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The Dharmachakra (Sanskrit
Sanskrit

Sanskrit is a historical Indo-Aryan language, one of the liturgical languages of Hinduism and Buddhism, and one of the 22 official languages of India....
) or Dhammachakka (Pali
Páli

P?li is a village in Gyor-Moson-Sopron county, Hungary.External links...
), Tibetan
Tibetan language

The Tibetan languages are a cluster of mutually unintelligible Tibeto-Burman languages spoken primarily by Tibetan peoples who live across a wide area of eastern Central Asia bordering South Asia, including the Tibetan Plateau and the northern Indian subcontinent in Baltistan, Ladakh, Nepal, Sikkim, and Bhutan....
 chos kyi 'khor lo, Chinese
Chinese language

Chinese or the Sinitic language is a language family consisting of language mutually unintelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the two branches of Sino-Tibetan languages of languages....
 falún ??, "Wheel of Dharma
Dharma

The term , is an Indian Indian philosophy and Indian religions term, that means one's righteous duty or any virtuous path in the common sense of the term....
" is a symbol representing dharma
Dharma (Buddhism)

Dhamma or Dharma in Buddhism has two primary meanings:* the teachings of the Buddha which lead to enlightenment* the constituent factors of the experienced world...
, the Buddha
Gautama Buddha

Siddhartha Gautama was a Spirituality teacher in the northern region of the Indian subcontinent who founded Buddhism. He is generally seen by Buddhists as the Supreme Buddhahood of our age....
's teaching of the path to enlightenment
Bodhi

Bodhi is both the Pali and Sanskrit word traditionally translated into English language as "enlightenment." The word "Buddhahood" means "one who has achieved bodhi." Bodhi is also frequently translated as "awakening."...
. It is also sometimes translated as wheel of doctrine or wheel of law. A similar symbol is also in use in Jainism
Jainism

Jainism is one of the oldest Indian religions that originated in India. Jains believe that every soul is divine and has the potential to achieve God-consciousness....
. It is one of the Ashtamangala
Ashtamangala

Ashtamangala are a sacred suite of Eight Auspicious Signs endemic to a number of Indian religions. The symbols or 'symbolic attributes' are yidam and teaching tools....
 Symbols

Dharmachakra symbol is represented as a chariot wheel (Sanskrit
Sanskrit

Sanskrit is a historical Indo-Aryan language, one of the liturgical languages of Hinduism and Buddhism, and one of the 22 official languages of India....
 chakra
Chakra

Chakra is a Sanskrit word that translates as wheel or disc.Chakra is a concept referring to wheel-like vortices which, according to traditional Indian medicine, are believed to exist in the surface of the etheric double of man....
m) with eight or more spokes.






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The Dharmachakra (Sanskrit
Sanskrit

Sanskrit is a historical Indo-Aryan language, one of the liturgical languages of Hinduism and Buddhism, and one of the 22 official languages of India....
) or Dhammachakka (Pali
Páli

P?li is a village in Gyor-Moson-Sopron county, Hungary.External links...
), Tibetan
Tibetan language

The Tibetan languages are a cluster of mutually unintelligible Tibeto-Burman languages spoken primarily by Tibetan peoples who live across a wide area of eastern Central Asia bordering South Asia, including the Tibetan Plateau and the northern Indian subcontinent in Baltistan, Ladakh, Nepal, Sikkim, and Bhutan....
 chos kyi 'khor lo, Chinese
Chinese language

Chinese or the Sinitic language is a language family consisting of language mutually unintelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the two branches of Sino-Tibetan languages of languages....
 falún ??, "Wheel of Dharma
Dharma

The term , is an Indian Indian philosophy and Indian religions term, that means one's righteous duty or any virtuous path in the common sense of the term....
" is a symbol representing dharma
Dharma (Buddhism)

Dhamma or Dharma in Buddhism has two primary meanings:* the teachings of the Buddha which lead to enlightenment* the constituent factors of the experienced world...
, the Buddha
Gautama Buddha

Siddhartha Gautama was a Spirituality teacher in the northern region of the Indian subcontinent who founded Buddhism. He is generally seen by Buddhists as the Supreme Buddhahood of our age....
's teaching of the path to enlightenment
Bodhi

