Buddhist Ritual Online: The Mantra and the Prayer Wheel

         The ability to perform religious rituals online is inherently changing some of the dynamics between the devotee and his or her lived religion. Although the authenticity and effectiveness of ritual online is still being debated, more and more people use the Internet to supplement their offline involvement with their religion. Many religions have found ways to transfer their rituals into a virtual format; Buddhism is no exception. One can find hundreds of digital variations of repeated mantras and spinning prayer wheels online. Mantras are prayers that involve sacred sounds. A popular Tibetan mantra is Om Mani Padme Hum, which is believed to hold all the teachings of Buddha in its meaning, and for which there is no set translation. A mantra can either be said to oneself, spoken aloud, or written and spun on a prayer wheel, also referred to as a mani wheel. Spinning the prayer wheel and reciting the mantra aloud are thought to have the same effect. Performing the mantras in either way is supposed to bring one wisdom and good karma.

          These rituals are quite easily replicated online. There are animated version of the prayer wheel and numerous videos of a prayer wheel being spun while the mantra is chanted along with it (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCjjQqQDjwE&feature=related). This viewing, however, is more of a passive approach. In order to take a more active approach, one could use a moving animated image of a prayer wheel and recite the mantra him or herself. This website (http://www.dharma-haven.org/tibetan/digital-wheels.htm) has a lot of information regarding digital prayer wheels, and it even has a link for interactive prayer wheels that can be ordered, but the website of the link is in French. It is also believed that the disk drive of a computer can be turned into a prayer wheel. According to Deb Platt on her webpage titled Click Here for Good Karma:

• "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."

         Online prayer wheels and mantra chanting are believed to have spiritual efficacy equal to the same rituals performed offline. According to Glimpse, “…rumours abound on the Internet that the Dalai Lama himself has said that having a digital prayer wheel – or even just the text of the mantra om mani padme hum on your spinning hard drive is the same as using a traditional prayer wheel” (Madsen, 2011, p. 49). Although scholars and religious officials debate the legitimacy of online rituals of any religion, it seems as though the efficiency of the online ritual depends on the individual involved. This issue is examined in the article “Virtual Buddhism: Buddhist Ritual in Second Life” by Louise Connelly. Connelly explores the efficacy behind virtual meditation in the Buddha Center, a location in the virtual world of Second Life. Connelly concludes, “The Buddhist ritual online can be said to be analogous with the ritual offline as both provide an opportunity to gain merit through action which in return directly contributes to the ultimate goal of Buddhism: liberation from the continual cycle birth and rebirth (samsara) and the obtainment of enlightenment or nirvana” (Connelly, p. 11). This viewpoint is applicable to all forms of Buddhist ritual online, including the practices of the prayer wheel and the mantra.