Gyen Druk
Behind the Buddha statue are the sculpted “Six Ornaments” or “gyen druk” as they are called in Tibetan. These six different creatures represent the six paramitas or transcendences that make up the Mayahana path to liberation. The six paramitas are transcendent generosity, transcendent discipline, transcendent patience, transcendent diligence, transcendent meditation, and transcendent wisdom.
Pillars
The six pillars in the main shrine room are decorated with traditional ornaments and feature statues of Padmasambhava and Avalokiteshvara at their tops. Above the pillars there are five different traditional symbols: wheels (Khorlo), flowers (Metok), vajras (Dorji), dharma texts (Choe tsek), Pema (Lotus) . The first three represent the body, speech, and mind of the buddhas, and the fourth represents the collection of scriptures that make up the Buddhist teachings. The lotus is a symbol of purity.
Dharma Wheel and Deer
The Dharma Wheel and Deer are two symbols found at Buddhist monasteries in many different countries. They represent the first teachings given by the Shakyamuni Buddha at Deer Park in Sarnath, Varanasi, India.
The reason for a wheel is that shortly after the Buddha achieved enlightenment, Brahma came down from heaven to ask him to teach by offering him a Dharma Wheel.
The Dharma Wheel has eight spokes, symbolizing the Noble Eight-Fold Path. The three segments represent the Buddha, the Dharma (the teachings), and the Sangha (the spiritual community). The three different parts of the wheel each represent one of the superior trainings: the hub represents the training in discipline, the spokes training in wisdom, and the rim training in meditation.
The Deer represents the Buddha’s first teaching or turning of the wheel of Dharma (dharmachakra parivartan) in Deer Park. The Buddha’s demeanor was so wondrous and peaceful that even the animals came to listen to him. In the Tibetan tradition, monasteries which contain the complete collection of scriptures called the Kangyur and Tengyur have these statues of a deer on either side of a Wheel of Dharma.
Mani Prayer Wheels
Tibetan prayer wheels contain hundreds, thousands, or even millions of mantras written on strips of paper, usually the six-syllable Om Mani Padme Hum mantra of Chenrezig, the bodhisattva of compassion. Spinning the wheel is like repeating the mantra many times, increasing our merit and evoking Chenrezig. The prayer wheels at Thrangu Monastery, which were made in Nepal, are placed here for students in Canada to develop merit and positive states of mind.
Wheel of Life
The painting of Wheel of Life outside the front door is to remind all beings that we could only get rid of sufferings of rebirth in six realms by practicing Dharma.
The Six Realms, are six divisions of the possible states of rebirth in traditional Buddhist cosmology. They represent all the possibilities, good and bad, of life in samsara. They include rebirth as a deva, an asura, a human being, an animal, a hungry ghost, or a being in Naraka (hell) according to the individual’s karma.
Special Logo of Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche
Thrangu Logo
Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche has produced a special logo for his monasteries, nunnery and different Dharma Centers with the Tibetan words of prayers inside it, which is now known as the Thrangu Logo. The upper part of the logo is the wheel and this represents the tantra teachings of the Buddha (practiced realization or wisdom) and lower part of the logo is the text, which represents the sutra teachings of the Buddha. The prayer in it simply means may the sutra and tantra teachings of the Buddha flourish. This is Rinpoche’s aspiration or prayers.
