Mantra in Tibetan script

Tibetan Buddhists believe that saying the mantra (prayer) Om Mani Padme Hum, invites the blessings of Chenrezig, the embodiment of compassion.

They also believe you can produce the same effect by spinning the written form of the mantra around in a prayer wheel (called "Mani wheels" by the Tibetans). The effect is said to be multiplied when more copies of the mantra are included, and spinning the Mani wheels faster increases the benefit as well. 

Unless you are already familiar with Tibetan Buddhist prayer wheels, we'd like to suggest that before reading more of this page, you look at Dharma Haven's main page on Mani wheels:

Animated images like this one are digital Mani wheels which can be placed on Web pages. Similar animated graphics can be used for Mani-wheel screen savers.

This page offers information on how to install several types of digital prayer wheels on your computer:

On her page titled "Click Here for Good Karma" Deb Platt suggests:

"To set your very own prayer wheel in motion, all you have to do is download this mantra to your computer's hard disk. Once downloaded, your hard disk drive will spin the mantra for you. Nowadays hard disk drives spin their disks somewhere between 3600 and 7200 revolutions per minute, with a typical rate of 5400 rpm. Given those rotation speeds, you'll soon be purifying loads of negative karma."

She suggests that you simply save the text "OM MANI PADME HUM," or use the Tibetan characters, which you can save by clicking on the image below, and then selecting the "Save As" option from the "File" menu in your browser:

If you like, you can enhance potency of your hard drive prayer wheel by including a lot of copies of the mantra, or by including
images of Chenrezig, images of Tibetan Buddhist lamas, images of people using Mani wheels, and texts explaining the meaning of the mantra, or the Mahayana Buddhist teachings on compassion as the key to enlightenment. You can find plenty of ideas, images and relevant text passages on these pages:

Just for good measure, you can also save the sound of the mantra: 

Installing a prayer-wheel screen saver will help you remember that your computer is a Mani wheel.

animated gifsjava appletjavascript scrolls

You've seen animated GIFs all over the Web, like this one:

Here's one we like. For a larger version, or for more examples, look at the More Animated GIF Images section, below.

When an animated GIF file is included in a web page, the animation occurs automatically. When you find one you like on the Web, you can save it by right-clicking on the image and then using the "Save Image As" or "Save Picture As" option.

Animated GIFs take a while to load, but once a particular image file is loaded, all the copies of that image on your page will be visible at once.

What's not always so easy is to get permission to use a particular image on your pages -- but the Mani wheels we've included here on this page may be used for any respectful purpose. See Image Credits for details.

a section of the image file for the prayer wheel applet

In the Virtual Thangka Gallery at the Osel Shen Phen Ling Web site, they have some nice Java applets, one of which is a prayer wheel, with instructions on how to Add a Prayer Wheel Applet to Your Home Page.

When you download the Java class Rotator.class the name may get set to Rotator.exe. Change the name back to Rotator.class or the applet won't work.

If JavaScript is enabled on your browser, you can see a scrolling banner with the mantra OM MANI PADME HUNG at the bottom of this page, in the status window of your browser. It is generated by a small JavaScript program which is part of the HTML code that tells the browser how to display this page. 

When a page containing that script is loaded in a Javascript-enabled browser, the mantra will be automatically scrolled in the status bar whenever that part of the page is visible on the screen. The browser does not have to be the active task (you can be working on something else), and the computer does not have to be connected to the internet.

Instructions for adding the Javascript Mani scroll to a Web page are given in the Technical Details section at the end of this document.

We got this script from Deb Platt's  "Click Here for Good Karma" page. The script was written by Bob Platt.

For the download, we've changed the file extension from ".wav" to".exe" so that your browser will let you download it. When you store it on your hard drive, you should change the file extension back to ".wav," i.e., Rename "om-mani-padme-hung.exe" to "om-mani-padme-hung.wav." (If your computer cannot play windows .wav files, you'll have to convert the file in order to actually hear it.)

