This Is Shared

The wheel of dhamma is a mysterious, multi-dimensional force

The wheel of dhamma is the mysterious, multi-dimensional force that leads people to awakening, to liberation. The wheel of dhamma turns with no one to turn it. The wheel of dhamma turns through the thoughts, actions, words, of myriad beings. It turns through chatter, through wordless transmissions in all manner of contexts. It turns through events, through coming together and falling apart.

In monasteries around the world there are physical prayer wheels that represent the wheel of dhamma. Some of them are so big that it takes several people to turn them. Sometimes monks have little versions that they hold in their hands. In this land of forgetting, these are tools for remembering.

In temples and sanghas all over the world, there is also the repetition of the bodhisattva vow, a vow “not be free until all other beings are free”. I’ve always side-eyed that vow. It felt disingenuous. It felt like cope. I want to be free, I’m unequivocal and certain about that. What are we even doing here.

I still think that dynamic is in play in many if not most sanghas, but do see the vow a bit differently lately. It’s a return to the understanding that this is shared. A simple wish for everyone to be free. Because the dhamma belongs to no one. How could it. A deep understanding of this allows much deeper letting go. Reality catches you moment after moment. You never had to hold up what you thought you had to hold up. Everything is held up and released by the vast web of dependent origination, and the wheel of dhamma keeps turning.

(image by Autumn Skye)

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