The Prayer Wheel

Almost every religion has its symbol.  A cross for the Christianity is a symbol that  Jesus died on a cross.  A crescent moon is for the Muslim because the Prophet Muhammad received God’s inscription on a night with crescent moon shined on the ground.

Buddhism is not a religion; however one would see a wheel symbols in Buddhist temples.  Here is the  story.

One day, Anata ( a disciple of the Buddha) and Buddha was waiting for the traffic to be clear on a busy day.

Anata told Buddha, “Since we have to wait for a while, could you teach me about life.”

During this time, a chariot was passing by.

Buddha pointed in the wheel of the chariot, then say, “Life is like a wheel.  The spokes of the wheel divided the life into 4 quadrants:  The first quadrant is about 5 senses, sight, voice, tough, smell, and taste;  the second quadrant is about the structure of the body, the arms and legs, the internal organs; the third quadrant is about our emotion, love, fear, anger, empathy, jealousy; and the last quadrant is about the relation, the relationship among all other quadrants.

The hub of the wheel symbolizes the awareness of our 4 quadrants.  An awakened one is the one who is aware all the time about this quadrants.

This turns out to be one of the most important teaching of the Buddha.