1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Praying Wheel

PRAYING WHEEL, a mechanical apparatus used by the Lamaist Buddhists in Tibet and elsewhere for offering prayers. Strips of paper bearing a manifold repetition of the words “The Jewel in the Lotus, Amen,” are wrapped round cylinders of all sizes—from hand-mills to wind- or water-mills. As the wheel revolves these uncoil and the prayer is considered to be offered.