The Gankyil (,

Lhasa Lhasa (; Lhasa dialect: ; bo, text=ལྷ་ས, translation=Place of Gods) is the urban center of the prefecture-level Lhasa City and the administrative capital of Tibet Autonomous Region in Southwest China. The inner urban area of Lhasa ...

) or "wheel of joy" ( sa,

ānanda Ānanda (Pali and Sanskrit: आनन्द; 5th4th century BCE) was the primary attendant of the Buddha and one of his ten principal disciples. Among the Buddha's many disciples, Ānanda stood out for having the best memory. Most of the texts o ...

cakra Chakras (, ; sa , text=चक्र , translit=cakra , translit-std=IAST , lit=wheel, circle; pi, cakka) are various focal points used in a variety of ancient meditation practices, collectively denominated as Tantra, or the esoteric or ...

) is a symbol and ritual tool used in

Tibetan Tibetan may mean: * of, from, or related to Tibet * Tibetan people, an ethnic group * Tibetan language: ** Classical Tibetan, the classical language used also as a contemporary written standard ** Standard Tibetan, the most widely used spoken diale ...

and

East Asian Buddhism East Asian Buddhism or East Asian Mahayana is a collective term for the schools of Mahāyāna Buddhism that developed across East Asia which follow the Chinese Buddhist canon. These include the various forms of Chinese, Japanese, Korean, an ...

. It is composed of three (sometimes two or four) swirling and interconnected blades. The traditional spinning direction is clockwise (right turning), but the counter-clockwise ones are also common. The gankyil as inner wheel of the

dharmachakra The dharmachakra (Sanskrit: धर्मचक्र; Pali: ''dhammacakka'') or wheel of dharma is a widespread symbol used in Indian religions such as Hinduism, Jainism, and especially Buddhism.John C. Huntington, Dina Bangdel, ''The Circle o ...

is depicted on the

Flag of Sikkim At present there is no official flag of Sikkim, a state in India. The independent Kingdom of Sikkim did have a national flag until it became a state of India in 1975. Kingdom of Sikkim (1877–1975) The Kingdom of Sikkim had used several fla ...

Joseon Joseon (; ; Middle Korean: 됴ᇢ〯션〮 Dyǒw syéon or 됴ᇢ〯션〯 Dyǒw syěon), officially the Great Joseon (; ), was the last dynastic kingdom of Korea, lasting just over 500 years. It was founded by Yi Seong-gye in July 1392 and re ...

, and is also depicted on the Flag of Tibet and Emblem of Tibet.

Exegesis

In addition to linking the gankyil with the "wish-fulfilling jewel" (Skt.

cintamani Cintāmaṇi ( Sanskrit; Devanagari: चिंतामणि; Chinese: 如意寶珠; Pinyin: ''Rúyì bǎozhū''; Japanese Romaji: ''Nyoihōju; Tamil:சிந்தாமணி''), also spelled as Chintamani (or the ''Chintamani Stone''), i ...

), Robert Beer makes the following connections: The "victory" referred to above is symbolised by the dhvaja or "victory banner". Wallace (2001: p. 77) identifies the ''ānandacakra'' with the heart of the "cosmic body" of which Mount Meru is the epicentre:

Associated triunes

Ground, path, and fruit

* "

ground Ground may refer to: Geology * Land, the surface of the Earth not covered by water * Soil, a mixture of clay, sand and organic matter present on the surface of the Earth Electricity * Ground (electricity), the reference point in an electrical c ...

", "base" () * "path", "method" () * "fruit", "product" ()

Three humours of traditional Tibetan medicine

Attributes connected with the three humors (Sanskrit: '' tridoshas'', Tibetan: ''nyi pa gsum''): * Desire (Tibetan: འདོད་ཆགས�
’dod chags
is aligned with the humor ''Wind'' (

rlung Lung ( ''rlung'') means wind or breath. It is a key concept in the Vajrayana traditions of Tibetan Buddhism and has a variety of meanings. ''Lung'' is a concept that is particularly important to understandings of the subtle body and the trikaya ( ...

