The Gankyil (,

Lhasa Lhasa (; Lhasa dialect: ; bo, text=ལྷ་ས, translation=Place of Gods) is the urban center of the prefecture-level city, prefecture-level Lhasa (prefecture-level city), Lhasa City and the administrative capital of Tibet Autonomous Regio ...

) or "wheel of joy" ( sa, ānanda- cakra) is a symbol and ritual tool used in

Tibetan Tibetan may mean: * of, from, or related to Tibet * Tibetan people, an ethnic group * Tibetan language: ** Classical Tibetan, the classical language used also as a contemporary written standard ** Standard Tibetan, the most widely used spoken dial ...

and

East Asian Buddhism East Asian Buddhism or East Asian Mahayana is a collective term for the schools of Mahāyāna Buddhism that developed across East Asia which follow the Chinese Buddhist canon. These include the various forms of Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Vi ...

. It is composed of three (sometimes two or four) swirling and interconnected blades. The traditional spinning direction is clockwise (right turning), but the counter-clockwise ones are also common. The gankyil as inner wheel of the

dharmachakra The dharmachakra (Sanskrit: धर्मचक्र; Pali: ''dhammacakka'') or wheel of dharma is a widespread symbol used in Indian religions such as Hinduism, Jainism, and especially Buddhism.John C. Huntington, Dina Bangdel, ''The Circle o ...

is depicted on the

Flag of Sikkim At present there is no official flag of Sikkim, a state in India. The independent Kingdom of Sikkim did have a national flag until it became a state of India in 1975. Kingdom of Sikkim (1877–1975) The Kingdom of Sikkim had used several flags d ...

Joseon Joseon (; ; Middle Korean: 됴ᇢ〯션〮 Dyǒw syéon or 됴ᇢ〯션〯 Dyǒw syěon), officially the Great Joseon (; ), was the last dynastic kingdom of Korea, lasting just over 500 years. It was founded by Yi Seong-gye in July 1392 and re ...

, and is also depicted on the

Flag of Tibet Tibet is a region in East Asia covering much of the Tibetan Plateau that is currently administered by People's Republic of China as the Tibet Autonomous Region and claimed by the Republic of China as the Tibet Area and the Central Tibetan Admi ...

and

Emblem of Tibet The Emblem of Tibet is a symbol of the Central Tibetan Administration, Tibetan government in exile. It combines several elements of the flag of Tibet, with slightly different artistry, and contains many Buddhist symbolism, Buddhist symbols. Its pr ...

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 Dhvaja (Sanskrit also ध्वज; ) , meaning banner or flag, is composed of the Ashtamangala, the "eight auspicious symbols". In Hinduism Dhvaja in Hinduism or vedic tradition takes on the appearance of a high column (dhvaja- stambha) er ...

or "victory banner". Wallace (2001: p. 77) identifies the ''ānandacakra'' with the heart of the "cosmic body" of which

Mount Meru Mount Meru (Sanskrit/Pali: मेरु), also known as Sumeru, Sineru or Mahāmeru, is the sacred five-peaked mountain of Hindu, Jain, and Buddhist cosmology and is considered to be the centre of all the physical, metaphysical and spiritu ...

is the epicentre:

Associated triunes

Ground, path, and fruit

* " ground", "base" () * "path", "method" () * "fruit", "product" ()

Three humours of traditional Tibetan medicine

Attributes connected with the three humors (Sanskrit: '' tridoshas'', Tibetan: ''nyi pa gsum''): * Desire (Tibetan: འདོད་ཆགས�
’dod chags
is aligned with the humor ''Wind'' ( rlung, , Sanskrit: '' vata'' - "air and aether constitution") * Hatred (Tibetan: ཞེ་སྡང་།
zhe sdang
') is aligned with the humor ''Bile'' (Tripa,
mkhris pa
', Sanskrit: ''

pitta Pittas are a family, Pittidae, of passerine birds found in Asia, Australasia and Africa. There are thought to be 40 to 42 species of pittas, all similar in general appearance and habits. The pittas are Old World suboscines, and their closest re ...

'' - "fire and water constitution") * Ignorance (Tibetan: གཏི་མུག
gti mug
') is aligned with the humor ''Phlegm'' (Béken
bad kan
', Sanskrit: ''kapha'' - "earth and water constitution").

