XII.-THE WHEEL
"A constantly moving something circling about a pure central point."-Goethe.
THE Wheel with its spokes of which "none is the last" is one of the oldest symbols of the mystic pow~r of the sun.
It is traced back to the sun disk crossed by the four cardinal points.
It is related that "Buddha at his birth took seven steps towards each of the four cardinal points, thus indicating the conquering of the circle or universe." The Wheel is associated with the lotus flower, the symbol of the solar matrix.
The lotus flower with its centre surrounded by eight petals becomes the eight-spoked wheel of Buddhism. The eight spokes, or multiples of eight, symbolise the eight-fold path of self conquest. The Wheel with the Buddhists is the Excellent Wheel of Good Law "which turns twelve times or three revolutions for each of the four noble truths." Buddha is the wheel king,
