DHARMACHAKRA

Life is like a wheel. Sooner or later, it always comes around to where you started again.

A wheel has three basic parts; the hub, the rim, and the spokes. Dharmachakra is a symbolic wheel with 8 spokes inherent in it. Over the centuries, various teachers and traditions have proposed diverse meanings for these parts.

The circle, the round shape of the wheel, represents the perfection of the dharma, the Buddha-s teaching.

The rim of the wheel represents meditative concentration and mindfulness, which hold practice together.

The hub represents moral discipline. 

The three swirls often seen on the hub are sometimes said to represent the Three Treasures or Three Jewels, Buddha, dharma, sangha. They may also represent joy.

The number of spokes signifies different teaching.

When a wheel has four spokes, which is rare, the spokes represent either the Four Noble Truths or the four dhyanas.

One of the Eight Auspicious Symbols of Buddhism, an eight-spoke wheel is most common form of the wheel in Buddhism, the spokes represent the following Eight fold Path:

 Right View, Right Intention, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Concentration, Right Mindfulness

The ten spokes wheel represent the ten directions; in effect, everywhere.

The twelve spokes represent the Twelve Links of Dependent Origination.

When a wheel has twenty four spokes; the first 12 spokes represent 12 stages of suffering. Next 12 spokes (reverse spoke) represent no cause no effect. This means, formation of mental conditioning stops due to awareness of mind. These 12 and reverse 12 (a total 24) spokes represent the dharma. The twelve stages are as under:

Ignorance (Avidya), Conditioning of mind unknowingly (Sanskara), Consciousness (Vijana), Name and form i.e constituent elements of mental and physical existence(Namarupa), Six senses i.e. eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind (Salayatana), Contact (Sparsa), Sensation (Vedana), Thirst (Tanha), Grasping (Upadana), Coming to be (Bhava), Being born (Jati), Old age and death (Jaramarana)

 

24 spoke dharma wheels called "Ashoka chakra" are found on the pillars erected by Ashoka the Great (304-232 BCE), an emperor who ruled much of India and beyond. Ashoka was a great patron of Buddhism and encouraged its spread. In 1947, the government of India adopted a new national flag, in the centre of which is a navy blue Ashoka Chakra on a white background.

Thirty one spokes depicting 31 kingdoms of existence from ancient Buddhist transcripts.

The dharma wheel, or dharmachakra in Sanskrit, is one of the oldest symbols of Buddhism. Around the globe, it is used to represent Buddhism in the same way that a cross represents Christianity or a Star of David represents Judaism. Similar symbols are found in Jainism and Hinduism, and it is likely the dharmachakra symbol in Buddhism evolved out of Hinduism.