Bodhi is both the Pali and Sanskrit word traditionally translated into English language as "enlightenment." The word "Buddhahood" means "one who has achieved bodhi." Bodhi is also frequently translated as "awakening."...
. It is also sometimes translated as wheel of doctrine or wheel of law. A similar symbol is also in use in Jainism
Jainism

Jainism is one of the oldest Indian religions that originated in India. Jains believe that every soul is divine and has the potential to achieve God-consciousness....
. It is one of the Ashtamangala
Ashtamangala

Ashtamangala are a sacred suite of Eight Auspicious Signs endemic to a number of Indian religions. The symbols or 'symbolic attributes' are yidam and teaching tools....
 Symbols

History

The Dharmachakra symbol is represented as a chariot wheel (Sanskrit
Sanskrit

Sanskrit is a historical Indo-Aryan language, one of the liturgical languages of Hinduism and Buddhism, and one of the 22 official languages of India....
 chakra
Chakra

Chakra is a Sanskrit word that translates as wheel or disc.Chakra is a concept referring to wheel-like vortices which, according to traditional Indian medicine, are believed to exist in the surface of the etheric double of man....
m) with eight or more spokes. It is one of the oldest known Buddhist symbols found in Indian art, appearing with the first surviving post-Harappan Indian iconography in the time of the Buddhist king Asoka?
Ashoka

Ashoka was an Indian emperor, of the Maurya Empire who ruled from 273 BCE to 232 BCE. Often cited as one of India's as well as world's greatest emperors, Ashoka reigned over most of present-day India after a number of military conquests....
. The Dharmachakra has been used by all Buddhist nations as a symbol ever since. In its simplest form, the Dharmachakra is recognized globally as a symbol for Buddhism.

Symbolism

Dharma Wheel
The eight spokes represent the Noble Eightfold Path
Noble Eightfold Path

The Noble Eightfold Path is one of the principal Dharma of Gautama Buddha, who described it as the way leading to the cessation of suffering and the achievement of self-awakening....
 of Buddhism.

Other symbolism in the eight-spoked Dharmachakra in Buddhism:

  • Its overall shape is that of a circle (chakra), representing the perfection of the dharma teaching
  • The hub stands for discipline, which is the essential core of meditation
    Meditation

    Meditation is a mental discipline by which one attempts to get beyond the reflexive, "thinking" mind into a deeper state of relaxation or awareness....
     practice
  • The rim, which holds the spokes, refers to mindfulness or samadhi
    Samadhi

    Samadhi is a Hinduism and Buddhism technical term that usually denotes higher levels of concentrated meditation, or dhyana, in Yogic schools. Nirvana of Buddhism is a step towards Samadhi ....
     which holds everything together


The corresponding mudra
Mudra

A mudra is a symbolic or ritual gesture in Hinduism and Buddhism. While some mudras involve the entire body, most are performed with the hands and fingers....
, or symbolic hand gesture, is known as the Dharmachakra Mudra
Mudra

A mudra is a symbolic or ritual gesture in Hinduism and Buddhism. While some mudras involve the entire body, most are performed with the hands and fingers....
.

The Dharmachakra is one of the eight auspicious symbols of Tibetan Buddhism
Tibetan Buddhism

Tibetan Buddhism is the body of Buddhism religious doctrine and institutions characteristic of Tibet and certain regions of the Himalayas, including northern Nepal, Bhutan, and India ....
.

The dharma wheel can refer to the dissemination of the dharma teaching from country to country. In this sense the dharma wheel began rolling in India
India

India, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and outlying territories by total area country by geographical area, the List of countries by population country, and the most populous liberal democracy in the world....
, carried on to Central Asia
Central Asia

Central Asia is a region of Asia from the Caspian Sea in the west to central China in the east, and from southern Russia in the north to northern India in the south....
, and then arrived in South East Asia and East Asia
East Asia

East Asia is a subregion of Asia that can be defined in either Geography or cultural terms. Geography and geopolitically, it covers about 12,000,000 km?, or about 28 percent of the Asian continent, about 15 percent bigger than the area of Europe, though some categorize Tibet, Xinjiang, and Mongolia as Central Asia....
.

