What is a Dharmachakra?

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The dharmachakra is an ancient symbol in Buddhism that predates images of the Buddha as a tool for mental clarification.  It consists of an eight-axle wheel, with a spoke in the center and a ring surrounding the whole wheel (kind of like a ship's helm).  It is thought to represent the whole of Buddha's teaching and, in some traditions, the Buddha itself.  The center hub is said to represent the moral discipline that stabilizes the mind; the radiating spokes, the Eight Wisdoms, or the Eight-fold Path that Buddha described; finally, the outer ring represents the concentration needed to bind the whole together into a coherent and cohesive state.  It is said that when the Buddha first taught in Saranath, he turned the Wheel of Dharma for the first time, and expounded the Four Noble Truths, and the Noble Eight-fold Path to Enlightenment.

Because of the deep meaning and symbolism of the dharmachakra, several important interpretations can be made from it.  In my own view at this time, it symbolizes enlightened actions which bring about peace, happiness, and actual well-being for individual beings in this spaceship-like universe we have to somehow inhabit together for our own personal sake and well-being.  By turning the Wheel of Dharma (the partial translation of dharmachakra from Sanskrit), the Buddha had managed to steer most of life towards a potentially better course by explicitly laying out the steps to achieve inner peace and happiness for the individual being in their own lifetime.  This is probably why Hinduism recorded Siddhartha Gautama as the 9th Avatar of Vishnu, who acts as the maintainer of the universe, and the stabilizing influence surrounding the destruction and births of eons in the evolution of existence.


It should be noted that this whole way of conceiving and perceiving the universe is ultimately a set of constructs that can be used, exchanged, and discarded for constructs that do a superior job at explaining, understanding, and exploring the universe.  I'd argue that this set of constructs actually can do a better job at explaining and enabling humans to navigate this universe in a greater variety of states and conditions than existing understandings of society, the individual, and the individual's true place in the complex, interrelated web of existence in which we live.  Through being open, honest, and mindful of the present, including our own mental, physical, and social states, with a decent enough memory to recognize patterns in history and current events, and a mind towards the future and the actual general well-being of others, I believe we can achieve more as individuals and as a society of societies on this planet, in these ecosystems we inhabit.  

Note, that these principles can be applied on any planet, any society, any set of conditions that society may be facing.  They also may be based in Buddhist philosophy and symbolism, and may have come as a result of observation and mental discipline from the Buddhist schools of meditation.  But these principles seem to be applicable anywhere in existence, making them actually secular in nature, and ecumenically accessible. 

So why call the blog, "The Dharmachakra"?

My abiding goal and wish is to actually leave humanity better off from where it was when I first arrived on this planet, if not for my own benefit and well-being, then for others'.  With society's permission, I'd like to administer to the apparent wounds and diseases it has caught from a malevolent form and logic of power, an anti-economical way of accumulating wealth and ensuring the needs of society are met relative to apparent environmental demands and requisites, a profound, irrational fear of change and difference, a cancerous form of ignorance that chooses opinion and personal feelings over evidence and factual conditions and relations, and a malignant cruelty and callousness towards others and the conditions faced by others.  This blog hopes to be launching point into a career and life fraught with uncertainty and potential danger, that hopefully has some points of happiness along the way, and the ultimate achievement of my personal and professional goals in spite of the bullshit that others will try to heap on me for having these ideas and perceptions.  I do not know what an individual could want or need more of in life.
 
Sources:
1. http://www.religionfacts.com/dharma-wheel, accessed 10/28/2017
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dharmachakra, accessed 10/28/2017