, , Sanskrit: '' vata'' - "air and aether constitution") * Hatred (Tibetan: ཞེ་སྡང་།
zhe sdang
') is aligned with the humor ''Bile'' (Tripa,
mkhris pa
', Sanskrit: '' pitta'' - "fire and water constitution") * Ignorance (Tibetan: གཏི་མུག
gti mug
') is aligned with the humor ''Phlegm'' (Béken
bad kan
', Sanskrit: ''kapha'' - "earth and water constitution").

Study, reflection, and meditation

* Study ( Tibetan: ཐོས་པ། '
thos
' +
pa
') * Reflection ( Tibetan: བསམ་པ།
sam
'+
pa
') * Meditation ( Tibetan: སྒོམ་པ།
sgom pa
') These three aspects are the ''mūla prajñā'' of the

sādhanā ''Sādhanā'' (; ; ) is an ego-transcending spiritual practice. It includes a variety of disciplines in Hindu, Buddhist and Jain traditions that are followed in order to achieve various spiritual or ritual objectives. Sadhana is done for a ...

of the

prajñāpāramitā A Tibetan painting with a Prajñāpāramitā sūtra at the center of the mandala Prajñāpāramitā ( sa, प्रज्ञापारमिता) means "the Perfection of Wisdom" or "Transcendental Knowledge" in Mahāyāna and Theravāda ...

, the "pāramitā of wisdom". Hence, these three are related to, but distinct from, the Prajñāpāramitā that denotes a particular cycle of discourse in the Buddhist literature that relates to the doctrinal field ( kṣetra) of the second turning of the dharmacakra.

Mula dharmas of the path

The Dzogchen teachings focus on three terms: * View (Tibetan: ལྟ་བ།
lta-ba
'), * Meditation (Tibetan: སྒོམ་པ།
sgom pa
'), * Action (Tibetan: སྤྱོད་པ།
spyod-pa
').

Triratna doctrine

The Triratna, Triple Jewel or Three Gems are triunic are therefore represented by the Gankyil: *

Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist tradition, he was born in L ...

(Tibetan: སངས་རྒྱས།, Sangye, Wyl. sangs rgyas) *

Dharma Dharma (; sa, धर्म, dharma, ; pi, dhamma, italic=yes) is a key concept with multiple meanings in Indian religions, such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism and others. Although there is no direct single-word translation for '' ...

(Tibetan: ཆོས།,Cho; Wyl. chos) *

Sangha Sangha is a Sanskrit word used in many Indian languages, including Pali meaning "association", "assembly", "company" or "community"; Sangha is often used as a surname across these languages. It was historically used in a political context t ...

(Tibetan: དགེ་དུན།,Gendun; Wyl. dge 'dun)

Three Roots

The Three Roots are: *

Guru Guru ( sa, गुरु, IAST: ''guru;'' Pali'': garu'') is a Sanskrit term for a "mentor, guide, expert, or master" of certain knowledge or field. In pan- Indian traditions, a guru is more than a teacher: traditionally, the guru is a reverential ...

(Tibetan: བླ་མ།, Wyl. bla ma) *

Yidam ''Yidam'' is a type of deity associated with tantric or Vajrayana Buddhism said to be manifestations of Buddhahood or enlightened mind. During personal meditation (''sādhana'') practice, the yogi identifies their own form, attributes and mi ...

(Tibetan: ཡི་དམ།,Wyl. yi dam; Skt. istadevata) *

Dakini A ḍākinī ( sa, डाकिनी; ; mn, хандарма; ; alternatively 荼枳尼, ; 荼吉尼, ; or 吒枳尼, ; Japanese: 荼枳尼 / 吒枳尼 / 荼吉尼, ''dakini'') is a type of female spirit, goddess, or demon in Hinduism and Bud ...

