Tibetan Buddhist Prayer Wheel - "Mani Chos-'Khor"

This is a Tibetan Buddhist prayer wheel, called "mani chos 'khor." Prayer wheels are devices for spreading spiritual blessings and well being.

Rolls of thin paper, imprinted with many, many copies of the mantra "Om Mani Padme Hum" are wound around an axle in a protective container, and spun around and around. Typically, larger decorative versions of the syllables of the mantra are also carved on the outside cover of the wheel.

"Om mani padme hum" is the most important mantra of Buddhism. It is the six syllable mantra of the Bodhisattva of compassion Avalokiteshvara. Tibetan Buddhists believe that saying this mantra, out loud or silently to oneself, invokes powerful benevolent attention and blessings.

Small hand-held wheels are the most common prayer wheels. Tibetan people carry them around for hours, and even on long pilgrimages, spinning them any time they have a hand free.

Large wheels can contain myriad copies of the mantra, and may also contain sacred texts, up to hundreds of volumes. They are mounted in rows next to pathways, to be spun by people entering a shrine, or along the route which people use as they walk slowly around and around a sacred site -- a form of spiritual practice called circumambulation. Wheels are also placed where they can be spun by wind or by flowing water.

Buddhism a religion in which people follow the teachings of the Buddha (Siddhartha Gautama) who lived and taught about 2500 years ago. Buddhists do not believe in a personal creator god. Buddhists believe in the Four Noble Truths, including that life is suffering because we are attached to our desires, but that suffering and attachment can be ended by living according to the Noble Eight-fold Path (ex. right thinking, right working, right speaking). The holy book is called the Tripitaka. It contains the teachings of the Buddha. Buddhists believe in rebirth after death (reincarnation). Their goal is to become Enlightened, to achieve Nirvana, and break the cycle of birth and death.
Source:
http://www.dharma-haven.org/tibetan/prayer-wheel.htm