The following expression then occurs: “On the head of the elephant there are three transformed men: one holds a golden wheel, another a jewel, and yet another a diamond-pounder.” The golden wheel typifies the leadership with which one can freely govern people, the jewel indicates the power of wisdom with which one can discern the real state of all things, and the diamond-pounder signifies the power of refuting erroneous views, with which power one can smite the wicked and their sins. Anyone who practices the Buddha’s teachings gradually comes to be endowed with such powers.

“When he raises the pounder and points it at the elephant, the latter walks a few steps immediately.” This expression means that one’s practice of the teaching begins with the repentance of smiting his own evils and sins. “The elephant does not tread on the ground but hovers in the air seven feet above the earth, yet the elephant leaves on the ground its footprints, which are altogether perfect, marking the wheel’s hubs with a thousand spokes.” This figure of speech teaches that while one proceeds toward his ideal (the elephant that hovers in the air), he will actually receive the results of his right practice.

“From each mark of the wheel’s hub there grows a great lotus flower, on which a transformed elephant appears. This elephant also has seven legs and walks after the great elephant. Every time the transformed elephant raises and brings down its legs, seven thousand elephants appear, all following the great elephant as its retinue.” This means that as a person practices the Buddha’s teachings, he influences many other people, causing them to believe the teachings, and these people gradually come to practice the teachings by following the example of those senior to them in the faith.