Still II ~ Eight

- CHAPTER TWENTY -

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The Dharma Wheel

Buddhist Dharma Wheel

"The Dharma Wheel is used internationally by Buddhists of all sects. It is also shown with the spokes protruding from the edge. It has eight spokes. Also called the Wheel of Life, it illustrates the law of karma, cause and effect and the wheel of life and death on which all unenlightened beings are trapped."

- Thunder Bay Buddhist Fellowship

THE NOBLE EIGHTFOLD PATH

"When the Buddha gave his first sermon in the Deer Park, he began the 'Turning of the Dharma Wheel'. He chose the beautiful symbol of the wheel with its eight spokes to represent the Noble Eightfold Path . The Buddha's teaching goes round and round like a great wheel that never stops, leading to the central point of the wheel, the only point which is fixed, Nirvana. The eight spokes on the wheel represent the eight parts of the Noble Eightfold Path. Just as every spoke is needed for the wheel to keep turning, we need to follow each step of the path."

- Following the Buddha's Footsteps

Golden deer & the 'wheel of the Dharma' on the roof of the Jokhang temple in Lhasa

"The 'Dharma Wheel' is a metaphor for the unfolding and maturation of the Dharma in the world, once it has been revealed by a Buddha. 'Setting the Dharma Wheel in motion' is another way of saying 'revealing and propagating the Dharma'."

- Glossary of Buddhist Terms

"When the dharma wheel turns
it always goes in both directions.
The still point is its hub, and from here,
all of our myriad activities emerge.
Rather than give solace to the body,
give solace to the mind.
When both body and mind are at peace,
all things appear as they are:
perfect, complete, lacking nothing."

- Master Dogen's 300 Koan Shobogenzo
Yaoshan's Non-Thinking

"To the popular mind, the Second Coming is the apparition of Jesus, Deus ex machina, from outside of Time to end Time. But we must remember that Jesus is the Octave: He is Eighth in the line of the Hebrew prophets; His incarnation, as prophesied, occurs in the eighth "world month"; the gematria of His name is 888. The Eighth simultaneously completes the lower Octave and inaugurates the next higher -- exactly as the Messiah is both the final event of Time and the first event of the new Aeon. Q.e.d., He will not come from outside of Space/Time, but He will come from the Microcosm, which is the Infinite human Interior -- the great Chalice of the ultimate Transubstantiation."

- In Quest of the Grail

The Gesture of Turning the Wheel of Dharma and Meditation

The gesture of the right hand stands for turning the wheel of Dharma, while that of the left hand symbolizes meditation. The two conjoined symbolize teaching the Dharma while in meditation on emptiness.

- Buddhist Hand Gestures

"As slowly turns the grinding wheel"

"Every state of existence, good or bad, animal, ghostly, hellish or heavenly is caused by ethically good or evil deeds. Karmic justice, like the mills of the Greek gods, may grind very slowly but grinds exceedingly fine. The only genuine escape from karmic justice is not into a better life or better world but into Nirvana."

- Judeo-Christian and Buddhistic Justice

"The circular design in the centre of the card is the "Wheel of Ezekiel," as seen by the Biblical prophet and referred to in Ezekiel 1. The eight letters on the outer ring of the wheel take the form of two groups. One group reads "TARO" and the other contains the Hebrew letters "Yod Heh Vav Heh" (YHVH or Jehovah) - sometimes known as the "Tetragrammaton." The word TARO refers both to the cards and the processes they symbolically depict, and, reorganized to ROTA, the concept of periodicity. The letters YHVH mean "that which was, is, and is to come," and one of the meanings of this phrase is that life takes place in the eternal Now. The alchemical symbols in the second ring are those of salt, sulphur, mercury and man. The first three are the three principal elements of alchemy, symbolizing the primordial principles which bring ourselves and our world into being. The symbol of Aquarius, man, below them infers that it is the action of man's consciousness that will bring about the final integration of the three elements and thus the return of matter to its infinite source."

- Key to the Gnosis

"This bas relief carving shows the story, from the Mahabharata, of Lord Vishnu's descent as a charioteer to advise the faltering hero Arjuna.

The image gives all the elements of the story: two huge armies poised for battle, the chariot, the startled Arjuna, his bow and quiver beside him, kneeling when he realizes his charioteer is Lord Vishnu himself, and the benevolent god.

"great armies stir"

Vishnu's hands are held in positions typical of a benevolent, teaching manner. His left hand, with thumb and forefinger touching, reaches out towards Arjuna; this is a traditional symbol of teaching. (Note also its similarity to the hand position used by eastern Orthodox priests when making the sign of the cross, and to the hand position -- thumb touching ring finger -- which is typically used in orthodox icons of Jesus and the Saints. Jesus and Vishnu -- the benevolent teachers!)"

- Hinduism

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