What does the image of a wheel in Buddhism mean?VIETNAMESE TRANSLATE ENGLISH BY=VIETNAMESE BUDDHIST NUN=THICH CHAN TANH.

Buddhism conceives that the present is the moment to show the true, flexible life of each person. But what in the past, whether bitter failure or successful success is only in memories and expectations of the future is just an illusion in the minds of each person. It is also a meaning floor of the wheel image in Buddhism.

Each person's life is like a wheel on the road of life

To understand first, please talk about wheel image in Buddhism in the most understandable angle that is philosophy of life. One of the important inventions that greatly influenced the history of human civilization is the wheel.

Looking at the technical mechanisms or most of the transport, from a rudimentary vehicle to the sophisticated machinery systems, we can easily recognize the role of this invention in life. daily life of each person. In the field of belief and culture, the wheel is also a very common symbol in religious traditions on many different continents.

For Buddhism, this symbol has become one of the most representative, sacred and meaningful images for the existence and mission of this spiritual tradition for mankind for more than two thousand years. by. 

In his article "The image of the wheel in Buddhism", author Thich Dong Thanh made the remark that, in the operation of the flow of life, each person's life is like a wheel rolling on the road of life. Interestingly, while the circumference of this wheel is very large, the contact of the wheel with the ground is only a small point.

Thus, the most vivid and practical values ​​of this wheel operation are not at the passing points or the points that have not come into contact with the ground on the wheels but the current contact points. . 

Similarly, Buddhism considers each person's life in the present to be the key to manipulating happiness in this life. What in the past, whether bitter failure or successful success is only in memory and the expectations of the future are just an illusion in the minds of each person only. The present is the moment to show the true, flexible life of each person.

To create a life of true happiness and happiness, people need to identify and be exposed to what they are in the present. Living with the present is the real life and through which people can feel the true values ​​of life. That is the real life and the infinite mystery.

According to author Thich Dong Thanh, the origin of the wheel image in Buddhism is probably derived from a story in the scriptures. It is said that Venerable Maudgalyayana, the leading disciple of the Buddha's supernatural power, not only practiced in the human realm but also often traveled to the realms of hell, hungry ghosts, animals, and heaven.

After witnessing the scene of sentient beings dying, being slaughtered, tortured in hell, scenes of animals scrambling and killing one another, the scenes of hungry demons, and the heavenly people being blessed lost, depressed, the scene of humankind being torn apart, the catastrophic catastrophe ..., the venerable went back to the world of Yancheng (India) and narrated these eyes and ears to these four German disciples Buddha, advised them to be aware of the constant suffering of the Sàsā realms that diligently cultivate towards the tranquil tranquil realms. 

According to Buddhism, all the wheels turn towards enlightenment

Once, when the Buddha resided in Wang Xa citadel, Venerable Maudgalyayana also brought the above sufferings to encourage renunciations. When the Buddha saw everyone around and listened attentively to the false Venerable Buddha, he asked Ananda why people were surrounding Venerable Maudgalyayana, when he knew the reason, the Buddha said, "Elder Kiền Liên or any other bhikkhus like the elder could not be present at many places at the same time (to educate people), therefore, it is advisable to make a five-part wheel image right at the entrance. (of the monastery). " 

At that time, the monks were still puzzled, not knowing how to design the wheel, the Buddha instructed as follows: the five parts of the wheel were illustrated to symbolize the five realms and the three realms. below is hell, cattle birth, hungry ghosts, the two realms above are heaven and man, scenes of the four continents of Dongsheng, Xiuwu, Beifang, and Nam Diem are also added.

In the middle is the image of three animals: pigeons (lure for greed), snakes (lure for the yard), and pigs (lure for si), the liberating images of the Buddhas and the realm of Nirvana. halo, the sublime life is illustrated with scenes of beings submerged in water, the outer ring showing the 12 elements of dependent origination in two opposite directions.

This wheel shows all the details of the realm of reincarnation in all times, and it is all swallowed by impermanence (demons). In addition to the images above, two verses talking about the practice of the Dharma to subdue afflictions and escape the cycle of reincarnation should also be carved on the wheel.

Also according to this sutta, every time you go to the monastery, the laity ask about the meaning of the image of the wheel, there are some monks who cannot explain it. Therefore, according to the teachings of the Buddha, the bhikkhus then chose the fully knowledgeable monks to explain to the lay people about the above meaning whenever they asked. 

Where the wheels roll to delusion, afflictions are also crushed

When learning about wheel images in Buddhism, it is impossible not to mention the dharma. Dharma is the dharma wheel. Dharma here is the principle or truth that Buddha realized during the enlightenment night and then he declared to the people. 

The wheel of Dharma moves endlessly, the teachings of the Buddha are constantly developing, timely, organic, logical, but the function is still moving, bringing sentient beings from dark to light, from misery to joy, from low up, from ignorance to Enlightenment, from hell to Nirvana. Where the legal roll of the wheel is, thorns and gravel will be crushed there, and the delusion will be crushed.

The dharma wheel just goes straight ahead, never retreating. The first sermon of the Buddha Shakyamuni taught in the Deer Park to four brothers Mr. Kiều-Trần-Như, talking about the Four Noble Truths, called the Buddha turning the wheel of dharma for the first time (first turning the wheel of dharma) The french wheel is drawn in a circle with 6, 8 or 12 frames. The number 12 represents "Twelve conditions", the number 8 represents the "Eightfold Path", the number 6 represents "Six Paths". 

The artists also paint the Dharma wheel placed on a lotus symbolizing the Buddha Dharma as pure as a lotus sprouting in the mud rising from the mud without stinking of the mud. The Buddha Dharma takes people from a polluted place to a pure, high place. There is a painter who paints the hand supporting the Dharma wheel in the center of the swastika. It means that the Buddha Dharma is noble.

Dharma wheel can be created, described according to the vibe of the spirit, but the meaning of the dharma wheel is met at the point of bringing sentient beings out of samsara, escaping from the deep samsara, having supernormal functions. color to save sentient beings. In the Buddhist scriptures, for example, the crippled one relies on a wheelchair that moves far away, being dependent on the Buddha Dharma and progressing toward enlightenment and liberation. END=NAM MO SHAKYAMUNI BUDDHA.( 3 TIMES ).GOLDEN AMITABHA MONASTERY=VIETNAMESE BUDDHIST NUN=THICH CHAN TANH.AUSTRALIA,SYDNEY.25/6/2020.