Study, reflection, and meditation

* Study ( Tibetan: ཐོས་པ། '
thos
' +
pa
') * Reflection ( Tibetan: བསམ་པ།
sam
'+
pa
') * Meditation ( Tibetan: སྒོམ་པ།
sgom pa
') These three aspects are the ''mūla prajñā'' of the

sādhanā ''Sādhanā'' (; ; ) is an ego-transcending spiritual practice. It includes a variety of disciplines in Hindu, Buddhist and Jain traditions that are followed in order to achieve various spiritual or ritual objectives. Sadhana is done for a ...

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: * View (Tibetan: ལྟ་བ།
lta-ba
'), * Meditation (Tibetan: སྒོམ་པ།
sgom pa
'), * Action (Tibetan: སྤྱོད་པ།
spyod-pa
').

Triratna doctrine

The

Triratna The Triratna ( pi, or ; sa, or ) is a Buddhist symbol, thought to visually represent the Three Jewels of Buddhism (the Buddha, the Dhamma, the Sangha). Symbol The Triratna symbol is composed of: * A lotus flower within a circle. * A dia ...

, Triple Jewel or Three Gems are triunic are therefore represented by the Gankyil: *

Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a śramaṇa, wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist tradition, he was ...

(Tibetan: སངས་རྒྱས།, Sangye, Wyl. sangs rgyas) *

Dharma Dharma (; sa, धर्म, dharma, ; pi, dhamma, italic=yes) is a key concept with multiple meanings in Indian religions, such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism and others. Although there is no direct single-word translation for '' ...

(Tibetan: ཆོས།,Cho; Wyl. chos) *

Sangha Sangha is a Sanskrit word used in many Indian languages, including Pali meaning "association", "assembly", "company" or "community"; Sangha is often used as a surname across these languages. It was historically used in a political context t ...

(Tibetan: དགེ་དུན།,Gendun; Wyl. dge 'dun)

Three Roots

The

Three Roots In Buddhism, the Three Jewels, Triple Gem, or Three Refuges are the supports in which a Buddhist takes refuge by means of a prayer or recitation at the beginning of the day or of a practice session. These Three Jewels are: * The Buddha, the f ...

are: *

Guru Guru ( sa, गुरु, IAST: ''guru;'' Pali'': garu'') is a Sanskrit term for a "mentor, guide, expert, or master" of certain knowledge or field. In pan-Indian traditions, a guru is more than a teacher: traditionally, the guru is a reverentia ...

(Tibetan: བླ་མ།, Wyl. bla ma) *

Yidam ''Yidam'' is a type of deity associated with tantric or Vajrayana Buddhism said to be manifestations of Buddhahood or enlightened mind. During personal meditation (''sādhana'') practice, the yogi identifies their own form, attributes and mi ...

(Tibetan: ཡི་དམ།,Wyl. yi dam; Skt. istadevata) *

Dakini A ḍākinī ( sa, डाकिनी; ; mn, хандарма; ; alternatively 荼枳尼, ; 荼吉尼, ; or 吒枳尼, ; Japanese: 荼枳尼 / 吒枳尼 / 荼吉尼, ''dakini'') is a type of female spirit, goddess, or demon in Hinduism and Bud ...

(Tibetan: མཁའ་འགྲོ་མ།, Khandroma; Wyl. mkha 'gro ma ) *

Three Higher Trainings

The three higher trainings (Tibetan:ལྷག་བའི་བསླབ་པ་གསུམ་, lhagpe labpa sum,or Wyl. bslab pa gsum) * discipline (Tibetan: ཚུལ་ཁྲིམས་ཀྱི་བསླབ་པ།, Wyl. tshul khrims kyi bslab pa) * meditation (Tibetan: ཏིང་ངེ་འཛན་གྱི་བསླབ་པ།,Wyl. ting nge 'dzin gyi bslab pa) * wisdom (Tibetan: ཤེས་རབ་ཀྱི་བསླབ་པ།, Wyl. shes rab kyi bslab pa )

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: *

Impermanence Impermanence, also known as the philosophical problem of change, is a philosophical concept addressed in a variety of religions and philosophies. In Eastern philosophy it is notable for its role in the Buddhist three marks of existence. It is ...

