Tibetan Prayer Wheel, Sun Valley
The Sawtooth Botanical Garden-Sun Valley, Idaho: Prayer Wheel
Commemorating the Dalai Lama's "Healing Address" on the 4th anniversary of 9/11 in the United States, the Tibetan Prayer Wheel is a remembrance of His Holiness.
On September 12, 2005, His Holiness, the 14th Dalai Lama, personally blessed the Tibetan Prayer Wheel of Sun Valley, Idaho. The Tibetan Prayer Wheel was a gift to the people of Sun Valley, and indeed all of Idaho, to honor his 9/11 “Healing Address” and serve as a remembrance of the Dalai Lama’s visit. The “Healing Address” was shared with over 10,000 people, as well as broadcast live on CNN. It is the largest Tibetan Prayer Wheel on this continent, and the only one to be blessed by His Holiness.
The Tibetan Prayer Wheel has found an eternal home at the Sawtooth Botanical Garden’s own Garden of Infinite Compassion. The beauty of the garden is only equal to the splendor of the Tibetan Prayer Wheel itself. Numerous reflecting ponds, boulders, benches and foliage are carefully positioned to create a place of profound peace and contemplation. Both the Tibetan Prayer Wheel and the Garden of Infinite Compassion serve as a celebrated commemoration of the Dalai Lama’s visit to Sun Valley, Idaho in 2005.
The 800 pound, temple sized Tibetan Prayer Wheel was handmade by goldsmiths and painters in Dharmsala, India, where His Holiness has lived while in exile from Tibet. It is filled with approximately a million hand painted prayers on little individual pieces of paper. Under its Douglas Fir hand-crafted pagoda, a creek flows during the warmer mountain months and in turn, moves the Prayer Wheel. As the water turns the wheel, each hand written prayer resting inside is released into the world and the prayers are renewed. Throughout the colder months, the Tibetan Prayer Wheel may be turned by hand.
Martin Mosko is the landscape architect that, in a true labor of love, designed the Garden of Infinite Compassion. Mr. Mosko is not only a highly skilled and successful landscape architect, but he is also an ordained Zen Buddhist monk.
Directions:
If you would like to visit the Tibetan Prayer Wheel and the Garden of Infinite Compassion at the Sawtooth Botanical Garden, turn right on Gimlet Road while traveling north on Highway 75. It is approximately five miles before the town of Ketchum. Admission is always free, but donations are appreciated. Visit during the daylight hours.
Go to the Sawtooth Botanical Garden to visit online or the Dalai Lama Visits Idaho for more.
