonderful real life data from my own life to report back on how it is affecting my personal journey through this life. If you are interested in obtaining some digital prayer wheels you can use as screen savers or on your computer you can read more about them and get them on dharma-haven.org

What do you think?

All images pixabay.com except animated gif dharma-heaven.com

What do you think?

@soulsistashakti is a musical artist and writer based in NYC as well as a practitioner of Buddhist teachings. You can check out my music on my FB artist page at https://www.facebook.com/soulsistashakti

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Meditation and Buddhism – The Fascinating and Awesome Power of Om Mani Padme Hum