(Tibetan: འདུ་བྱེ་ཐམས་ཅད་མི་རྟག་ཅིང་།) * anatta (Tibetan: ཆོས་རྣམས་སྟོང་ཞིང་བདག་མེད་པ།) *

Nirvana ( , , ; sa, निर्वाण} ''nirvāṇa'' ; Pali: ''nibbāna''; Prakrit: ''ṇivvāṇa''; literally, "blown out", as in an oil lampRichard Gombrich, ''Theravada Buddhism: A Social History from Ancient Benāres to Modern Colombo.' ...

(Tibetan: མྱང་ངན་འདས་པ་ཞི་བའོ།།)

Three Turnings of the Wheel of Dharma

As the inner wheel of the

Vajrayana Vajrayāna ( sa, वज्रयान, "thunderbolt vehicle", "diamond vehicle", or "indestructible vehicle"), along with Mantrayāna, Guhyamantrayāna, Tantrayāna, Secret Mantra, Tantric Buddhism, and Esoteric Buddhism, are names referring t ...

Dharmacakra, the gankyil also represents the syncretic union and embodiment of

Gautama Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist tradition, he was born in Lu ...

Three Turnings of the Wheel of Dharma The Three Turnings of the Wheel (of Dharma) refers to a framework for understanding the sutra stream of the teachings of the Buddhism originally devised by the Yogachara school. It later became prevalent in modified form in Tibetan Buddhism and re ...

. The

pedagogic Pedagogy (), most commonly understood as the approach to teaching, is the theory and practice of learning, and how this process influences, and is influenced by, the social, political and psychological development of learners. Pedagogy, taken as ...

upaya Upaya (Sanskrit: उपाय, , ''expedient means'', ''pedagogy'') is a term used in Buddhism to refer to an aspect of guidance along the Buddhist paths to liberation where a conscious, voluntary action "is driven by an incomplete reasoning" a ...

doctrine and classification of the "three turnings of the wheel" was first postulated by the

Yogacara Yogachara ( sa, योगाचार, IAST: '; literally "yoga practice"; "one whose practice is yoga") is an influential tradition of Buddhist philosophy and psychology emphasizing the study of cognition, perception, and consciousness through t ...

school.

Trikaya doctrine

The gankyil is the energetic signature of the

Trikaya The Trikāya doctrine ( sa, त्रिकाय, lit. "three bodies"; , ) is a Mahayana Buddhist teaching on both the nature of reality and the nature of Buddhahood. The doctrine says that Buddha has three ''kāyas'' or ''bodies'', the '' Dharm ...

, realised through the transmutation of the obscurations forded by the

Three poisons The three poisons (Sanskrit: ''triviṣa''; Tibetan: ''dug gsum'') or the three unwholesome roots (Sanskrit: ''akuśala-mūla''; Pāli: ''akusala-mūla''), in Buddhism, refer to the three root kleshas: '' Moha'' (delusion, confusion), ''Raga'' ...

(refer klesha) and therefore in the

Bhavachakra The bhavacakra (Sanskrit: भवचक्र; Pāli: ''bhavacakka''; Tibetan: སྲིད་པའི་འཁོར་ལོ, Wylie: ''srid pa'i 'khor lo'') is a symbolic representation of saṃsāra (or cyclic existence). It is found on the ...

the Gankyil is an

aniconic Aniconism is the absence of artistic representations (''icons'') of the natural and supernatural worlds, or it is the absence of representations of certain figures in religions. It is a feature of various cultures, particularly of cultures which a ...

depiction of the snake, boar and fowl. Gankyil is to

Dharmachakra The dharmachakra (Sanskrit: धर्मचक्र; Pali: ''dhammacakka'') or wheel of dharma is a widespread symbol used in Indian religions such as Hinduism, Jainism, and especially Buddhism.John C. Huntington, Dina Bangdel, ''The Circle o ...

, as still eye is to cyclone, as Bindu is to

Mandala A mandala ( sa, मण्डल, maṇḍala, circle, ) is a geometric configuration of symbols. In various spiritual traditions, mandalas may be employed for focusing attention of practitioners and adepts, as a spiritual guidance tool, for e ...

. The Gankyil is the inner wheel of the

Dharmacakra The dharmachakra (Sanskrit: धर्मचक्र; Pali: ''dhammacakka'') or wheel of dharma is a widespread symbol used in Indian religions such as Hinduism, Jainism, and especially Buddhism.John C. Huntington, Dina Bangdel, ''The Circle o ...