(Tibetan: མཁའ་འགྲོ་མ།, Khandroma; Wyl. mkha 'gro ma ) *

Three Higher Trainings

The three higher trainings (Tibetan:ལྷག་བའི་བསླབ་པ་གསུམ་, lhagpe labpa sum,or Wyl. bslab pa gsum) * discipline (Tibetan: ཚུལ་ཁྲིམས་ཀྱི་བསླབ་པ།, Wyl. tshul khrims kyi bslab pa) * meditation (Tibetan: ཏིང་ངེ་འཛན་གྱི་བསླབ་པ།,Wyl. ting nge 'dzin gyi bslab pa) * wisdom (Tibetan: ཤེས་རབ་ཀྱི་བསླབ་པ།, Wyl. shes rab kyi bslab pa )

Three Dharma Seals

The indivisible essence of the Three Dharma Seals (ལྟ་བ་བཀའ་རྟགས་ཀྱི་ཕྱག་རྒྱ་གསུམ།) is embodied and encoded within the Gankyil: *

Impermanence Impermanence, also known as the philosophical problem of change, is a philosophical concept addressed in a variety of religions and philosophies. In Eastern philosophy it is notable for its role in the Buddhist three marks of existence. It ...

(Tibetan: འདུ་བྱེ་ཐམས་ཅད་མི་རྟག་ཅིང་།) * anatta (Tibetan: ཆོས་རྣམས་སྟོང་ཞིང་བདག་མེད་པ།) *

Nirvana ( , , ; sa, निर्वाण} ''nirvāṇa'' ; Pali: ''nibbāna''; Prakrit: ''ṇivvāṇa''; literally, "blown out", as in an oil lamp Richard Gombrich, ''Theravada Buddhism: A Social History from Ancient Benāres to Modern Colomb ...

(Tibetan: མྱང་ངན་འདས་པ་ཞི་བའོ།།)

Three Turnings of the Wheel of Dharma

As the inner wheel of the

Vajrayana Vajrayāna ( sa, वज्रयान, "thunderbolt vehicle", "diamond vehicle", or "indestructible vehicle"), along with Mantrayāna, Guhyamantrayāna, Tantrayāna, Secret Mantra, Tantric Buddhism, and Esoteric Buddhism, are names referring t ...

Dharmacakra, the gankyil also represents the syncretic union and embodiment of

Gautama Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist tradition, he was born in L ...

Three Turnings of the Wheel of Dharma The Three Turnings of the Wheel (of Dharma) refers to a framework for understanding the sutra stream of the teachings of the Buddhism originally devised by the Yogachara school. It later became prevalent in modified form in Tibetan Buddhism and re ...

. The pedagogic upaya doctrine and classification of the "three turnings of the wheel" was first postulated by the Yogacara school.

Trikaya doctrine

The gankyil is the energetic signature of the Trikaya, realised through the transmutation of the obscurations forded by the

Three poisons The three poisons (Sanskrit: ''triviṣa''; Tibetan: ''dug gsum'') or the three unwholesome roots (Sanskrit: ''akuśala-mūla''; Pāli: ''akusala-mūla''), in Buddhism, refer to the three root kleshas: '' Moha'' (delusion, confusion), ''Raga'' ...

(refer klesha) and therefore in the Bhavachakra the Gankyil is an aniconic depiction of the snake, boar and fowl. Gankyil is to

Dharmachakra The dharmachakra (Sanskrit: धर्मचक्र; Pali: ''dhammacakka'') or wheel of dharma is a widespread symbol used in Indian religions such as Hinduism, Jainism, and especially Buddhism.John C. Huntington, Dina Bangdel, ''The Circle o ...

, as still eye is to cyclone, as Bindu is to

Mandala A mandala ( sa, मण्डल, maṇḍala, circle, ) is a geometric configuration of symbols. In various spiritual traditions, mandalas may be employed for focusing attention of practitioners and adepts, as a spiritual guidance tool, for e ...

. The Gankyil is the inner wheel of the

Dharmacakra (refer Himalayan

Ashtamangala The Ashtamangala is a sacred suite of ''Eight Auspicious Signs'' endemic to a number of religions such as Hinduism, Jainism, and Buddhism. The symbols or "symbolic attributes" () are yidam and teaching tools. Not only do these attributes (or en ...

