The wheel is an early Indian symbol of sovereignty, protection and creation.  The wheel or chakra is the main attribute of the Vedic god of preservation, Vishnu, whose fiery six-spoked Sudarshana-chakra or discus represents the wheel of the phenomenal universe.  The wheel represents motion, continuity, and change, forever turning onwards like the circling sphere of the heavens.  As a weapon the rimless chakra had six, eight, ten, twelve, or eighteen sharply pointed blades, and could be hurled like a discus or swung upon a rope.  The wooden wheels of the ancient Indian chariots similarly bore an equal number of spokes.

Buddhism adopted the wheel as the main emblem of the 'wheel-turning" chakravartin, identifying this wheel as the dharmachakra or "wheel of dharma" of the Buddha's teachings.  The Tibetan term for dharmachakra (Tib. chos-kyi khor-lo) literally means the "wheel of transformation" or spiritual change.  The wheel's swift motion represents the rapid spiritual transformation revealed in the Buddha's teachings.  The wheel's comparison to the rotating weapon of the chakravartin represents its ability to cut through all obstacles and illusions.  The Buddha's first discourse at Deer Park in Sarnath, where he first taught the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Noble Path, is known as his "first turning of the wheel of dharma".  His subsequent great discourses at Rajghir and Shravasti are known as his second and third turnings of the wheel of dharma.

The three components of the wheel -hub, spokes and rim, symbolize the three aspects of the Buddhist teachings upon ethics, wisdom and concentration.  The central hub represents ethical discipline, which centers and stabilizes the mind.  The sharp spokes represent wisdom or discriminating awareness, which cuts through ignorance.  The rim represents meditative concentration, which both encompasses and facilitates the motion of the wheel.  A wheel with a thousand spokes, which emanates like the rays of the sun, represents the thousand activities and teachings of the Buddha.  A wheel with eight spokes symbolizes the Buddha's Eightfold Noble Path and the transmission of these teachings toward the eight directions.

When three swirls are shown in the central hub, they represent the Three Jewels of the Buddha, dharma and sangha and victory over the three poisons of ignorance, desire and aversion.  When four swirls are depicted they are usually colored to correspond to the four directions and elements and symbolize the Buddha's teachings upon the Four Noble Truths.