Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 29-minute session from his 1995 Lamrim series, Geshe Dhawa Gyaltsen explores why the Buddha chose Varanasi for the first turning of the wheel of Dharma, explaining the place’s sacred significance across multiple Buddhist generations. He then teaches the core practice of requesting the turning of the Dharma wheel—a practice that removes mistakes, dispels doubts, and increases wisdom. He introduces the mandala offering and the ninefold mandala visualization, where the mandala is imagined as the thousand-spoke wheel, a symbol of the Dharma itself. He also discusses wheel symbolism more broadly, including the eight-spoke wheel and its connection to the eightfold noble path. The session closes with Q&A clarifying visualization techniques.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 06 Lam Rim 1995 09 17.mp3
UUID: 4d88035c-77f1-438c-ad61-b9dbc77fc656
Teacher: Geshe Dhawa Gyaltsen
Collection: Lam Rim 1995 Jan-Dec (Geshe Dhawa Gyaltsen)
Date: 1995-09-17
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 29.5 minutes
Words: ~1,312
Many mistaken teachings are given. So to remove the mistakes, for that purpose in Magadha — like there are many mistaken teachings taught in Magadha — to remove those mistakes, he turned the wheel this way. So also the place where he chose was Varanasi for the first turning of the wheel. And that is like all the one thousand and two Buddhas — they have turned and they will turn the wheel of Dharma — the first turning of the wheel of Dharma in the same place. So that place itself is a very holy place.
So for that purpose he uses the same place. So what we hear right now shouldn’t be taken as ancient history, but it should be a cause for oneself — it should be a cause for oneself to do these practices and to do this practice like a request to turn the wheel of Dharma. And at the same time, when one does this practice, one should imagine that one is hearing the teachings too. So by hearing, thinking, and meditating on the scriptural part of the teachings — that one oneself as a follower gains that seed. So then to gain the benefit out of this — like to receive the benefit from the person who preaches the teachings and the teaching itself.
To get the benefit out of it, you need respect and faith in it. And if you don’t have the respect and faith in it, then you don’t get the benefits. So then even from the side of the preacher, one shouldn’t preach the teachings unless it has been requested. And similarly, from the disciple or trainee one should request — recognizing oneself as being a sick person and asking out of respect to teach. So the reason to turn the wheel of Dharma is that, one, it makes you understand what you didn’t understand. And another benefit is it removes the doubts that you have.
And then thirdly, another benefit is your wisdom increases. So this part of the practice — this practice of requesting to turn the wheel of Dharma — should be understood well in its meaning, which if you do understand, then it leads to whatever is taught becoming a right path. So keeping this in mind, one should engage in these practices like visualizing the merit field in this space before one, and like day to day — every day — making and doing these practices. And if you want to do these practices, then what is it? — which is one receives the blessings of the mind of the spiritual masters. And also it is this practice itself that is the best form of practice, which — through which — you come to accumulate a great amount of merit and also self-purification.
And not only that, but it also becomes a cause for higher rebirth, and up to — it also becomes a cause for Buddhahood or enlightenment. So we stop here for today, and we’ll do some question and answer.
Mhmm. The mandala itself — the nine-piling mandala — it’s well, as explained. So that is: you offer the mandala, which is the nine piling. Nine-piling mandala offerings. And the nine piling — the eighth, just visualize. The eight piling, you visualize the eight spokes of the wheel.
The eighty spokes of the wheel. And then the last one, the ninth one, is you visualize the center part of the wheel. And then that’s what you visualize and you offer. Okay. That itself — that mandala itself — you visualize like the thousand-spoke wheel — I want to say the wheel — and then make offering.
So it’s like every time you bring up the teachings — that when you make the mandala offering, that’s like requesting — it’s just like requesting to turn the wheel of Dharma. So generally, the wheel itself is one of the belongings of the universal king. So there are many wheels with many different numbers of spokes — like eight — and this one is a thousand, which is in a way the best one. So the Dharma and the wheel — Dharma and the wheel have similarities. Dharma is — the wheel is the example of the Dharma. So like the wheel that belongs to the universal king: when it moves from country to country, place to place — when it goes — it gains the victory over its oppositions.
So similar to that, the wheel of Dharma — that is scriptural part and insight — when it is turned or passed to the followers, to another person. And then through that turning of the wheel, what it destroys — or what kind of victory one gains — is one gains victory over delusions, like attachment and so on, through the turning of the wheel of Dharma.
So what we are holding there is a mandala and a pile of nine pilings. And what you imagine is the thousand-spoke wheel. And the reason for doing that is — what do you call — following the past. What is it? Following the past traditions.
It’s like how Brahma made the request. So to symbolize that, you visualize the mandala into this thousand-spoke wheel. So you need an object to visualize it being a thousand-spoke wheel. So without any object, if you do visualize, then it sort of becomes awkward. Not good. So it’s clear still, or no?
Hold the mandala and do nine pilings, and then just imagine that’s the thousand-spoke wheel. So then it works. It’s okay. Just imagine that what you are holding in your hand is the golden thousand-spoke wheel.
I’m confused now. Oh, okay. Because where did the eight spokes come in? So most of the wheels have eight spokes. Just visualizing in the same manner.
So these eight spokes you visualize in the normal way like how it is. And what it symbolizes is the eightfold noble path. So that’s the reason, like, I have eight spokes. And that’s the one reason it’s the eight-spoke wheel, the normal wheel.
But there are wheels with like three, five, six, eight different spokes. Pardon me.
So Buddha turned this wheel of Dharma — turned it, Buddha. There are like a few other Buddhas who also came before Buddha. So all those Buddhas — the past Buddhas — like Kāśyapa, the Buddha Kāśyapa, what do you say? Those Buddhas in the later past have also turned the first wheel of Dharma at the same place. So same thing — in the future, when the future Buddhas first turn the Buddha Dharma, that too will be at the same place that they will turn the Buddha Dharma.
So anyway, there are many reasons for that. So at the very beginning, that place is a big — what do you call — forest where many wild animals are. So I think I made a mistake here, which is: it’s a place where many sages would live. So that’s a place known for that. It’s a place which is used by the animals, but it is also known as a very peaceful place. So and not only this event of Buddha, but the Buddhas of the past events have also used that place as a particular place to turn the wheel of Dharma. So because of these reasons.
So in short, it’s a place of those past sages, and also where — and it’s also a place where Buddha has been, what to say, praised. It’s also a place where the gods and the nagas made praises to the Buddhas. Which is praises and requests that they make. So these are the reasons. So these are the reasons and there are many other reasons — many other reasons which there won’t be time to explain all those reasons. Okay.