). The Gankyil is symbolic of the Trikaya doctrine of dharmakaya (Tibetan: ཆོས་སྐུ།,Wyl.Chos sku), sambhogakaya (Tibetan:ལོངས་སྐུ་ Wyl. longs sku) and nirmanakaya (Tibetan:སྤྲུལ་སྐུ། Wyl.sprul sku) and also of the Buddhist understanding of the

interdependence Systems theory is the interdisciplinary study of systems, i.e. cohesive groups of interrelated, interdependent components that can be natural or human-made. Every system has causal boundaries, is influenced by its context, defined by its structu ...

of the

Three Vajras The Trikāya doctrine ( sa, त्रिकाय, lit. "three bodies"; , ) is a Mahayana Buddhist teaching on both the nature of reality and the nature of Buddhahood. The doctrine says that Buddha has three ''kāyas'' or ''bodies'', the ''Dharm ...

: of mind, voice and body. The divisions of the teaching of Dzogchen are for the purposes of explanation only; just as the Gankyil divisions are understood to dissolve in the energetic whirl of the ''Wheel of Joy''.

Three cycles of Nyingmapa Dzogchen

The Gankyil also embodies the three cycles of

Nyingma Nyingma (literally 'old school') is the oldest of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. It is also often referred to as ''Ngangyur'' (, ), "order of the ancient translations". The Nyingma school is founded on the first lineages and trans ...

Dzogchen codified by

Mañjuśrīmitra Mañjuśrīmitra (d. 740 CE) () was an Indian Buddhist scholar. He became the main student of Garab Dorje and a teacher of Dzogchen. Nomenclature and etymology Mañjuśrī-mitra was his ordination-name—before ordination he was named "Siddhi-garbh ...

: *

Semde Semde (; Sanskrit: ) translated as 'mind division', 'mind class' or 'mind series' is the name of one of three scriptural and lineage divisions within Atiyoga, Dzogchen or the Great Perfection which is itself the pinnacle of the ninefold divis ...

ibetan:སེམས་སྡེ།* Longdé ibetan:ཀློང་སྡེ།* Mengagde ibetan:མན་ངག་སྡེ།This classification determined the exposition of the Dzogchen teachings in the subsequent centuries.

Three Spheres

"Three spheres" (Sanskrit: trimandala; Tibetan: འཁོར་གསུམ།'khor gsum). The conceptualizations pertaining to: *subject, *object, and *action

Sound, light and rays

The triunic continuua of the esoteric Dzogchen doctrine of 'sound, light and rays' (སྒྲ་འོད་ཟེར་གསུམ། Wylie: sgra 'od zer gsum) is held within the energetic signature of the Gankyil. The doctrine of 'Sound, light and rays' is intimately connected with the Dzogchen teaching of the 'three aspects of the manifestation of energy'. Though thoroughly interpenetrating and nonlocalised, 'sound' may be understood to reside at the

heart The heart is a muscular Organ (biology), organ in most animals. This organ pumps blood through the blood vessels of the circulatory system. The pumped blood carries oxygen and nutrients to the body, while carrying metabolic waste such as ca ...

, the 'mind'-wheel; 'light' at the

throat In vertebrate anatomy, the throat is the front part of the neck, internally positioned in front of the vertebrae. It contains the pharynx and larynx. An important section of it is the epiglottis, separating the esophagus from the trachea (windpip ...

, the 'voice'-wheel; and 'rays' at the

head A head is the part of an organism which usually includes the ears, brain, forehead, cheeks, chin, eyes, nose, and mouth, each of which aid in various sensory functions such as sight, hearing, smell, and taste. Some very simple animals ...

, the 'body'-wheel. Some Dzogchen lineages for various purposes, locate 'rays' at the Ah-wheel (for

Five Pure Lights The Five Pure Lights () is an essential teaching in the Dzogchen tradition of Bon and Tibetan Buddhism. For the deluded, matter seems to appear. This is due to non-recognition of the five lights. Matter includes the ''mahābhūta'' or classical e ...

pranayama Pranayama is the yogic practice of focusing on breath. In Sanskrit, '' prana'' means "vital life force", and ''yama'' means to gain control. In yoga, breath is associated with ''prana'', thus, pranayama is a means to elevate the '' prana'' ''s ...

