Oṃ maṇi padme hūṃ

Prayer Wheel

Built by Tim Yu, Founder & Editor · Published 11 November 2026

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Turn a Tibetan prayer wheel on screen, clockwise, as you recite the mantra of compassion, Oṃ maṇi padme hūṃ, and keep count of the turns. A real prayer wheel holds a roll of written mantras; this one is a picture, offered as a support for your recitation. Below is what teachers have said about prayer wheels, and what no one we could find has said.

oṃ maṇi padme hūṃ

The six-syllable mantra of Avalokiteśvara, round the rim in Tibetan script.

Drag it round clockwise, tap the button, or press the space bar. It turns one way only.

0turns now0today0all told

This wheel is a picture: there is no scroll of mantras inside it. Use it to recite the mantra and keep count. Your counts are kept on this device and never sent anywhere.

Does a prayer wheel on a screen count?

A prayer wheel works, in the tradition’s own terms, through the mantras written inside it, turned with the right intention. Britannica says each turn “is equivalent in efficacy to the prayer’s oral recitation multiplied by the number of times the mantra is printed on the scroll.” Teachers have accepted modern ways of holding and turning real written mantras: Tarthang Tulku, the Tibetan Aid Project says, mounted rolled mantras on electric turntables, and FPMT says Lama Zopa Rinpoche “advises that the mantras must be perfectly legible at any magnification” for microfilm to be used to fill a wheel.

A wheel that is only a picture is different, and we found no Tibetan teacher or institution that has said whether it works. The Rubin Museum notes only that “computer screen savers” and “mobile phone apps” are among today’s versions. A sentence saying the Dalai Lama “has said that having the mantra on your computer works the same as a traditional Mani wheel” has circulated online since at least 2001, when it appeared without a source on the Dharma Haven website, but we could not trace it to him. So this page does not claim the merit of a real wheel for its picture. What it can do is keep a turning wheel in front of you while you recite the mantra yourself, as the instructions below ask you to do while turning a wheel.

How to use it

Lama Zopa Rinpoche, of the Gelug school, set out one way to practise with a prayer wheel in a letter to a flight attendant who had asked him about his wheel on a flight. Begin with the motivation of bodhicitta, the wish to awaken for the sake of all beings. Visualise Chenrezig, the bodhisattva of compassion, in front of you or on the crown of your head; he says that visualising yourself as Chenrezig needs the initiation first. Then recite the mantra as you turn the wheel, and when you finish, dedicate the merit. The tool’s “Finish and dedicate” button gives a short dedication verse that Lotsawa House says is taken from the Jātakas. Other teachers and lineages practise in their own ways.

Why it turns one way

Buddhist prayer wheels are turned clockwise, the direction in which, in the Rubin Museum’s glossary, Himalayan Buddhists walk around “stupas, monasteries, or sacred mountains.” Bonpos, followers of Bön, go round the other way, and their wheels, according to exhibition essays at the Huntington Archive, turn counter-clockwise. This wheel follows the Buddhist direction only.

For what is inside a real prayer wheel, the forms it takes, from hand wheels to water- and wind-driven ones, and its history back to the revolving sutra bookcases of China and Japan, read our guide to prayer wheels. For the mantra itself, see om mani padme hum.

To count recitations on beads instead, use the digital mala. See all our free tools.

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Frequently asked questions

What is a virtual prayer wheel?

A picture of a Tibetan prayer wheel that you turn on screen. A real prayer wheel is a cylinder holding a roll of written mantras, most often Om mani padme hum, turned clockwise. This one has no mantras inside: it is a way to recite the mantra with a turning wheel in front of you, and to keep count.

Does turning a prayer wheel online count?

We could not find any Tibetan teacher or institution that has said. Teachers have accepted modern ways of holding and turning real written mantras: Tarthang Tulku mounted rolled mantras on electric turntables, and Lama Zopa Rinpoche accepts microfilm if the mantras are legible at any magnification. A claim that the Dalai Lama said a mantra on a spinning hard drive works like a prayer wheel is often repeated, but we could not trace it to him.

Which way should a prayer wheel turn?

Clockwise, in Tibetan Buddhism, the same direction in which Buddhists walk around stupas and monasteries. This wheel turns only that way. Followers of the Bon religion walk around sacred places counter-clockwise, and exhibition essays at the Huntington Archive say their prayer wheels turn that way too.

What should I do while I turn it?

Lama Zopa Rinpoche gives one way: first generate the motivation of bodhicitta, the wish to awaken for the sake of all beings; visualise Chenrezig in front of you or on the crown of your head; recite Om mani padme hum while you turn the wheel; and dedicate the merit at the end. He adds that visualising yourself as Chenrezig needs the initiation first.

Is anything I do here saved?

Only on your own device: how many times you have turned the wheel today and in all, which you can clear at any time. The counts are never sent anywhere.