User:Zero sharp/Three Turnings of the Wheel of Dharma

I mean this page to be a draft of this article, if there's a better or more WP-approved way of doing this, please let me knowZero sharp 23:27, 30 April 2006 (UTC)

The Three Turnings of the Wheel (of Dharma) refers to a framework for understanding the teachings of the Buddha, as understood by various schools and sects of Buddhism.

The distinction is, on the one hand, an historic or quasi-historic scheme by which the Buddha's first sermons, as recorded in the Pali Canon constitute the First Turning and the later, Mahayana sutras and Tantras comprise (variously) the Second and Third turnings. At the same time, the model of three turnings of the 'Wheel' is an attempt to categorize the content, philosophical view, and practical application of the whole array of Buddhist teachings.

Contents of the Three Turnings
The basic content of the three turnings of the wheel, as well as the audiences for whose sake they were expounded can be summarized as follows:


 * First Turning: Audience - shravakas, Primary teaching - Four Noble Truths,
 * Second Turning: Audience - Bodhisattvas, Primary teaching - Emptiness as epitomized in the Prajnaparamita sutras and Madhyamika treatises
 * Third Turning: Audience - Bodhisattvas, Primary teaching - Buddha nature (Tathagatagarbha)

Definitive and Provisional
Different sects and schools of Buddhism, as well as individual Buddhist teachers and philosophers give different explanations as to which of the three turnings is 'definitive' and which is 'provisional' or requiring interpretation. Jonangpas emphasis on the Third Turning, Shentong, 'Great Madhyamaka'