Prayer stones for sale in Kathmandu. Many of these contain the six-syllable sentence "om mani padme hum," an untranslatable phrase that is used as a meditational mantra by Tibetans and related Buddhist cultures.

The prayer wheels to the right are another common souvenir in Kathmandu. Each wheel contains a long strip of paper with a mantra written on it, often just om mani padme um repeated over and over. The concept is that a person can accrue the same virtue as actually chanting the mantra, by simply spinning the wheel.

Click here to go to a page on another web site that explains the meaning of om mani padme hum.

Click here to see Tibetan prayer wheels in India.