You can get the program by clicking on "Source" or "Document Source" on the "View" menu of your Web browser. Copy and paste the program into the HTML code for your page.
 

This image really requires a dark background in order to look right. 

Download and Setup Instructions

When you click on the link "DOWNLOAD MANI WHEEL" your computer will ask you where you want to put the file. (If the first question is "What would you like to do with this file?" answer "Save it to disk.") It is easier to work with a newly downloaded program in a directory (folder) that contains no other files. You can use your "Temp" directory (you may have to empty it first), or create a new one. I use C:\mani

When you give the "O.K." the computers will move a copy of the file from our server to your machine. The download is very quick -- the file is only 40k bytes. Now look at that directory (using Windows Explorer or File Manager) to see what you've got.

The file manizip.exe is a self-extracting archive file -- you run the program to automatically extract the files it contains. Then set up some way to make it easy to start the program. You can then use it as a manually initiated screen saver, or just look at the spinning colors when you want to relax. 

Windows 95: To extract the files use the "Run" command on the "Start" menu. Click "Start" and select "Run..." at the bottom of the list. In the "Run..." window enter the command line, e.g. C:\mani\manizip.exe (or select "Browse" (lower right), open the folder where you put the manizip.exe file, and open that file). Then click "OK". A DOS window will open, with the message "Continue extraction?" Press "Y" for "yes" and "Enter." When the DOS window says "Finished - Manizip" at the top, close the DOS window. 

Now create a shortcut for starting the prayer wheel: in Windows Explorer, use the right mouse button to click on the program file manib.exe. Choose "Create Shortcut." Rename the shortcut to something simple, like "Wheel," and copy it to the desktop. (I use it so often that I have it on the "Start" menu -- just copy the shortcut to the "Start Menu" folder in the Windows directory.) 

To stop the program temporarily, press [Alt][Space] and click anywhere on the screen (except the menu) to close the menu. To really terminate the program, choose "Close" from the [Alt][Space] menu, and reassure Windows that, yes, you really do want to close the program. Or press escape [Esc] and close the DOS window.

You can prevent your automatic screen saver from taking over while the prayer wheel is running: Right-click on the shortcut, and choose "Properties" at the bottom of the list of options. In the "Properties" dialog box click the "Misc" tab, and remove the checkmark for "allow screen saver" and then click "Close."

We are interested in finding an automatic Mani Wheel screen saver, but there is a certain merit to be had by intentionally starting the wheel. Try to really connect with the mantra and everything you know about what it means, or connect to your true good wishes for all beings (including yourself), just for a moment when you start up the Mani Wheel. You may be surprised by what a difference it makes!

Windows 3.1: Run the program to automatically extract and decompress the files. One way is to File Manager to open the folder containing the manizip.exe file, and double-click on the file. (Another way is to use the "Run" command on the "File" menu). 

Manib.exe is the program file. Double click it to start the program. Escape [Esc] to exit.

Now create an easy way to start the prayer wheel: 

Method 1. Call up the Task Manager ([Ctrl][Esc]). Click on an unassigned button. Assign the manib.exe file to that button. 

Method 2: If you normally work out of the Program Manager, create a program icon for the Mani Wheel and put it in a Program Group that you normally leave open. Click on the "DOS Prompt" icon in "Main." Open the "File" menu and select "Copy." Choose the folder (directory) where you want the new icon to reside and click "OK." Now click on the new icon, open the "File" menu, and select "Properties." Change the command line to "manib.exe" and the Working Directory the directory containing the Mani Wheel files. Give the new program item a name that you will recognize, like "Wheel" or "Prayer Wheel" or "Mani, and click "OK."

To end the program, press escape [Esc] and close the DOS session. 

DOS: The MANIB.EXE file and the VDSCM19.RLE files must reside in the same directory. I would put a batch file ("WHEEL.BAT"?) for starting the program into some directory on the PATH.

Don't run the MANI.BAT file from the zip package unless you want both the MANIZIP file and the README file deleted. I would delete the MANI.BAT file instead.

To end the program, press escape [Esc].