(refer Himalayan

Ashtamangala The Ashtamangala is a sacred suite of ''Eight Auspicious Signs'' endemic to a number of religions such as Hinduism, Jainism, and Buddhism. The symbols or "symbolic attributes" () are yidam and teaching tools. Not only do these attributes (or e ...

). The Gankyil is symbolic of the

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 Systems theory is the interdisciplinary study of systems, i.e. cohesive groups of interrelated, interdependent components that can be natural or human-made. Every system has causal boundaries, is influenced by its context, defined by its struc ...

of the

Three Vajras The Trikāya doctrine ( sa, त्रिकाय, lit. "three bodies"; , ) is a Mahayana Buddhist teaching on both the nature of reality and the nature of Buddhahood. The doctrine says that Buddha has three ''kāyas'' or ''bodies'', the ''Dharma ...

: 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 Nyingma (literally 'old school') is the oldest of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. It is also often referred to as ''Ngangyur'' (, ), "order of the ancient translations". The Nyingma school is founded on the first lineages and transl ...

Dzogchen codified by

Mañjuśrīmitra Mañjuśrīmitra (d. 740 CE) () was an Indian Buddhist scholar. He became the main student of Garab Dorje and a teacher of Dzogchen. Nomenclature and etymology Mañjuśrī-mitra was his ordination-name—before ordination he was named " Siddhi-gar ...

: *

Semde Semde (; Sanskrit: ) translated as 'mind division', 'mind class' or 'mind series' is the name of one of three scriptural and lineage divisions within Atiyoga, Dzogchen or the Great Perfection which is itself the pinnacle of the ninefold divis ...

ibetan:སེམས་སྡེ།*

Longdé Longdé (, sa, abhyantaravarga) is the name of one of three scriptural divisions within Dzogchen, which is itself the pinnacle of the ninefold division of practice according to the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism Tibetan Buddhism (a ...

ibetan:ཀློང་སྡེ།* Mengagde ibetan:མན་ངག་སྡེ།This classification determined the exposition of the Dzogchen teachings in the subsequent centuries.

Three Spheres

"Three spheres" (Sanskrit: trimandala; Tibetan: འཁོར་གསུམ།'khor gsum). The conceptualizations pertaining to: *subject, *object, and *action

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 heart is a muscular organ in most animals. This organ pumps blood through the blood vessels of the circulatory system. The pumped blood carries oxygen and nutrients to the body, while carrying metabolic waste such as carbon dioxide t ...

, the 'mind'-wheel; 'light' at the

throat In vertebrate anatomy, the throat is the front part of the neck, internally positioned in front of the vertebrae. It contains the pharynx and larynx. An important section of it is the epiglottis, separating the esophagus from the trachea (windpipe ...

, the 'voice'-wheel; and 'rays' at the

head A head is the part of an organism which usually includes the ears, brain, forehead, cheeks, chin, eyes, nose, and mouth, each of which aid in various sensory functions such as sight, hearing, smell, and taste. Some very simple animals may ...

, the 'body'-wheel. Some Dzogchen lineages for various purposes, locate 'rays' at the Ah-wheel (for

Five Pure Lights The Five Pure Lights () is an essential teaching in the Dzogchen tradition of Bon and Tibetan Buddhism. For the deluded, matter seems to appear. This is due to non-recognition of the five lights. Matter includes the ''mahābhūta'' or classical e ...

pranayama Pranayama is the yogic practice of focusing on breath. In Sanskrit, '' prana'' means "vital life force", and ''yama'' means to gain control. In yoga, breath is associated with ''prana'', thus, pranayama is a means to elevate the '' prana'' ''sha ...

) and 'light' at the

Aum ''Om'' (or ''Aum'') (; sa, ॐ, ओम्, Ōṃ, translit-std=IAST) is a sacred sound, syllable, mantra, or an invocation in Hinduism. ''Om'' is the prime symbol of Hinduism.Krishna Sivaraman (2008), ''Hindu Spirituality Vedas Through Ved ...

-wheel (for

rainbow body In Dzogchen, rainbow body (, Jalü or Jalus) is a level of realization. This may or may not be accompanied by the 'rainbow body phenomenon'. The rainbow body phenomenon is pre-Buddhist in origin, and is a topic which has been treated fairly serio ...

