Buddhist Symbols in Tibetan Culture by Loden Sherap Dagyab

Author:Loden Sherap Dagyab
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Wisdom Publications
Published: 2016-01-25T16:00:00+00:00

The Precious Wheel

(’khor-lo rin-po-che, Skt. cakraratna)

As among the Eight Symbols of Good Fortune, here also the wheel is understood to be an extremely powerful sign, representing among other things:

•a weapon, instrument, or vehicle through whose qualities and possibilities the rule of the cakravartin is established and maintained; 67

•a symbol of his movement, mobility, his reach, and thus the extent of his territorial claims,

•the sun as a “royal emblem”; 68

•the realm ruled over by the cakravartin — his kingdom; 69

•the wheel of Buddhist doctrine, from which a symbolic equation of cakravartin and buddha can be deduced. 70

Mindful Establishment of the Excellent Dharma describes it in great detail:

The precious wheel possesses five evident qualities:

First, it is made of gold from the River Dzambu (’dzam-bu’i chu), it measures five hundred yojana (dpag-tshad),71 and it has a thousand spokes. It is as beautiful as a second sun in the world…

Second, in a single day, it rolls unhindered for a hundred thousand yojana through the sky.

Third, wherever the cakravartin wishes to go — to the [continents of] Balangchö (ba-lang-spyod) in the west, Lüpak (lus-’phags) in the east, Draminyen (sgra-mi-snyan) in the north, [or] the divine realm of the four great kings (rgyal-chen bzi’i lha-gnas) — he goes there in the sky (nam-mkha’-la) with the aid of the thousand-spoked wheel. Through its power, he can ride the length of the sky with the four sections of his army: elephants, cavalry, chariots, and infantry.

Fourth, with its help, the cakravartin can hear the inaudible.

Fifth, it overcomes all resistance. To the king who possesses the Dharma and follows the Dharma, kings and ministers submit (’thams-cad ’bul-te, literally, “offer everything”) as Dharma friends72 as soon as they see him.73

The “great kings of the four realms” are the guardians of the four quarters, as described by Rigzin74 and illustrated in Tibetan Religious Art.75

In view of the powerful descriptions of Mindful Establishment of the Excellent Dharma, one might wonder what lies behind them. They can be supplemented by the religious explanations of Analysis of the Cause (rGyu gdags-pa, Skt. Kāraṇa-prajñapti):

In the manner of the cakravartin’s precious wheel, so should one consider the eight steps of the noble path of the Thus Gone (de-bzhin-gshegs-pa, Skt. tathāgata), the foe destroyer (dgra-bcom-pa, Skt. arhat), the perfect buddha (yang-dag par rdzogs-pa’i sangs-rgyas, Skt. samyak-sambuddha). Through getting rid of the defilements and obstructions with regard to all phenomena, the blessed one (bcom-ldan-’das) has realized the eight steps of the noble path. Just as the king, with the aid of the wheel, has conquered the entire earth, so too the Buddha, through the power of the path, has cut through the bonds of the demons (bdud, Skt. māra).76

The symbolic equation of cakravartin (who turns the wheel) and the Buddha (who has, likewise, set in motion the wheel of Dharma) is easy to follow. The possessor of unlimited worldly power and the possessor of unlimited spiritual power are, from the point of view of Buddhist practice, coded terms for the aim of the practitioner — to overcome all limitations,

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