Musings of a Wandering Mind

Video: Carving Mani Stones

Mani stones are tablets with the sacred mantra ‘Om Mani Padmehum’ carved on them. If you travel in the Himalayan regions like Ladakh and northern parts of Himachal Pradesh where Buddhism is widely practiced, you will find these stones in every corner – outside the monasteries, in the villages, along the roads and next to sacred places. For a long time I wanted to see people working on making these tablets. I happened to witness it during my recent visit to Dharamsala.

These monks were chipping on the rocks along the circumambulation path around Dalai Lama Temple. I loved the way these two monks executed their work. Even for a second, they never seemed to think of it as hard work. Along with their tools, they had a small bottle of water and a flask that perhaps contained some tea, which indicated that they were planning to spend a long time working with the rocks. The young monk’s job was to just sit and give company to the old man while he chiseled the rock. They yapped continuously as the old man slowly chipped on the rock. Occasionally, when other monks came along the circumambulation path, they would stop by to chatter but never stayed too long to disturb their work. The old man seemed to know his job and made it look effortless. He seemed to be enjoying every moment of his task.

I watched them at work for some time until they decided to end their morning session. We did not speak any common language, so the communication between us was limited. The old man, full of compassion in his eyes like only an elderly monk could have, occasionally looked at me and smiled genially. At some point, I took a few picture of him at work. He continued working while I was shooting but once I was done, he summoned me, asked me to show the pictures and laughed heartily after seeing his photographs. He was such a cheerful person, the few minutes I spent with him put me in an elevated mood for rest of the day.