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TheGankyil (Tibetan:དགའ་འཁྱིལ།,[1]Lhasa[kã˥kʲʰiː˥]) or "wheel of joy" (Sanskrit:ānanda-cakra) is a symbol and ritual tool used inTibetan andEast Asian Buddhism. 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 thedharmachakra is depicted on theFlag of Sikkim,Joseon, and is also depicted on theFlag of Tibet andEmblem of Tibet.
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In addition to linking the gankyil with the "wish-fulfilling jewel" (Skt.cintamani), Robert Beer makes the following connections:
Thegakyil or 'wheel of joy' is depicted in a similar form to the ancient Chineseyin-yang symbol, but its swirling central hub is usually composed of either three or four sections. The Tibetan termdga' is used to describe all forms of joy, delight, and pleasure, and the term'khyil means to circle or spin. The wheel of joy is commonly depicted at the central hub of the dharmachakra, where its three or four swirls may represent the Three Jewels and victory over thethree poisons, or theFour Noble Truths and thefour directions. As a symbol of theThree Jewels it may also appear as the "triple-eyed" or wish-granting gem of thechakravartin. In the Dzogchen tradition the three swirls of thegakyil primarily symbolize the trinity of the base, path, and fruit.
— Robert Beer,The Handbook of Tibetan Buddhist Symbols[2]
The "victory" referred to above is symbolised by thedhvaja or "victory banner".
The divisions of the teaching of Dzogchen are for the purposes of explanation only. Realization is not something that must be constructed; to become realized simply means to discover and manifest that which from the very beginning has been our own true condition: the Zhi (gzhi) or Base. And, in particular, in Dzogchen－which not a gradual Path－the Path consists in remaining in the unveiled, manifest condition of the primordial state or Base, or in other words, in the condition which is the Fruit. This is why the Gankyil, the symbol of primordial energy, which is a particular symbol of the Dzogchen teachings, has three parts which spiral in a way that makes them fundamentally one. The Gankyil, or "Wheel of Joy", can clearly be seen to reflect the inseparability and interdependence of all the groups of three in the Dzogchen teachings, but perhaps most particularly it shows the inseparability of the Base, the Path, and the Fruit. And since Dzogchen, the Great Perfection, is essentially the self-perfected indivisibility of the primordial state, it naturally requires a non-dual symbol to represent it.[3]
Wallace (2001: p. 77) identifies theānandacakra with the heart of the "cosmic body" of whichMount Meru is the epicentre:
In the center of the summit of Mt Meru, there is the inner lotus (garbha-padma) of the Bhagavan Kalacakra, which has sixteen petals and constitutes the bliss-cakra (ananda-cakra) of the cosmic body.[4]
Attributes connected with the three humors (Sanskrit:tridoshas, Tibetan:nyi pa gsum):
These three aspects are themūlaprajñā of thesādhanā of theprajñāpāramitā, 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[6]) of the second turning of the dharmacakra.
The Dzogchen teachings focus on three terms:
TheTriratna, Triple Jewel or Three Gems are triunic are therefore represented by the Gankyil:
TheThree Roots are:
The three higher trainings (Tibetan:ལྷག་བའི་བསླབ་པ་གསུམ་, lhagpe labpa sum, or Wyl. bslab pa gsum)
The indivisible essence of theThree Dharma Seals (ལྟ་བ་བཀའ་རྟགས་ཀྱི་ཕྱག་རྒྱ་གསུམ།) is embodied and encoded within the Gankyil:
As the inner wheel of theVajrayana Dharmacakra, the gankyil also represents the syncretic union and embodiment ofGautama Buddha'sThree Turnings of the Wheel of Dharma. Thepedagogicupaya doctrine and classification of the "three turnings of the wheel" was first postulated by theYogacara school.
The gankyil is the energetic signature of theTrikaya, realised through the transmutation of the obscurations forded by theThree poisons (referklesha) and therefore in theBhavachakra the Gankyil is ananiconic depiction of the snake, boar and fowl. Gankyil is toDharmachakra, as still eye is to cyclone, asBindu is toMandala. The Gankyil is the inner wheel of theVajrayanaDharmacakra (referHimalayanAshtamangala).
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The Gankyil is symbolic of theTrikaya doctrine of dharmakaya (Tibetan: ཆོས་སྐུ།, Wyl.Chos sku),sambhogakaya (Tibetan:ལོངས་སྐུ་ Wyl. longs sku) andnirmanakaya (Tibetan:སྤྲུལ་སྐུ། Wyl.sprul sku) and also of the Buddhist understanding of theinterdependence of theThree Vajras: 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 theWheel of Joy.
The Gankyil also embodies the three cycles ofNyingma Dzogchen codified byMañjuśrīmitra:
This classification determined the exposition of the Dzogchen teachings in the subsequent centuries.
"Three spheres" (Sanskrit: trimandala; Tibetan: འཁོར་གསུམ།'khor gsum). The conceptualizations pertaining to:
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 andnonlocalised, 'sound' may be understood to reside at theheart, the 'mind'-wheel; 'light' at thethroat, the 'voice'-wheel; and 'rays' at thehead, the 'body'-wheel. Some Dzogchen lineages for various purposes, locate 'rays' at the Ah-wheel (forFive Pure Lightspranayama) and 'light' at theAum-wheel (forrainbow body), and there are other enumerations.
The Gankyil also embodies the three tantric lineages asPenor Rinpoche,[8] aNyingmapa, 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.
The Gankyil also embodies the energy manifested in the three aspects that yield the energeticemergence[9] (Tibetan: རང་བྱུན།rang byung) of phenomena ( Tibetan: ཆོས་ Wylie: "chos" Sanskrit:dharmas) andsentient beings (Tibetan: ཡིད་ཅན།yid can):
Though not discrete correlates,dang equates todharmakaya;rolpa tosambhogakaya; andtsal tonirmanakaya.[citation needed]
InBon, the gankyil denotes the three principalterma cycles of Yungdrung Bon: the Northern Treasure (Wylie:byang gter), the Central Treasure (Wylie:dbus gter) and the Southern Treasure (Wylie:lho gter).[12] The Northern Treasure is compiled from texts revealed inZhangzhung and northern Tibet, the Southern Treasure from texts revealed inBhutan and southern Tibet, and the Central Treasure from texts revealed inÜ-Tsang nearSamye.[12]
The gankyil is the central part of theshang (Tibetan:gchang), a traditional ritual tool and instrument of theBönposhaman.
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