Unknown
Tibetan (active Western Tibet)
Prayer Wheel, 18th-19th c.
pigments on wood
56 x 31 x 30 1/2 in.
SBMA, Museum purchase with funds provided by the John and Peggy Maximus Fund, Yanki Ackerman, and Pamela Melone and Natalia and Michael Howe in Honor of F. Bailey Vanderhoef, Jr.
2011.42
RESEARCH PAPER
Tibet is located on a high plateau in Central Asia, northeast of the Himalayas, in the People’s Republic of China. The art of Tibet is almost exclusively devoted to the service of Buddhism, its native religion known as Bon.
The renowned eighth century Indian Buddhist teacher Padmasambhava brought Buddhism to Tibet. It is believed that setting the Buddha’s printed words in motion activated the same blessings as reciting them with the human voice. The main patrons of Tibetan religious art were the great monasteries and the wealthy nobility, who employed various types of artists, painters and craftsmen to produce objects for ritual use or private devotion. Anonymous artisans, who seldom signed their works of art, made most of Tibet’s sacred art.
This wheel was made for one function, praying by turning the wheel rather than reciting the prayer, because the prayers are written inside. Devout believers regard the very act of turning the prayer wheel as the activity of enlightened beings, and regard the mantras written inside the wheel as the Compassionate Buddha’s holy speech. Prayer wheels are used to accumulate wisdom and merit known as good karma and to purify negatives, bad karma.
Prayer wheels are a common sight in Tibet. They can come in many sizes: they may be small and attached to a stick, and spun around by hand; medium-sized and set up at monasteries or temples; or very large and continuously spun by a water mill. Prayer wheels at monasteries and temples are located at the gates of the property and devotees spin the wheels before passing through the gates. They can be made of wood, copper, bronze, silver or gold, depending on the wealth of the purchaser.
Two hands turn the Prayer wheel on display at SBMA of art, by the cords on both sides. An experienced carpenter would have built it from hardwood. A commissioned icon painter who would have been specifically trained in painting religious icons would have painted it. The height of the prayer wheel makes it especially easy for someone to reach in a seated position. Two people are needed to complete the revolution of the prayer wheel with the rope: one at each side pulling the attached cord that would have moved through the horizontal slits below.
The prayers are inside the large wooden hollow cylinder, which is visible through the openings on the three sides of this wooden container. This cylinder is beautifully embossed. It has written the prayer Om mani padme hum, which means, “Hail to the Jewel Lotus.” The six-syllable mantra is inscribed multiple times outside the wheel. It is the mantra of Avalokiteshvara, the Bodhisattva of Compassion. These prayers are written in Sanskrit, the literary and scholarly language of Buddhism. Written prayer strips of paper, fabric or parchment are sometimes placed inside the prayer wheel container too, these would be written in a clockwise direction.
Our prayer wheel consists of a decorated wooden housing supported by four frame posts. It is brightly painted, very colorful, with several figures painted in colors of red, blue, green and gold. Written in decorative gold paint on both sides of the wheel and on the front two supporting posts in Landzha script is the six syllable mantra or prayer “Om Mani Padme Hum.”
The paintings on the central panel of the prayer wheel are surrounded by different images of deities, who are bringing offerings to fully enlightened human beings. The upper top right portion depicts Amitayus, the Buddha of Boundless Long Life, the Enlightened One. Sitting peacefully, painted red, he holds a vase of “long life nectar” in his lap.
In the middle of the top panel is Avalokiteshvara, the Bodisattva of Infinite Compassion, the Lord who looks down. This is the most well known of the iconic Bodhisattvas. To left on the top panel is Guru Padmasambhava (known to Tibetans as Guru Ripoche, or precious teacher, who is credited with enabling Buddhism to triumph over the primitive Bon religion. As a result, he is revered as a saint and is frequently depicted in Tibetan art. He is thought to have the power to transmit enlightenment.
On the two sides are matching white lotus flowers which are symbols of purity of the mind and spirit. They grow in muddy water, and it is this environment that gives the flower its first and most literal meaning: rising and blooming above the murk to achieve enlightenment. On the bottom of the prayer wheel in the center in black is the Mahakala, “the Great Black One.” He is the protector of the Buddha’s teachings.
The left hand side, at the bottom is the image of Vaishrarana, Guardian of the North, ‘the ‘Son of he who has heard of many things’. He occupies the highest position among the Four Guardian Kings, protecting those who practice self-discipline. Because his breath is harmful he keeps his mouth closed. He confers spiritual and material wealth of practitioners of the Dharma, (teachings of Buddha), symbolized by the jewel-producing mongoose in his left hand. The mongoose is the enemy of the snake, a symbol of greed or hatred.
The right hand side, at the bottom is the image Virudhaka, Guardian of the South. He protects beings that have led a virtuous life from Yama, the Lord of Death, and uses his power to ward off anything that would disrupt Dharma. Because his touch is harmful to beings he carries a sword to prevent them from approaching him
The wheel is turned in a clockwise direction, in which the mantras are written is that of the movement of the sun across the sky. Each revolution is as meritorious as reading the inscription loud as many times as it is written on the scroll, meaning the more mantras that are inside a prayer wheel, the more powerful it is. The wheel must not be spun too fast or frantically but turned smoothly with the motivation and spirit of compassion and Bodhisattva -- the noble mind that aspires to full enlightenment for the benefit of all beings. Throughout the process one must also keep a calm meditative mind. There is a Tibetan Buddhist tradition of asking the Buddha and Bodhisattvas to dedicate any accumulated merits that one may have gathered during practice to all sentient beings. The worshippers walk around the wheel as it moves, and this is called circumambulation, the act of moving around a sacred object.
Prepared for the Santa Barbara Museum of Art Docent Council by Nicola Ghersen, April 11th, 2013.
Bibliography
Art from the Roof of the World; Tibet Barry Til and Paula Swart
Wheel of Great Compassion Complied and Introduced by Lorne Ladner
Odyssey Illustrated guide to Tibet by Elisabeth Booz
Rubin Museum of Art, 150 W. 17th St, New York, 10011 Correspondence via email with Elena Pakhoutova, Ph.D Assistant Curator
Buddhist Resource Center, 1430 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge, MA 02138 Correspondence via email with Kelsang Lhamo, Senior Research Associate
http://enwikipedia.org/wiki/Tibetan-Buddhism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/prayer-wheel
http://tibetanprayerwheels.com/aboutprayer-wheels.html
http://dharma-haven.org
http://himalayanart.org
SBMA CURATORIAL LABELS
Prayer wheels are the physical manifestations of the phrase “turning the wheel of 'dharma' (Buddhist law),” or Buddha’s teachings. They are common sights in Tibet, ranging from large, stationary wheels in and around Buddhist temples to small, hand-held wheels. Turned clockwise to accelerate the recitation of the many prayers or mantras written inside, each revolution is considered equivalent to reciting the prayer aloud. It is believed that the more prayers that are recited, the more they will enhance wisdom and good karma towards enlightenment.
Written in the decorative Lantsa script on each side of the stand and on the wheel body is the six-syllabled Sanskrit mantra “Om Mani Padme Hum.” Literally “the Jewel is in the Lotus," Om Mani Padme Hum, is the most ubiquitous mantra and most popular form of Tibetan Buddhist practice, performed by lay believers and monks alike. It is particularly associated with the four-armed Avalokitesvara, Bodhisattva of Compassion, whose image is represented at the top- center on the front of the stand.
- India, Southeast Asia, and Himalayas, 2022