In the Deer Park at Isipatana the Blessed One has set in motion the unexcelled Wheel of Dhamma that cannot be stopped by brahman or contemplative, deva, Mara, or God or anyone at all in the cosmos.
Symbols
Buddhism isn’t just an intellectual philosophy. Its teachings communicate an understanding of life that words and ideas can’t fully capture, so as well as conceptual teachings, Buddhism uses the language of symbols. Some symbols, such as the path, or the Wheel of Life are metaphors used to understand Buddhist practice, while others are visual images that possess a rich meaning for Buddhists.
Some Buddhist Symbols
The Wheel
The wheel symbolises the Dharma, or the teachings of Buddhism because the Buddha is said to have set the "wheel of dharma" in motion when he delivered his first sermon. It’s often associated with images of the Buddha, especially in Theravada Buddhism. The eight spokes of the Dharma Wheel (or Dharmachakra) represent the eight limbs of the Eightfold Path, but the wheel also represents the universality and truth of the Dharma.
The Lotus
The lotus is a bright, perfectly symmetrical flower whose petals remain free of dirt. Shortly after his Enlightenment the Buddha saw all beings as lotuses at different stages of unfoldment. This persuaded him that if he tried to share his insights, some people would understand them.
In a pond of lotuses, some of the plants, having been born in the water and growing there, might remain immersed; some might rise to the live the water; and some might rise up it. In this way, surveying the world with the eye of an Awakened One, I saw beings with little dust in their eyes and those with much, those with keen faculties and those with dull.
In Buddhism, the lotus represents Enlightenment because in this state consciousness is fully unfolded. Lotuses often appear in Buddhist art, and Mahayana Buddha and Bodhisattva figures are shown sitting on a lotus flower.
The Vajra
A vajra is an object often used in Tibetan Buddhism with two ribbed ends and a spherical centre. It can be a thunderbolt, but more commonly it is understood to be a diamond. Diamonds are the hardest substances we know and nothing can destroy them, so they represent reality, or the aspect of reality that we can find within ourselves.
As the transcendental aspect of our fickle and unsteady mundane mind there exists the mind which is ‘pure and hard as flaming diamond’
The form of Buddhism found in Tibet in called ‘Vajyarana’, or ‘The Diamond Vehicle’, while one of the most important Mahayana sutras is The Diamond Sutra, or Vajracchedika.
The Jewel
The central Buddhist ideals ideals are the Three Jewels because, in every culture, jewels are considered the most precious of all substances. It is so central that the Triratna Buddhist Community takes its name from the Sanskrit word for the Three Jewels (tri means ‘three’; ratna means ‘jewels’).
The jewel is a symbol in a more poetic sense for that which is most precious and valuable in our experience.
"We don’t exist just on one level, but on a number of levels, some superficial, others deeper, and the jewel represents the deepest level of all, the bedrock of our being."Sangharakshita, 'The Drama of Cosmic Enlightenment'
Mahayana Buddhism associates the symbol of the wish-fulfilling jewel, which can grant all a person's wishes, with the bodhicitta – the wish for Enlightenment for the sake of all beings. The bodhicitta is sometimes compared to a jewel that has been lost in a rubbish heap, or sown into our clothing and then forgotten. This profound compassion lies deep within us waiting to be discovered.
With the thought of attaining awakening
For the welfare of all beings,
Who are more precious than a wish-fulfilling jewel,
I will constantly practice holding them dear