Multiple turnings of the Wheel


Mahayana schools classify Buddhist teachings in turns of a sequential scheme of development, in which the Buddha began with simple teachings and proceeded to more complex and difficult teachings. These phases are called "turnings" of the Dharmachakra .

All Buddhists agree that the original turning of the wheel occurred when the Buddha taught the five ascetics who became his first disciples at the Deer Park in Sarnath
Sarnath

Sarnath is the deer park where Gautama Buddha first taught the Dharma, and where the Buddhist Sangha came into existence through the enlightenment of Kondanna....
. In memory of this, the Dharmachakra is sometimes represented with a deer on each side.

In
Theravada

Theravada...
 Buddhism, this was the only "turning of the wheel", and later developments of the Buddhist doctrine which do not appear in the Pali Canon
Pali Canon

The Pali Canon is the standard collection of scriptures in the Theravada Buddhism tradition, as preserved in the Pali. It is the only completely surviving Early Buddhist schools canon, and one of the first to be written down....
 or the Agamas
Agama (text)

In Buddhism, an gama is a collection of Early Buddhist schools scriptures, of which there are four, which together comprise the Sutra Pitika of the Sanskritic early schools....
 are not accepted as teachings of the historical Buddha.

Other schools of Buddhism, such as the
Mahayana

Mahayana is one of the two main existing schools of Buddhism and a term for classification of Buddhist philosophy and practice. It was History of Buddhism in India....
 and
Vajrayana

Vajrayana Buddhism is also known as Tantric Buddhism, Tantrayana, Mantranaya, Mantrayana, Secret Mantra, Esoteric Buddhism and the Diamond Vehicle ....
 distinguish later "turnings". Specific accounts of them vary. In one, the first turning of the Dharmachakra is Gautama Buddha
Gautama Buddha

Siddhartha Gautama was a Spirituality teacher in the northern region of the Indian subcontinent who founded Buddhism. He is generally seen by Buddhists as the Supreme Buddhahood of our age....
's original teaching, in particular the Four Noble Truths
Four Noble Truths

The Four Noble Truths are one of the most fundamental Buddhism teachings. In broad terms, these truths relate to suffering's nature, origin, cessation and the path leading to the cessation....
 which describes the mechanics of attachment, desire, suffering, and liberation via the Eightfold Path; the second turning is the teaching of the Perfection of Wisdom
Perfection of Wisdom

"Perfection of Wisdom" is a translation of the Sanskrit term praj?a paramita The Perfection of Wisdom Sutras or Praj?aparamita Sutras are a genre of Mahayana Buddhist scriptures dealing with the subject of the Perfection of Wisdom....
 sutra, a foundational text of Mahayana Buddhism; and the third is the teaching of the Mahavairocana Sutra, a foundational text of Tantric Buddhism.

In another scheme, the second turning of the Dharmachakra is the Abhidharma, the third is the Mahayana
Mahayana

Mahayana is one of the two main existing schools of Buddhism and a term for classification of Buddhist philosophy and practice. It was History of Buddhism in India....
 Perfection of Wisdom Sutras, and the fourth is the Yogacarya (Cittamatrin) sutras that teach the Tathagatagarbha.

Other uses

In the Unicode
Unicode

Unicode is a computing industry standard allowing computers to consistently represent and manipulate Character expressed in most of the world's writing systems....
 computer standard, the Dharmachakra is called the "Wheel of Dharma
Dharma

The term , is an Indian Indian philosophy and Indian religions term, that means one's righteous duty or any virtuous path in the common sense of the term....
" and found in the eight-spoked form. It is represented as U+2638 .

The Dharmachakra is also the U.S. Armed Forces military chaplain
Chaplain

A chaplain is typically a priest, pastor, ordained deacon, rabbi, imam or other member of the clergy serving a group of people who are not organized as a mission or church , or who are unable to attend church for various reasons; such as health, confinement, or military or civil duties; Laity chaplains are also found in other settings such...
 insignia for Buddhist chaplains.

