The wheel of dharma gesture (Sanskrit: Dharmachakra Mudra), or gesture of explaining the dharma, is sometimes referred to as the ‘teaching gesture’.  The dharmachakra mudra derives from Shakyamuni Buddha’s first discourse upon the Four Noble Truths, which he taught at the deer park in Sarnath, near Varanasi.  The historical event is known as the Buddha’s ‘first turning of the wheel of dharma’; where he set in motion the ‘perfect wheel’ of his teachings.  His two great subsequent discourses, the second and third turnings of the wheel of dharma, were given at Rajagriha and Shravasti respectively.  The curators of Sarnath Museum now demonstrate, with the aid of a loosely knotted handkerchief, how this hand configuration may be used to untie the ‘knot of appearances’ with a simple rotation of the hands.  The dharmachakra mudra may also be referred to as the dharmachakra-pravatana-mudra, the gesture of ‘turning the wheel of the dharma’.  This has a direct association with the ‘wheel turning’ universal monarch or chakravartin.

The dharmachakra mudra is a combined hand gesture formed with both hands positioned in front of the heart, with the right hand facing palm outwards and the left hand facing palm inwards.  The tips of the index fingers and thumbs of both hands usually touch each other slightly to form a circle, representing the wheel formed from the union of skillful means and wisdom.  The three extended fingers, which curve inwards slightly to follow the circular curvature of the index finger, represent the various Buddhist trinities.  More specifically the three extended fingers of the right hand represent that three yanas or vehicles of the early Buddhist teachings: (1) the yana of the shravaka or ‘hearers’; (2) the yana of the pratyek-abuddhas or ‘solitary realizers’; (3) the Mahayana or ‘great vehicle’.  The three extended fingers of the left hand represent the ‘three scopes’ or capacities, small, medium, and large, of practitioners following these three paths.  The right ‘method’ palm facing outwards represent the transmission of the Buddha’s teaching to others, and the left ‘wisdom’ palm facing inwards represents the inner realization of these teachings within oneself.  The positioning of the left ‘wisdom’ hand in front of the right ‘method’ hand symbolizes that skillful means arises from wisdom, or that the five method perfections depend upon the sixth perfection of the wisdom that directly realizes emptiness.  The dharmachakra mudra is the gesture of Vairocana, the ‘Radiantly Bright’ white Buddha of the center or east.  Many Buddha forms, such as Shakyamuni, Dipankara, Maitreya, and Manjugosha (Orange Manjushri), display this mudra of teaching from the heart.

The teaching may also be made with only the right hand held before the heart in dharmachakra mudra, whilst the left hand rest upon the lap in the dhyana mudra of meditation upon emptiness.  In this instance the right hand may be describes as being held in the ‘gesture of reasoning’ (Sanskrit: vitarka mudra), or the ‘gesture of explanation’ (Sanskrit: vyakhya mudra).  On early images of the Buddha his left hand may be shown holding up a corner of his pleated monastic robe, symbolizing the inner teaching or wisdom of renunciation.

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