What is it?

A sutra wheel is a revolving cylinder that contains sacred texts, mantras, or dharaṇis.  Turning a sutra wheel or circumambulating a sacred site is itself a form of meditation which combines movement, repetition, mindfulness of sensation, sense of place, and beneficial intent.  

Turning such a wheel is understood as a devotional act that is ritually connected to understanding and conveying the dharma.  Each revolution is traditionally regarded as equivalent in spiritual effect to reciting the text the sutra wheel contains.

How do I do it?

A sutra wheel is turned clockwise, the same direction used in circumambulating stupas and sacred sites.

What does it say?

The version installed at Dharma Rain is inscribed with the entire Diamond Sutra, also known as the Vajracchedika Prajnaparamita Sutra.  It is one of the most revered Mahāyāna scriptures, and part of the Wisdom Sutras, which focus on non-attachment and emptiness.  It was composed by 150 CE in the area that is now India.  For more about the text, see the final bullet.

We are using the translation by Red Pine¹.  It is a beautiful and well-researched translation, which provides analysis and explanation from Red Pine.  Each chapter also includes a series of commentaries from Buddhist teachers through history. 

What does it do?

Hopefully, it inspires.  It will probably mean many different things to different people.  It is meant to help people feel connected to their own spirituality.  We might find a sense of meaning, purpose, reverence, appreciation, or dedication to caring and contributing to others.  

In Mahayana Buddhist traditions, practice involves the dedication of merit. ‘Merit’ refers to the beneficial spiritual potential generated through wholesome actions such as generosity, ethical conduct, recitation, meditation, or acts of reverence. To dedicate merit means to offer the goodness of one’s practice for the welfare of others rather than reserving it as a personal gain. After turning a sutra wheel, someone might wish that any benefit arising from the act contributes to the relief of suffering, the flourishing of wisdom and compassion, or the awakening of all beings, for example. 

Why is it here?

At Dharma Rain, the temple and grounds are open to the public dawn to dusk.  Many people walk through each day, finding a bit of peace, beauty, naturalness and community.  We hope to offer a way for those not otherwise connected to the programs and practices we offer to easily engage with some aspect of our root tradition.  We also wanted the whole site to look and feel like a temple, not just the main buildings.

Where does it come from?

Originally, a sutra wheel was a way of preserving texts in a more durable form, by carving them into wood instead of writing them on paper.  Some versions are made like a hollow drum with a long paper scroll wound around the axle.  Others have carved, embossed or painted panels of wood, metal, or clay. Others still may have many paper sutra scrolls in boxes, all of which turn together.  See, for example, this example of a Kyōzō, or sutra wheel, at Sogenji in Japan (photo below).

Sutra wheels may be found at larger temples, as a library structure for devotional reading or ceremonial use.  Sutra wheels are found along pilgrimage routes, and may be hand, wind, or water powered.  In some Himalayan countries, practitioners spin a handheld wheel while walking. 

How did it come to be?

All of the materials and labor were donated.  Most of the wood is locust, which was salvaged from a dead tree.  The panels with the writing are birch plywood.  Kakumyo Lowe did the design, woodwork, and calligraphy; Jason Herrick and Mike Johnson did the laser engraving of the script into the panels; Rachael Allen did the welding.  

I read it, but what does it really mean?

It’s not something we can expect to “get” after just reading.  Sutra reading is a practice of meditation and insight.  Reading sutras is a different way of engaging a text; not just trying to have a certain level of reading comprehension and recall, but also trying to develop more insight by transforming how we relate to ourselves and the world.  Having a diligent practice in training how we use our attention will help.  

You may notice a lot of repetition in the text; things like ‘attributes’ and ‘merit’ are discussed repeatedly, from different perspectives.  Partly that is because sutras were memorized and passed on orally and it was easier to memorize that way.  Partly it is showing a progression of understanding. 

One of the patterns that is repeated many times is “x, not x, therefore x.”  ‘x’ here could be anything — your phone, your sense of self, the weather, the plan for this evening, the weight distribution in your feet.  This is a characteristic device that the Diamond Sutra uses to help us understand that only by realizing the true nature of x as empty can we deeply meet it as x.  ‘Empty’ is not null or void, but rather lacking of inherent, ongoing, independent self-nature.  Emptiness is a notoriously tricky concept to understand and express.  

The first couple of chapters introduce the characters, give the cause and reason for the sutra, offer some description of practice and express gratitude for the teaching.  In chapters 3-10, the sutra explores Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, and their generous motivation to liberate all beings. Questions like what is enlightenment, realization, attainment, self-existence are explored, in each case bringing in the perspective of emptiness.  The benefit of engaging these questions is emphasized.  Then, in chapters 11-17, the sutra shows how this emptiness perspective influences practice, and takes a second look at how bodhisattvas practice.  Chapters 18-32 take a deeper look into some of the topics already discussed, leaning heavily into nonattachment to outcome, entity, attribute, merit, and attainment.  When we are not fooled by the perception of self, life is simple and immediate.