Page 32 - Handbook of Tibetan Buddhist Symbols

Handbook of Tibetan Buddhist Sy 9/1/10 11:29 AM Page 14

14 T he Handbook of T ibet an B uddhist S ymbols

Vaishravana, the Great Guardian King of ten, twelve, or eighteen sharply pointed
the north. blades, and could be hurled like a discus or
swung upon a rope. The wooden wheels of
the ancient India chariot similarly bore an
THE WHEEL equal number of spokes.
(Skt. chakra; Tib. ’khor-lo) Buddhism adopted the wheel as the main
emblem of the ‘wheel-turning’ chakravartin
The wheel is an early Indian solar symbol of or ‘universal monarch’, identifying this
sovereignty, protection, and creation. As a wheel as the dharmachakra or ‘wheel of
solar symbol it first appears on clay seals un- dharma’ of the Buddha’s teachings. The Ti-
earthed from the Harappan civilization of betan term for dharmachakra (Tib. chos-kyi
the Indus valley (circa 2500 BCE). The wheel ’khor-lo) literally means the ‘wheel of trans-
or chakra is the main attribute of the Vedic formation’ or spiritual change. The wheel’s
god of preservation, Vishnu, whose fiery six- swift motion represents the rapid spiritual
spoked Sudarshana-chakra or discus repre- transformation revealed in the Buddha’s
sents the wheel of the phenomenal universe. teachings. The wheel’s comparison to the ro-
The wheel represents motion, continuity, tating weapon of the chakravartin represents
and change, forever turning onwards like its ability to cut through all obstacles and il-
the circling sphere of the heavens. As a lusions. The Buddha’s first discourse at the
weapon the rimless chakra had six, eight, Deer Park in Sarnath, where he first taught
the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold
Noble Path, is known as his ‘first turning of
the wheel of dharma’. His subsequent great
discourses at Rajghir and Shravasti are
known as his second and third turnings of
the wheel of dharma.
The three components of the wheel -
hub, spokes, and rim - symbolize the three
aspects of the Buddhist teachings upon
ethics, wisdom, and concentration. The cen-
tral hub represents ethical discipline, which
centers and stabilizes the mind. The sharp
spokes represent wisdom or discriminating
awareness, which cuts through ignorance.
The rim represents meditative concentra-
tion, which both encompasses and facilitates
the motion of the wheel. A wheel with a
thousand spokes, which emanate like the
rays of the sun, represents the thousand ac-
tivities and teachings of the Buddhas. A
wheel with eight spokes symbolizes the
Buddha’s Eightfold Noble Path, and the
transmission of these teachings towards the
The eight-spoked golden wheel. eight directions.