), and there are other enumerations.

Three lineages of Nyingmapa Dzogchen

The Gankyil also embodies the three tantric lineages as

Penor Rinpoche Kyabjé Drubwang Padma Norbu Rinpoche (), 1932 – 27 March 2009, was the 11th throneholder of the Palyul Lineage of the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism, and said to be an incarnation of Vimalamitra. He was widely renowned in the Tibetan Bu ...

, a

pa, states:

According to the history of the origin of tantras there are three lineages: *The Lineage of Buddha's Intention, which refers to the teachings of the Truth Body originating from the primordial Buddha Samantabhadra, who is said to have taught tantras to an assembly of completely enlightened beings emanated from the Truth Body itself. Therefore, this level of teaching is considered as being completely beyond the reach of ordinary human beings. *The Lineage of the Knowledge Holders corresponds to the teachings of the Enjoyment Body originating from Vajrasattva and Vajrapani, whose human lineage begins with Garab Dorje of the Ögyan Dakini land. From him the lineage passed to Manjushrimitra, Shrisimha and then to Guru Rinpoche, Jnanasutra, Vimalamitra and Vairochana who disseminated it in Tibet. *Lastly, the Human Whispered Lineage corresponds to the teachings of the Emanation Body, originating from the Five Buddha Families. They were passed on to Shrisimha, who transmitted them to Guru Rinpoche, who in giving them to Vimalamitra started the lineage which has continued in Tibet until the present day.

Three aspects of energy in Dzogchen

The Gankyil also embodies the energy manifested in the three aspects that yield the energetic

emergence In philosophy, systems theory, science, and art, emergence occurs when an entity is observed to have properties its parts do not have on their own, properties or behaviors that emerge only when the parts interact in a wider whole. Emergence ...

For a sound introduction to "emergence" refer: Corning, Peter A. (2002). ''The Re-emergence of "Emergence": A Venerable Concept in Search of a Theory''. Institute For the Study of Complex Systems. NB: initially published in and © by ''Complexity'' (2002) 7(6): pp.18-30. Source: (accessed: February 5, 2008) (Tibetan: རང་བྱུན།
rang byung
') of phenomena ( Tibetan: ཆོས་ Wylie: "chos" Sanskrit: ''

dharmas The Abhidharma are ancient (third century BCE and later) Buddhist texts which contain detailed scholastic presentations of doctrinal material appearing in the Buddhist ''sutras''. It also refers to the scholastic method itself as well as the f ...

'') and

sentient beings Sentience is the capacity to experience feelings and sensations. The word was first coined by philosophers in the 1630s for the concept of an ability to feel, derived from Latin '' sentientem'' (a feeling), to distinguish it from the ability to ...

(Tibetan: ཡིད་ཅན།
yid can
'): # ''dang'' (གདངས། Wylie:
gDangs
'), this is an infinite and formless level of compassionate energy and reflective capacity, it is "an awareness free from any restrictions and as an energy free from any limits or form." # ''rolpa'' (རོལ་པ། Wylie:
Rol-pa
'). These are the manifestations which appear to be internal to the individual (such as when a crystal ball seems to reflect something inside itself). # ''tsal'' (རྩལ། Wylie:
rTsal
', is "the manifestation of the energy of the individual him or herself, as an apparently 'external' world," though this apparent externality is only just "a manifestation of our own energy, at the level of Tsal." This is explained through the use of a crystal prism which reflects and refracts white light into various other forms of light. Though not discrete correlates, ''dang'' equates to '' dharmakaya''; ''rolpa'' to '' sambhogakaya''; and ''tsal'' to '' nirmanakaya''.

In Bon

Three Treasures of Yungdrung Bon

Bon ''Bon'', also spelled Bön () and also known as Yungdrung Bon (, "eternal Bon"), is a Tibetan religious tradition with many similarities to Tibetan Buddhism and also many unique features.Samuel 2012, pp. 220-221. Bon initially developed in t ...