) and 'light' at the Aum-wheel (for rainbow body), and there are other enumerations.

Three lineages of Nyingmapa Dzogchen

The Gankyil also embodies the three tantric lineages as

Penor Rinpoche Kyabjé Drubwang Padma Norbu Rinpoche (), 1932 – 27 March 2009, was the 11th throneholder of the Palyul Lineage of the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism, and said to be an incarnation of Vimalamitra. He was widely renowned in the Tibetan Bu ...

, a

pa, states:

According to the history of the origin of tantras there are three lineages: *The Lineage of Buddha's Intention, which refers to the teachings of the Truth Body originating from the primordial Buddha Samantabhadra, who is said to have taught tantras to an assembly of completely enlightened beings emanated from the Truth Body itself. Therefore, this level of teaching is considered as being completely beyond the reach of ordinary human beings. *The Lineage of the Knowledge Holders corresponds to the teachings of the Enjoyment Body originating from Vajrasattva and Vajrapani, whose human lineage begins with Garab Dorje of the Ögyan Dakini land. From him the lineage passed to Manjushrimitra, Shrisimha and then to Guru Rinpoche, Jnanasutra, Vimalamitra and Vairochana who disseminated it in Tibet. *Lastly, the Human Whispered Lineage corresponds to the teachings of the Emanation Body, originating from the Five Buddha Families. They were passed on to Shrisimha, who transmitted them to Guru Rinpoche, who in giving them to Vimalamitra started the lineage which has continued in Tibet until the present day.

Three aspects of energy in Dzogchen

The Gankyil also embodies the energy manifested in the three aspects that yield the energetic

emergence In philosophy, systems theory, science, and art, emergence occurs when an entity is observed to have properties its parts do not have on their own, properties or behaviors that emerge only when the parts interact in a wider whole. Emergenc ...

For a sound introduction to "emergence" refer: Corning, Peter A. (2002). ''The Re-emergence of "Emergence": A Venerable Concept in Search of a Theory''. Institute For the Study of Complex Systems. NB: initially published in and © by ''Complexity'' (2002) 7(6): pp.18-30. Source: (accessed: February 5, 2008) (Tibetan: རང་བྱུན།
rang byung
') of phenomena ( Tibetan: ཆོས་ Wylie: "chos" Sanskrit: '' dharmas'') and sentient beings (Tibetan: ཡིད་ཅན།
yid can
'): # ''dang'' (གདངས། Wylie:
gDangs
'), this is an infinite and formless level of compassionate energy and reflective capacity, it is "an awareness free from any restrictions and as an energy free from any limits or form." # ''rolpa'' (རོལ་པ། Wylie:
Rol-pa
'). These are the manifestations which appear to be internal to the individual (such as when a crystal ball seems to reflect something inside itself). # ''tsal'' (རྩལ། Wylie:
rTsal
', is "the manifestation of the energy of the individual him or herself, as an apparently 'external' world," though this apparent externality is only just "a manifestation of our own energy, at the level of Tsal." This is explained through the use of a crystal prism which reflects and refracts white light into various other forms of light. Though not discrete correlates, ''dang'' equates to '' dharmakaya''; ''rolpa'' to '' sambhogakaya''; and ''tsal'' to '' nirmanakaya''.