The dharmachakra from the Lion Capital of Asoka
Lion Capital of Asoka

The Lion capital of Ashoka is a sculpture of four "Indian lions" standing back to back. It was originally placed atop the Pillars of Ashoka at Sarnath, now in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India....
 at Sarnath
Sarnath

Sarnath is the deer park where Gautama Buddha first taught the Dharma, and where the Buddhist Sangha came into existence through the enlightenment of Kondanna....
 is the national emblem of India
Emblem of India

File:Emblem of India.svgFile:Sarnath Lion Capital of Ashoka.jpgThe Emblem of India is an adaptation from the Sarnath Lion Capital of Ashoka....
. It represents the dharma i.e. natural conduct of a nation. The wheel is also in the Flag of India
Flag of India

File:Flag of India.svgFile:Sarnath Lion Capital of Ashoka.jpgThe National Flag of India was adopted in its present form during an ad hoc meeting of the Constituent Assembly held on the 22 July 1947, twenty-four days before India's independence from the British on 15 August 1947....
, where it replaced the spinning wheel originally displayed on the party flag of the Indian National Congress
Indian National Congress

Indian National Congress-I is a major political party in India. Founded in 1885 by Dadabhai Naoroji, Dinshaw Edulji Wacha, Womesh Chandra Bonerjee, Surendranath Banerjee, Monomohun Ghose, Allan Octavian Hume, and William Wedderburn, the Indian National Congress became the leader of the Indian Independence Movement, with over 15 million memb...
.

The national flag of the former Kingdom of Sikkim
Flag of Sikkim

File:Sikkimflag.svgThe national flag of Sikkim consisted of a Buddhist khorlo prayer wheel with the gankyil as the central element.Until 1967, the previous flag showed a very complex design with a fanciful border and ashtamangala next to the khorlo....
 in the Himalayas featured a version of the Dharmachakra. Image:Flag of India.svg|The National Flag of India has the "Ashoka Chakra
Ashoka Chakra

The Ashoka Chakra is a depiction of the Dharmachakra, the Wheel of Dharma . The wheel has 24 spokes.The Ashoka Chakra has been widely inscribed on many relics of the Mauryan Empire Emperor Ashoka , most prominent among which is the Lion Capital of Asoka and The Ashoka Pillar....
" at its center Image:Sikkimflag.svg|The flag
Flag of Sikkim

File:Sikkimflag.svgThe national flag of Sikkim consisted of a Buddhist khorlo prayer wheel with the gankyil as the central element.Until 1967, the previous flag showed a very complex design with a fanciful border and ashtamangala next to the khorlo....
 of the Kingdom of Sikkim featured a version of the Dharmacakra

In Jainism
Jainism

Jainism is one of the oldest Indian religions that originated in India. Jains believe that every soul is divine and has the potential to achieve God-consciousness....
, the Dharmachakra is worshipped as a symbol of the dharma
Dharma

The term , is an Indian Indian philosophy and Indian religions term, that means one's righteous duty or any virtuous path in the common sense of the term....
.

Many other "chakras" appear in other Indian traditions, e.g. Vishnu
Vishnu

Vishnu , , is the Supreme God in Vaishnavite tradition of Hinduism. Smarta followers of Adi Shankara, among others, venerate Vishnu as one of panchadeva, and his supreme status is declared in the Hindu sacred texts like Yajurveda, the Rigveda and the Bhagavad Gita....
's Sudarshana Chakra
Sudarshana Chakra

Sudarshana Chakra is a spinning disc like weapon with very sharp edge, which serves as an emblem of the Hindu God Vishnu. Lord Vishnu, also called Narayana, is portrayed with four hands, holding a Shankha , the Sudarshana, a Gada and a Padma ....
, which is, however, a wheel-shaped weapon and not a representation of a teaching.

See also

  • Ashtamangala
    Ashtamangala

    Ashtamangala are a sacred suite of Eight Auspicious Signs endemic to a number of Indian religions. The symbols or 'symbolic attributes' are yidam and teaching tools....
  • Chakravarti

Further reading

  • .