Gankyil

The Gankyil (, Lhasa ) or "wheel of joy" () is a symbol and ritual tool used in Tibetan and East Asian Buddhism. It is composed of three swirling and interconnected blades.
The gankyil as inner wheel of the dharmachakra is depicted on the Flag of Sikkim, Joseon, and is also depicted on the Flag of Tibet.
Exegesis.
In addition to linking the gankyil with the "wish-fulfilling jewel" (Skt. cintamani), Robert Beer makes the following connections:
The "victory" referred to above is symbolised by the dhvaja or "victory banner".
Wallace (2001: p. 77) identifies the "ānandacakra" with the heart of the "cosmic body" of which Mount Meru is the epicentre:
Associated triunes.
Three humours of traditional Tibetan medicine.
Attributes connected with the three humors (Sanskrit: "tridoshas", Tibetan: "nyi pa gsum"):
Learning, Reflection and Meditation.
These three aspects are the "mūlaprajñā" of the sādhanā of the prajñāpāramitā, the "pāramitā of wisdom". Hence, these three are related to, but distinct from, the Prajñāpāramitā that denotes a particular cycle of discourse in the Buddhist literature that relates to the doctrinal field (kṣetra) of the second turning of the dharmacakra.
Mula dharmas of the path.
The Dzogchen teachings focus on three terms:
Essence, Nature and Energy.
An important Dzogchen doctrinal view on the Sugatagarbha "qua" 'Base' (gzhi) (refer: Duckworth, 2008) that foregrounds this is 'essence' ("ngo bo"), 'nature' ("rang bzhin") and 'power' ("thugs rje"): the triune of which are indivisible and iconographically represented by the Gankyil. Where essence is openness or emptiness ("ngo bo stong pa"), nature is luminosity, lucidity or clarity (as in the luminous mind of the Five Pure Lights) (rang bzhin gsal ba) and power is universal compassionate energy ("thugs rje kun khyab"), unobstructed ("ma 'gags pa")
Triratna doctrine.
The Triratna, Triple Jewel or Three Gems are triunic are therefore represented by the Gankyil:
Three Roots.
The Three Roots are:
Three Higher Trainings.
The three higher trainings (Tibetan:ལྷག་བའི་བསླབ་པ་གསུམ་, lhagpe labpa sum,or Wyl. bslab pa gsum)
Three Dharma Seals.
The indivisible essence of the Three Dharma Seals (ལྟ་བ་བཀའ་རྟགས་ཀྱི་ཕྱག་རྒྱ་གསུམ་) is embodied and encoded within the Gankyil:
Three Turnings of the Wheel of Dharma.
As the inner wheel of the Vajrayana Dharmacakra, the gankyil also represents the syncretic union and embodiment of Gautama Buddha's Three Turnings of the Wheel of Dharma. The pedagogic upaya doctrine and classification of the "three turnings of the wheel" was first postulated by the Yogacara school.
Trikaya doctrine.
The gankyil is the energetic signature of the Trikaya, realised through the transmutation of the obscurations forded by the Three poisons (refer klesha) and therefore in the Bhavachakra the Gankyil is an aniconic depiction of the snake, boar and fowl. Gankyil is to Dharmachakra, as still eye is to cyclone, as Bindu is to Mandala. The Gankyil is the inner wheel of the Vajrayana Dharmacakra (refer Himalayan Ashtamangala).
The Gankyil is symbolic of the Trikaya doctrine of dharmakaya (Tibetan: ཆོས་སྐུ་,Wyl.Chos sku), sambhogakaya (Tibetan:ལོངས་སྐུ་ Wyl. longs sku) and nirmanakaya (Tibetan:སྤྲུལ་སྐུ་ Wyl.sprul sku) and also of the Buddhist understanding of the interdependence of the Three Vajras: of mind, voice and body. The divisions of the teaching of Dzogchen are for the purposes of explanation only; just as the Gankyil divisions are understood to dissolve in the energetic whirl of the "Wheel of Joy".
Three cycles of Nyingmapa Dzogchen.
The Gankyil also embodies the three cycles of Nyingma Dzogchen codified by Mañjuśrīmitra:
This classification determined the exposition of the Dzogchen teachings in the subsequent centuries.
Three Spheres.
"Three spheres" (Sanskrit: trimandala; Tibetan: 'khor gsum). The conceptualizations pertaining to:
Sound, light and rays.
The triunic continuua of the esoteric Dzogchen doctrine of 'sound, light and rays' (སྒྲ་འོད་ཟེར་གསུམ་ Wylie: sgra 'od zer gsum) is held within the energetic signature of the Gankyil. The doctrine of 'Sound, light and rays' is intimately connected with the Dzogchen teaching of the 'three aspects of the manifestation of energy'. Though thoroughly interpenetrating and nonlocalised, 'sound' may be understood to reside at the heart, the 'mind'-wheel; 'light' at the throat, the 'voice'-wheel; and 'rays' at the head, the 'body'-wheel. Some Dzogchen lineages for various purposes, locate 'rays' at the Ah-wheel (for Five Pure Lights pranayama) and 'light' at the Aum-wheel (for rainbow body), and there are other enumerations.
Three lineages of Nyingmapa Dzogchen.
The Gankyil also embodies the three tantric lineages as Penor Rinpoche, a Nyingmapa, states:
According to the history of the origin of tantras there are three lineages:
Three aspects of energy in Dzogchen doctrine.
The Gankyil also embodies the energy manifested in the three aspects that yield the energetic emergence (Tibetan: རང་བྱུན་ "rang byung") of phenomena ( Tibetan: ཆོས་ Wylie: "chos" Sanskrit: "dharmas") and sentient beings (Tibetan: ཡིད་ཅན་ "yid can"):
Though not discrete correlates, "dang" equates to "dharmakaya"; "rolpa" to "sambhogakaya"; and "tsal" to "nirmanakaya".
Shang.
The gankyil is the central part of the shang (Tibetan: "gchang"), a traditional ritual tool and instrument of the Bönpo shaman.
Notes and references.
Three Treasures of Yungdrung Bon.
In Bon, the gankyil denotes the three principal terma cycles of Yungdrung Bon: the Northern Treasure (), the Central Treasure () and the Southern Treasure (). The Northern Treasure is compiled from texts revealed in Zhangzhung and northern Tibet, the Southern Treasure from texts revealed in Bhutan and southern Tibet, and the Central Treasure from texts revealed in Ü-Tsang near Samye.
External links.
Gankyil buddhist community: www.gankyil.com 