Dharmachakra

The dharmachakra (IAST: dharmacakra; Pali dhammacakka; "Wheel of the Dharma"), is one of the Ashtamangala^[1] of Indian religions such as Jainism, Buddhism and Hinduism. It has represented the Buddhist dharma, Gautama Buddha's teaching of the path to Nirvana, since the time of early Buddhism.^{[2][note 1]}

Etymology

The Sanskrit noun dharma is a derivation from the root dhṛ, which has a meaning of "to hold, maintain, keep",^{[note 2]} and takes a meaning of "what is established or firm", and hence "law". It is derived from the Vedic Sanskrit n-stem dharman- with the meaning "bearer, supporter" in the historical Vedic religion conceived of as an aspect of Ṛta.^[4]

The word chakra "wheel" derives from Proto-Indo-European *kʷekʷlos, and its cognates include Greek kyklos, Lithuanian kaklas, Tocharian B kokale, Slavic koleso and English "wheel," as well as "circle" and "cycle."^[5][6] *kʷekʷlos is derived from the root *kʷel-, a verb that meant "to turn.".^[6]

History

Old style Dharma Wheel. Spiti Valley, Himachal Pradesh, India

The wheel is also the main attribute of Vishnu, the Vedic god of preservation.^[7]

A dharma wheel has three basic parts—the hub, the rim, and the spokes. Over the centuries various teachers and traditions have proposed diverse meanings for these parts, and explaining all of them possibly would take a book. Here are some common understandings of the wheel's symbolism:

• The circle, the round shape of the wheel, represents the perfection of the dharma, the Buddha's teachings.
• The rim of the wheel represents meditative concentration and mindfulness, which hold practice together.
• The hub represents moral discipline.

The wheel often has spokes protruding beyond the wheel, which we might imagine are spikes, although usually they don't look very sharp. The spikes represent various penetrating insights.

Usage

Hindu usage

According to the Puranas of Hinduism, only 24 Rishis or Sages managed the whole power of the Gayatri Mantra. The 24 letters of the Gayatri Mantra depict those 24 Rishis. Those Rishis represent all the Rishis of the Himalayas, of which the first was Maharshi Vishvamitra and the last was Rishi Yajnavalkya, the author of Yājñavalkya Smṛti which is a Hindu text of the Dharmaśāstra tradition. The Ashoka Chakra which is the symbol of Dharmachakra is also known as Samay Chakra or the "Wheel of Time", since, its 24 spokes represent the 24 hours of the day. The 24 spokes of the Ashoka Chakra represent:

1. Love
2. Courage
3. Patience
4. Peacefulness
5. Magnanimity
6. Goodness
7. Faithfulness
8. Gentleness
9. Selflessness
10. Self-Control
11. Self Sacrifice
12. Truthfulness
13. Righteousness
14. Justice
15. Mercy
16. Gracefulness
17. Humility
18. Empathy
19. Sympathy
20. Spiritual Knowledge
21. Moral Values
22. Spiritual Wisdom
23. The Fear of God
24. Faith or Belief or Hope

Also an integral part of the emblem is the motto inscribed below the abacus in Devanagari script: Satyameva Jayate (English: Truth Alone Triumphs).^[8] This is a quote from the Mundaka Upanishad,^[9] the concluding part of the sacred Hindu Vedas. In the Bhagavad Gita too, verses 14, 15 and 16, of Chapter 3 speak about the revolving wheel thus: "From food, the beings are born; from rain, food is produced; rain proceeds from sacrifice (yagnya); yagnya arises out of action; know that from Brahma, action proceeds; Brahma is born of Brahman, the eternal Paramatman. The one who does not follow the wheel thus revolving, leads a sinful, vain life, rejoicing in the senses." ^[10]

Buddhist usage

The Dharmachakra is one of the ashtamangala of Buddhism.^{[11][note 3]} It is one of the oldest known Buddhist symbols found in Indian art, appearing with the first surviving post-Indus Valley Civilization Indian iconography in the time of the Buddhist king Ashoka.^{[2][2][note 1]}

The Buddha is said to have set the dhammacakka in motion when he delivered his first sermon,^[12] which is described in the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta. The wheel itself depicts ideas about the cycle of saṃsāra.

Buddhism adopted the wheel as the main symbol of the cakravartin "wheel-turner", the ideal king^[12] or "universal monarch",^[7][12] symbolising the ability to cut through all obstacles and illusions.^[7]

According to Harrison, the symbolism of "the wheel of the law" and the order of Nature is also visible in the Tibetan prayer wheels.The moving wheels symbolizes the movement of cosmic order (ṛta).^[13]

Beyond Buddhism

• Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, first Vice President of India has stated that the Ashoka Chakra of India represents the Dharmachakra.^[14]
• In the Vishnu Purana and Bhagavata Purana, two kings named Jadabharata of the Hindu solar and lunar dynasties respectively are referred to as "Chakravartins"^[15]
• Jagdish Chandra Jain referred to this icon in Kalinga.^[16] In Jainism, the Dharmachakra is worshipped as a symbol of the dharma.
• Other "cakras" appear in other Indian traditions, e.g. Vishnu's Sudarśanacakra, a wheel-shaped weapon.
• The former Flag of Sikkim featured a version of the dharmachakra.
• Thai people also use a yellow flag with a red dhammacakka as their Buddhist flag.
• The emblem of Mongolia includes a dharmachakra together with some other Buddhist attributes such as the padma, cintamani, a blue khata and the Soyombo symbol.
• The dharmachakra is also the insignia for Buddhist chaplains in the United States Armed Forces.
• In non-Buddhist cultural contexts, an eight-spoked dharmachakra resembles a traditional ship's wheel. As a nautical emblem, this image is a common sailor tattoo.
• In the Unicode computer standard, the dharmachakra is called the "Wheel of Dharma" and found in the eight-spoked form. It is represented as U+2638 (☸).

