From the archive record
Mani stones or Prayer stones put up for sale during Kalachakra in Bodhgaya. Mani stones are stone plates, rocks and/or pebbles, inscribed with the mantras, as a form of prayer in Tibetan Buddhism. The term Mani stone may also be used in a loose sense to refer to stones on which any mantra or devotional designs are inscribed. Mani stones are intentionally placed along the roadsides and rivers or placed together to form mounds or cairns or sometimes long walls, as an offering to spirits of place or genius loci. Creating and carving mani stones as devotional or intentional process art is a traditional sadhana of piety to yidam. Mani stones are a form of devotional cintamani. The word Kalachakra means cycles of time, and the Kalachakra system presents three such cycles -- external, internal an