A prayer wheel is a cylindrical "wheel" (Tibetan: འཁོར་, Wylie: 'khor) on a spindle made from metal, wood, stone, leather or coarse cotton. Traditionally, the mantra Om Mani Padme Hum is written in Sanskrit on the outside of the wheel. Also sometimes depicted are Dakinis, Protectors and very often the 8 auspicious symbols Ashtamangala. According to the Tibetan Buddhist tradition based on the lineage texts regarding prayer wheels, spinning such a wheel will have much the same meritorious effect as orally reciting the prayers.

Prayer wheel or Mani wheel (Tibetan: མ་ནི་ཆོས་འཁོར་, Wylie: mani-chos-'khor). The Tibetan term is a contraction: "Mani" itself is a contraction of Sanskrit cintamani; "chos" is Tibetan for Dharma; and "khor" or "khorlo" means chakrano

The earliest recorded prayer wheels were written of by a Chinese pilgrim around 400 C.E. in Ladakh.^{[citation needed]} The concept of the prayer wheel is a physical manifestation of the phrase "turning the wheel of Dharma," which describes the way in which the Buddha taught.