Editing Chakra (section)

== Etymology ==

{{see also|Yantra|Mandala}} 

Lexically, ''chakra'' is the Indic reflex of an ancestral [[Indo-European languages|Indo-European]] form ''*kʷékʷlos'', whence also "wheel" and "cycle" ({{langx|grc|κύκλος|kýklos}}).<ref>{{cite book |last1=Mallory |first1=J.P. |last2=Adams |first2=D.Q. |title=Encyclopedia of Indo-European culture |date=1997 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=978-1-884964-98-5 |page=640 |edition=1}}</ref><ref name=britchakra>[https://www.britannica.com/topic/chakra Chakra: Religion], Encyclopaedia Britannica</ref><ref name="grimes100">{{cite book |last=Grimes |first=John A. |title=A Concise Dictionary of Indian Philosophy: Sanskrit Terms Defined in English |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qcoUFYOX0bEC |year=1996 |publisher=[[State University of New York Press]] |isbn=978-0-7914-3067-5 |pages=26, 30, 100–101, 265}}</ref> It has both literal<ref>{{cite book |last=Staal |first=Frits |author-link=Frits Staal |title=Discovering the Vedas: Origins, Mantras, Rituals, Insights |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HcE23SjLX8sC |year=2008 |publisher=[[Penguin Books]] |isbn=978-0-14-309986-4 |page=34}}</ref> and metaphorical uses, as in the "wheel of time" or "wheel of dharma", such as in ''Rigveda'' hymn verse 1.164.11,<ref>{{cite book |last=Staal |first=Frits |author-link=Frits Staal |title=Discovering the Vedas: Origins, Mantras, Rituals, Insights |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HcE23SjLX8sC |year=2008 |publisher=[[Penguin Books]] |isbn=978-0-14-309986-4 |pages=333–335}}</ref><ref>[https://sa.wikisource.org/wiki/ऋग्वेद:_सूक्तं_१.१६४ ऋग्वेद: सूक्तं १.१६४], verse ॥११॥, Rigveda, Wikisource</ref> pervasive in the earliest [[Vedic]] texts.

In [[Buddhism]], especially in [[Theravada]], the [[Pali]] noun ''cakka'' connotes "wheel".<ref>{{cite book |last=Collins |first=Steven |title=Nirvana and Other Buddhist Felicities |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z2go_y5KYyoC |year=1998 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |isbn=978-0-521-57054-1 |pages=473–474}}</ref> Within the Buddhist scriptures referred to as the [[Tripitaka]], [[Shakyamuni Buddha]] variously refers the "dhammacakka", or "wheel of dharma", connoting that this dharma, universal in its advocacy, should bear the marks characteristic of any temporal dispensation. [[Shakyamuni Buddha]] spoke of freedom from cycles in and of themselves, whether karmic, reincarnative, liberative, cognitive or emotional.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Edgerton |first1=Franklin |title=Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Grammar and Dictionary |date=1993 |publisher=[[Motilal Banarsidass]] |location=Delhi |isbn=81-208-0999-8 |page=221 |edition=Repr}}</ref>

In [[Jainism]], the term ''chakra'' also means "wheel" and appears in various contexts in its ancient literature.<ref>{{cite book |first=Helmuth |last=von Glasenapp |title=Jainism: An Indian Religion of Salvation |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WzEzXDk0v6sC&pg=PA427 |year=1925 |publisher=[[Motilal Banarsidass]] |isbn=978-81-208-1376-2 |pages=280–283, 427–428, 476–477}}</ref> As in other Indian religions, ''chakra'' in esoteric theories in Jainism such as those by [[Buddhisagarsuri]] means a yogic energy center.<ref>{{cite book |last=White |first=David Gordon |author-link=David Gordon White |title=Tantra in Practice |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hayV4o50eUEC |year=2001 |publisher=[[Motilal Banarsidass]] |isbn=978-81-208-1778-4 |pages=426–427}}</ref>