TIBETAN PRAYER STONES
A Tibetan Prayer Stone, or Mani, Stone is a rock or stone, generally flat, that has etched or carved on it a prayer or a passage of Buddhist scripture. Its purpose is simple, to be an eternal offering of prayer.
You will find them piled by chortens (stupas), monasteries or sacred cairns on the high passes, at places of significance, by tumbling streams and along winding roads.
They are uniquely Tibetan and may be found anywhere on the high plains and mountains of the Tibetan plateau or, indeed, anywhere Tibetan Buddhism still speaks to the human soul.
The top photograph is of an old stone found at a chorten to the east of Litang.
Coloured prayer stones are to be found at the large prayer wall of the Litang Monastery.
The ready availability of household acrylic paint, as we found at Litang, has made it easier to add colour to the stones, and to allow painted rather than carved prayers (though they would be less permanent).