, the gankyil denotes the three principal terma cycles of Yungdrung Bon: the Northern Treasure (), the Central Treasure () and the Southern Treasure ().M. Alejandro Chaoul-Reich (2000). "Bön Monasticism". Cited in: William M. Johnston (author, editor) (2000). ''Encyclopedia of monasticism, Volume 1''. Taylor & Francis. , . Source

(accessed: Saturday April 24, 2010), p.171 The Northern Treasure is compiled from texts revealed in

Zhangzhung Zhangzhung or Shangshung was an ancient culture and kingdom in western and northwestern Tibet, which pre-dates the culture of Tibetan Buddhism in Tibet. Zhangzhung culture is associated with the Bon religion, which has influenced the philosophies ...

and northern Tibet, the Southern Treasure from texts revealed in

Bhutan Bhutan (; dz, འབྲུག་ཡུལ་, Druk Yul ), officially the Kingdom of Bhutan,), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is situated in the Eastern Himalayas, between China in the north and India in the south. A mountainous ...

and southern Tibet, and the Central Treasure from texts revealed in

Ü-Tsang Ü-Tsang is one of the three traditional provinces of Tibet, the others being Amdo in the north-east, and Kham in the east. Ngari (including former Guge kingdom) in the north-west was incorporated into Ü-Tsang. Geographically Ü-Tsang covere ...

near

Samye Samye (, ), full name Samye Mighur Lhundrub Tsula Khang (Wylie: ''Bsam yas mi ’gyur lhun grub gtsug lag khang'') and Shrine of Unchanging Spontaneous Presence is the first Tibetan Buddhist and Nyingma monastery built in Tibet, during the reign ...

. The gankyil is the central part of the

shang The Shang dynasty (), also known as the Yin dynasty (), was a Chinese royal dynasty founded by Tang of Shang (Cheng Tang) that ruled in the Yellow River valley in the second millennium BC, traditionally succeeding the Xia dynasty and f ...

(Tibetan: ''gchang''), a traditional ritual tool and instrument of the

Bönpo ''Bon'', also spelled Bön () and also known as Yungdrung Bon (, "eternal Bon"), is a Tibetan religious tradition with many similarities to Tibetan Buddhism and also many unique features.Samuel 2012, pp. 220-221. Bon initially developed in t ...

shaman Shamanism is a religious practice that involves a practitioner (shaman) interacting with what they believe to be a spirit world through altered states of consciousness, such as trance. The goal of this is usually to direct spirits or spiritu ...

References

Citations

Works cited

* Beer, Robert (2003). ''The Handbook of Tibetan Buddhist Symbols''. Serindia Publications. Source

(accessed: December 7, 2007) *Besch, Florian (2006). ''Tibetan Medicine Off the Roads: Modernizing the Work of the Amchi in Spiti''. Source

(accessed: February 11, 2008) *Günther, Herbert (undated). ''Three, Two, Five''.

(accessed: April 30, 2007) *Ingersoll, Ernest (1928). ''Dragons and Dragon Lore.'

(accessed: June 12, 2008)\* Alfred Kazin, Kazin, Alfred (1946). ''The Portable Blake.'' (Selected and arranged with an introduction by Alfred Kazin.) New York:

The Viking Press Viking Press (formally Viking Penguin, also listed as Viking Books) is an American publishing company owned by Penguin Random House. It was founded in New York City on March 1, 1925, by Harold K. Guinzburg and George S. Oppenheim and then acquire ...

. * . *Nalimov, V. V. (1982). ''Realms of the Unconscious: The Enchanted Frontier''. University Park, PA: ISI Press. *Penor Rinpoche (undated). ''The school of Nyingma thought'

(accessed: June 12, 2008) *Southworth, Franklink C. (2005? forthcoming). ''Proto-Dravidian Agriculture.'' Source

(accessed: February 10, 2008) * Sam van Schaik, Van Schaik, Sam (2004). ''Approaching the Great Perfection: Simultaneous and Gradual Methods of Dzogchen Practice in the Longchen Nyingtig''. Wisdom Publications. . Source:

(accessed: February 2, 2008) *Wayman, Alex (?) ''A Problem of 'Synonyms' in the Tibetan Language: Bsgom pa and Goms pa''. Source: o be supplied when have more bandwidth(accessed: February 10, 2008) NB: published in the ''Journal of the Tibet Society''.

External links

Entry for ''dga' 'khyil''
in Rang Jung Yeshe Wiki (with picture). {{Buddhism topics Buddhist symbols Tantric practices Tibetan Buddhist practices Rotational symmetry