Mani Stone
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Mani stones are stone plates, rocks, or pebbles inscribed with the six-syllabled
mantra A mantra ( ; Pali: ''mantra'') or mantram (Devanagari: मन्त्रम्) is a sacred utterance, a numinous sound, a syllable, word or phonemes, or group of words (most often in an Indo-Iranian language like Sanskrit or Avestan) belie ...
of AvalokiteshvaraMani Stone
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Om mani padme hum ' (, ) is the six-syllabled Sanskrit mantra particularly associated with the four-armed Shadakshari form of Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva of compassion. It first appeared in the Mahayana ''Kāraṇḍavyūha sūtra'', where it is also referr ...
'', hence the name ''mani stone'') as a form of
prayer File:Prayers-collage.png, 300px, alt=Collage of various religionists praying – Clickable Image, Collage of various religionists praying ''(Clickable image – use cursor to identify.)'' rect 0 0 1000 1000 Shinto festivalgoer praying in front ...
in
Tibetan Buddhism Tibetan Buddhism is a form of Buddhism practiced in Tibet, Bhutan and Mongolia. It also has a sizable number of adherents in the areas surrounding the Himalayas, including the Indian regions of Ladakh, Gorkhaland Territorial Administration, D ...
. The term mani stone may also be used to refer to stones on which any mantra or devotional designs (such as
ashtamangala The Ashtamangala () is the sacred set of Eight Auspicious Signs ( zh, 八吉祥, ''bajixiang'') featured in a number of Indian religions such as Hinduism, Jainism, and Buddhism. The symbols or "symbolic attributes" () are yidam and teaching too ...
) are inscribed or painted. Mani stones are intentionally placed along the roadsides and rivers or grouped together to form mounds,
cairn A cairn is a human-made pile (or stack) of stones raised for a purpose, usually as a marker or as a burial mound. The word ''cairn'' comes from the (plural ). Cairns have been and are used for a broad variety of purposes. In prehistory, t ...
s, or sometimes long walls, as an offering to spirits of place or '' genius loci''. Creating and carving mani stones as devotional or intentional
process art Process art is an artistic movement where the end product of art and craft, the '':wikt:objet d’art, objet d’art'' (work of art/found object), is not the principal focus; the process of its making is one of the most relevant aspects if not th ...
is a traditional sadhana of piety to yidam. Mani stones are a form of devotional cintamani. The preferred technique is sunk relief, where an area around each letter is carved out, leaving the letters at the original surface level, now higher than the background. The stones are often painted in symbolic colours for each syllable (''om'' white, ''ma'' green, ''ni'' yellow, ''pad'' light blue, ''me'' red, ''hum'' dark blue), which may be renewed when they are lost by weathering.


Mani walls

Along the paths of regions under the influence of
Tibetan Buddhism Tibetan Buddhism is a form of Buddhism practiced in Tibet, Bhutan and Mongolia. It also has a sizable number of adherents in the areas surrounding the Himalayas, including the Indian regions of Ladakh, Gorkhaland Territorial Administration, D ...
, mani stones are often placed in long stacks along trails, forming mani walls. Buddhist custom dictates that these walls should be passed or circumvented from the left side, the clockwise direction in which the earth and the universe revolve, according to
Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...
doctrine. They are sometimes close to a temple or
chorten In Buddhism, a stupa (, ) is a domed hemispherical structure containing several types of sacred relics, including images, statues, metals, and ''śarīra''—the remains of Bhikkhu, Buddhist monks or Bhikkhuni, nuns. It is used as a place of ...
, sometimes completely isolated and range from a few metres to a kilometre long and one to two metres high. They are built of rubble and sand and faced with mani stones engraved in the elegant Tibetan script.Rizvi, Janet. 1998. ''Ladakh, Crossroads of High Asia''. Oxford University Press. 1st edition 1963. 2nd revised edition 1996. Oxford India Paperbacks 1998. 3rd impression 2001. pg. 205.


Nepal

The same type of mani stones can be seen in neighbouring
Nepal Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China Ch ...
, where Buddhism is also widely practised. Large examples of mani stones resembling tablets carved out of the sides of rock formations are in locations throughout the Nepali areas of the Himalayas, such as Namche Bazar. Mani stone walls are most numerous in the high country of the Khumbu. The
mantra A mantra ( ; Pali: ''mantra'') or mantram (Devanagari: मन्त्रम्) is a sacred utterance, a numinous sound, a syllable, word or phonemes, or group of words (most often in an Indo-Iranian language like Sanskrit or Avestan) belie ...
of Avalokiteshvara is also a common design on prayer wheels and prayer flags in Nepal.


Gallery

File:Langtang Valley, Route to Kyanzing Valley.jpg, Mani wall in the
Langtang Langtang Valley () also known as Lamtang Valley is a Himalayan valley in the mountains of north-central Nepal, known for its trekking routes and natural environment. Administrative The Langtang Valley lies in Rasuwa District, Rasuwa dist ...
Valley, Route to Kyanzing Valley, Nepal. File:Mani-wall-path-to-Pikey-BC.jpg, Mani wall on the path between Ngawur and Pikey Base Camp, Nepal. File:Mani stones & prayer flags. Gandhola Monastery. Lahaul.jpg, Mani stones & prayer flags. Gandhola Monastery. Lahaul. File:Mani wall along driveway to Hemis Monastery.jpg, Mani wall along driveway to Hemis Monastery File:LadakhManiStones.jpg, Mani stones in
Ladakh Ladakh () is a region administered by India as a union territory and constitutes an eastern portion of the larger Kashmir region that has been the subject of a Kashmir#Kashmir dispute, dispute between India and Pakistan since 1947 and India an ...
,
India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
File:Mune wall col.jpg, Mani wall in Zanskar subdistrict, Ladakh File:Spiti - huge mani stone.jpg, Huge mani stone in the Spiti Valley, India


See also

* Gsumge Mani Stone Castle * Śarīra *
Stele of Sulaiman The Stele of Sulaiman is a Yuan dynasty stele that was erected in 1348 to commemorate the benefactors and donors to a Buddhist temple at the Mogao Caves southeast of Dunhuang in Gansu, China. The principal benefactor is named as Sulaiman (), Pri ...
, 1348 stele with ''Om mani padme hum'' inscribed in six scripts * Yongning Temple Stele, 1413 stele with ''Om mani padme hum'' inscribed in four scripts


References


External links

{{Commons category, Mani stones
World's largest Mani stone mound in Qinghai, China. Estimated over 2 billion stones


Tibetan Buddhist ritual implements Tibetan Buddhist art and culture Buddhist religious objects Sacred rocks Stone monuments and memorials