The Dge lugs pa scholar ’Jam dbyangs bzhad pa Ngag dbang brtson ’grus (1648–1721/22) defines the Wheel of Dharma (chos ’khor, *dharmacakra) as “good qualities (yon tan) that exist either in the doctrine (lung) or in realization (rtogs)” in his Phar phyin mtha’ dpyod, a monastic textbook of Drepung Gomang Collage. As regards the doctrinal Wheel of Dharma (lung gi chos ’khor), there are different opinions among Tibetan Buddhist thinkers. While Mchims chen mo, Chags lo tsā ba, and others assert that the Buddha’s turning of the Wheel of Dharma occurred in succession, ’Jam dbyangs bzhad pa denies their assertion in terms of both the common view (thun mong) shared by many disciples and the uncommon view (thun mong ma yin pa) that is specific to certain disciples. The underlying idea in ’Jam dbyangs bzhad pa’s discussion is first that the Buddha teaches every doctrine, such as the four noble truths, in all stages of his life as long as there exist sentient beings who can gain benefit from each doctrine, and second that the Buddha teaches all kinds of doctrines simultaneously in all fields in order to save all sentient beings, each of which is characteristic of Mahāyāna Buddhist soteriology.