In Bon

Three Treasures of Yungdrung Bon

In Bon, the gankyil denotes the three principal terma cycles of Yungdrung Bon: the Northern Treasure (), the Central Treasure () and the Southern Treasure ().M. Alejandro Chaoul-Reich (2000). "Bön Monasticism". Cited in: William M. Johnston (author, editor) (2000). ''Encyclopedia of monasticism, Volume 1''. Taylor & Francis. , . Source

(accessed: Saturday April 24, 2010), p.171 The Northern Treasure is compiled from texts revealed in Zhangzhung and northern Tibet, the Southern Treasure from texts revealed in

Bhutan Bhutan (; dz, འབྲུག་ཡུལ་, Druk Yul ), officially the Kingdom of Bhutan,), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is situated in the Eastern Himalayas, between China in the north and India in the south. A mountainou ...

and southern Tibet, and the Central Treasure from texts revealed in

Ü-Tsang Ü-Tsang is one of the three traditional provinces of Tibet, the others being Amdo in the north-east, and Kham in the east. Ngari (including former Guge kingdom) in the north-west was incorporated into Ü-Tsang. Geographically Ü-Tsang covered ...

near

Samye Samye (, ), full name Samye Mighur Lhundrub Tsula Khang (Wylie: ''Bsam yas mi ’gyur lhun grub gtsug lag khang'') and Shrine of Unchanging Spontaneous Presence is the first Tibetan Buddhist and Nyingma monastery built in Tibet, during the reign ...

. The gankyil is the central part of the

shang The Shang dynasty (), also known as the Yin dynasty (), was a Chinese royal dynasty founded by Tang of Shang (Cheng Tang) that ruled in the Yellow River valley in the second millennium BC, traditionally succeeding the Xia dynasty and ...

(Tibetan: ''gchang''), a traditional ritual tool and instrument of the

Bönpo ''Bon'', also spelled Bön () and also known as Yungdrung Bon (, "eternal Bon"), is a Tibetan religious tradition with many similarities to Tibetan Buddhism and also many unique features.Samuel 2012, pp. 220-221. Bon initially developed in t ...

shaman Shamanism is a religious practice that involves a practitioner (shaman) interacting with what they believe to be a spirit world through altered states of consciousness, such as trance. The goal of this is usually to direct spirits or spir ...

References

Citations

Works cited

* Beer, Robert (2003). ''The Handbook of Tibetan Buddhist Symbols''. Serindia Publications. Source

(accessed: December 7, 2007) *Besch, Florian (2006). ''Tibetan Medicine Off the Roads: Modernizing the Work of the Amchi in Spiti''. Source

(accessed: February 11, 2008) *Günther, Herbert (undated). ''Three, Two, Five''.

(accessed: April 30, 2007) *Ingersoll, Ernest (1928). ''Dragons and Dragon Lore.'

(accessed: June 12, 2008)\* Alfred Kazin, Kazin, Alfred (1946). ''The Portable Blake.'' (Selected and arranged with an introduction by Alfred Kazin.) New York:

The Viking Press Viking Press (formally Viking Penguin, also listed as Viking Books) is an American publishing company owned by Penguin Random House. It was founded in New York City on March 1, 1925, by Harold K. Guinzburg and George S. Oppenheim and then acquir ...

. * . *Nalimov, V. V. (1982). ''Realms of the Unconscious: The Enchanted Frontier''. University Park, PA: ISI Press. *Penor Rinpoche (undated). ''The school of Nyingma thought'

(accessed: June 12, 2008) *Southworth, Franklink C. (2005? forthcoming). ''Proto-Dravidian Agriculture.'' Source

(accessed: February 10, 2008) * Sam van Schaik, Van Schaik, Sam (2004). ''Approaching the Great Perfection: Simultaneous and Gradual Methods of Dzogchen Practice in the Longchen Nyingtig''. Wisdom Publications. . Source:

(accessed: February 2, 2008) *Wayman, Alex (?) ''A Problem of 'Synonyms' in the Tibetan Language: Bsgom pa and Goms pa''. Source:

o be supplied when have more bandwidth O, or o, is the fifteenth letter and the fourth vowel letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''o'' (pronounced ), pl ...

(accessed: February 10, 2008) NB: published in the ''Journal of the Tibet Society''.

External links

Entry for ''dga' 'khyil''
in Rang Jung Yeshe Wiki (with picture). {{Buddhism topics Buddhist symbols Tantric practices Tibetan Buddhist practices Rotational symmetry