• 

  The Emblem of Mongolia includes the dharmachakra, a cintamani, a padma, blue khata and the Soyombo symbol

• 

  The Emblem of Sri Lanka, featuring a blue dharmachakra as the crest

• 

  The Flag of India has the Ashoka Chakra at its center representing the Dharmachakra.^[1]

• 

  The flag of the former Kingdom of Sikkim featured a version of the Dharmachakra

• 

  The dhammacakka flag, the symbol of Buddhism in Thailand

• 

  The seal of Thammasat University in Thailand consisting of a Constitution on phan with a twelve-spoked dhammacakkka

• 

  The insignia for Buddhist chaplains in the United States Armed Forces.

1. ^ See the national flag code at http://www.mahapolice.gov.in/mahapolice/jsp/temp/html/flag_code_of_india.pdf and also the national symbols page of the National Portal of India at http://india.gov.in/india-glance/national-symbols

Notes

1. Grünwedel e.a.:"The wheel (dharmachakra) as already mentioned, was adopted by Buddha's disciples as the symbol of his doctrine, and combined with other symbols—a trident placed above it, etc.—stands for him on the sculptures of the Asoka period."^[2]
2. Monier Williams, A Sanskrit Dictionary (1899): "to hold , bear (also bring forth) , carry , maintain , preserve, keep , possess , have , use , employ , practise , undergo"^[3]
3. Goetz: "dharmachakra, symbol of the Buddhist faith".^[11]

References

1. ancient-symbols.com, Buddhist symbols
2. Grünwedel 1901, p. 67.
3. Monier Willams
4. Day 1982, p. 42-45.
5. Mallory 1997, p. 640.
6. Anthony 2007, p. 34.
7. Beer 2003, p. 14.
8. Kamal Dey v. Union of India and State of West Bengal (Calcutta High Court 2011-07-14). Text
9. "Rajya Sabha Parliamentary Standing Committee On Home Affairs: 116th Report on The State Emblem Of India (Prohibition Of Improper Use) Bill, 2004" (PDF). Archived 8 March 2013 at the Wayback Machine.
10. http://www.vivekananda.net/PDFBooks/bhagavadgitawith00londiala.pdf
11. Goetz 1964, p. 52.
12. Pal 1986, p. 42.
13. Harrison 2010 (1912), p. 526.
14. See the national flag code at http://www.mahapolice.gov.in/mahapolice/jsp/temp/html/flag_code_of_india.pdf and also the national symbols page of the National Portal of India at http://india.gov.in/india-glance/national-symbols
15. Kurt Titze, Klaus Bruhn, Jainism: A Pictorial Guide to the Religion of Non-violence
16. "Framing the Jina: Narratives of Icons and Idols in Jain History", p. 314, by John Cort, publisher = Oxford University

Sources

• Anthony, David W. (2007), The Horse The Wheel and Language. How Bronze-Age Riders From The Eurasian Steppes Shaped The Modern World, Princeton University Press
• Beer, Robert (2003), The Handbook of Tibetan Buddhist Symbols, Serindia Publications, Inc., ISBN 9781932476033
• Day, Terence P. (1982), The Conception of Punishment in Early Indian Literature, Ontario: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, ISBN 0-919812-15-5
• Goetz, Hermann (1964), The art of India: five thousand years of Indian art., Crown
• Grünwedel, Albert; Gibson, Agnes C.; Burgess, James (1901), Buddhist art in India, Bernard Quaritch
• Harrison, Jane Ellen (2010) [1912], Themis: A Study of the Social Origins of Greek Religion, Cambridge University Press
• Hiltebeitel, Alf (2007), Hinduism. In: Joseph Kitagawa, "The Religious Traditions of Asia: Religion, History, and Culture". Digital printing 2007, Routledge
• Inden, Ronald (1998), Ritual, Authority, And Cycle Time in Hindu Kingship. In: JF Richards, ed., "Kingship and Authority in South Asia", New Delhi: Oxford University Press
• Mallory, J.P. (1997), Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture, London: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, ISBN 978-1-884964-98-5
• Nath, Vijay (2001), "From 'Brahmanism' to 'Hinduism': Negotiating the Myth of the Great Tradition", Social Scientist 2001, pp. 19-50, doi:10.2307/3518337
• Pal, Pratapaditya (1986), Indian Sculpture: Circa 500 B.C.-A.D. 700, University of California Press
• Queen, Christopher S.; King, Sallie B. (1996), Engaged Buddhism: Buddhist liberation movements in Asia., SUNY Press
• Samuel, Geoffrey (2010), The Origins of Yoga and Tantra. Indic Religions to the Thirteenth Century, Cambridge University Press
• Yan, Xiaojing (2009), The confluence of East and West in Nestorian Arts in China. In: Dietmar W. Winkler, Li Tang (eds.), Hidden Treasures and Intercultural Encounters: Studies on East Syriac Christianity in China and Central Asia, LIT Verlag Münster

Further reading

• Dorothy C. Donath (1971). Buddhism for the West: Theravāda, Mahāyāna and Vajrayāna; a comprehensive review of Buddhist history, philosophy, and teachings from the time of the Buddha to the present day. Julian Press. ISBN 0-07-017533-0.

External links

• Media related to Dharmachakra at Wikimedia Commons
• Buddhist Wheel Symbol (Dharmachakra)