The Chakra News » buddhist symbols http://www.chakranews.com World Dharma News: Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism and Jainism News and Insight. Thu, 13 Jun 2013 02:15:55 +0000 en-US hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 Picture of the Week: Two Golden Fish http://www.chakranews.com/picture-of-the-week-two-golden-fish/3498 http://www.chakranews.com/picture-of-the-week-two-golden-fish/3498#comments Thu, 27 Dec 2012 03:03:29 +0000 Editor http://www.chakranews.com/?p=3498 2 Golden FishThe auspicious symbol of The 2 Golden Fish in Buddhism symbolizes  happiness, fertility, abundance and all living things in a state of fearlessness. Some suggest that the idea behind this is that fish swim freely through the ocean with no fear of drowning. The origins of it can be traced back to a symbol of the Yamuna and Ganges rivers in India, the two main sacred water ways that are revered by followers of Hinduism, the oldest of the main eastern religions.

 

]]> http://www.chakranews.com/picture-of-the-week-two-golden-fish/3498/feed 0 Picture of the Week: Wheel of Dharma http://www.chakranews.com/picture-of-the-week-wheel-of-dharma/2008 http://www.chakranews.com/picture-of-the-week-wheel-of-dharma/2008#comments Sat, 14 Jan 2012 22:59:27 +0000 Editor http://www.chakranews.com/?p=2008 Dharma Wheel

Wheel of Dharma (Dharma Wheel)

Wheel of Dharma or Life, also known as Dharma Chakra is a symbol that has represented dharma, the Buddha’s teaching of the path to enlightenment, since the early period of Indian Buddhism. A similar symbol is also in used in Jainism and the Dharmic faiths. It is one of the Ashtamangala symbols.The Dharma Chakra symbol is represented as a chariot wheel (Sanskrit cakram) with 8 or more spokes. It is one of the oldest known symbols in Buddhism found in Indian art, appearing with the first surviving post-Harappan Indian iconography in the time of the Buddhist king Asoka.

Buddhists borrowed the Wheel of Dharma symbol from a Hindu (Sanatan Dharma) symbol that represented “samsara” (the cycle of rebirth/reincarnation), but have re-interpreted the symbol as a wheel the overcomes all obstacles.

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