Dharmachakra
As Depicted Through Buddhism
The Dharmachakra, or the Wheel of Law, is a symbol in Buddhism derived from Hinduism. A wheel containing 24 spokes is also called an Ahsoka Chakra. The 24-spoke wheel denotes 12 principles of Buddhism and their reverse and creating freedom from Samsara, the endless cycle of death and rebirth.
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The Divinity
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The Components of 'The Wheel of Fortune'
A pillar of Ashoka can be seen as a symbol of guidance and power alike. Each pillar was different, each was influenced by the place and time in which it was erected, carved with different symbols, and not every pillar bore the same inscription. The pillar itself represents the axis of the world, the axis mundi upon which it revolves. Pillars themselves could vary between 40 and 50 feet in height, easily creating a feeling of awe in those who witness them.
The cakra (chakra), or wheel represents the samsara. An endless cycle of life and death with no beginning, the samsara is the idea that life is a journey of suffering where one strives to follow the dharma to attain freedom from hate, greed, and ignorance by finding nirvana.
A 24-spoke wheel is alternatively called an Ahsoka chakra. The specific version of the wheel represents not only the 12 Links of Dependent Origination, the Buddhist teaching of the causes to suffering, but also the reversal, and thus the freedom from the samsara.
The Four Noble Truths are part of the core tenet of Buddhism. As taught in Buddhism, the four truths can be described as Dukkha, the truth of suffering; Samudaya, the truth of the cause of suffering; Nirhodha, the truth of the end of suffering; and Magga, the truth of the path that frees us from suffering.
The idea of dukkha, or suffering, is not exclusionary to the idea of happiness. Buddhism is not the idea that there is no joy to be found in existence, instead that the recognition of the suffering leads to freedom from it.