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The Three Turnings of the Wheel of Dharma (Sanskrit: tridharmacakra-pravartana, Tibetan: chos kyi 'khor lo gsum) is a Mahāyāna Buddhist framework for classifying and understanding the teachings of the Buddhist Sūtras and the teachings of Buddha Śākyamuni in general.[1][2] This classification system first appears in the Saṃdhinirmocana Sūtra and in the works of the Yogācāra school.[1] This classification system later became prevalent in various modified forms in Tibetan Buddhism as well as in East Asian Buddhism.
According to the three turnings schema, the Buddha's first sermons, as recorded in the Tripiṭaka of early Buddhist schools, constitute the "first turning" (which include all śrāvakayāna texts). The sūtras which focus on the doctrine of emptiness (śūnyatā) like the Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra corpus, are considered to comprise the "second turning" (which in this schema is considered provisional), and the sūtras which teach Yogācāra themes (especially the three natures doctrine), like the Saṃdhinirmocana Sūtra, comprise the final and ultimate "third turning".[2]
In East Asian Buddhism, this classification system was expanded and modified into different doctrinal classifications called "panjiào" (判教), which were developed by different Chinese Buddhist schools.[3][4]
- ^ a b Keown, Damien (2004). A Dictionary of Buddhism, p. 302. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-860560-7.
- ^ a b "three turnings of the wheel". Oxford Reference. Retrieved 2023-08-10.
- ^ Ronald S. Green, Chanju Mun, Gyōnen’s Transmission of the Buddha Dharma in Three Countries, BRILL, 2018, p. 28.
- ^ Mun, Chanju (2006). The History of Doctrinal Classification in Chinese Buddhism: A Study of the Panjiao Systems. University Press of America.