Within Falun Gong, the Falun or Dharma Wheel is regarded as the central emblem and core spiritual mechanism of the practice. It is described as a miniature universe that embodies the fundamental characteristics of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance, and thus symbolizes the law or principle that governs all cosmic existence. The symbol visually expresses a synthesis of Buddhist and Daoist traditions: a large central swastika associated with the Buddha school, surrounded by smaller swastikas and Taiji (yin–yang) symbols that represent Daoist principles and the balance of cosmic forces. In this way, the Falun is not merely decorative; it is intended to encapsulate the structure and order of higher dimensions and the universe as a whole.

Falun Gong teachings further describe the Falun as an intelligent, living entity that is installed by the master in the practitioner’s lower abdomen. Once present, it is believed to rotate constantly, functioning as an energy wheel that operates without conscious effort. Its rotation is said to absorb and refine energy from the universe while releasing karma and negative substances, thereby purifying and harmonizing the practitioner’s body and energy field. Because it is understood to work continuously, day and night, the Falun serves as a perpetual mechanism of cultivation, transforming the practitioner even outside formal meditation.

The Falun symbol, therefore, carries both doctrinal and practical significance. Doctrinally, it signifies the integration of Buddhist and Daoist cultivation paths under a universal law, presenting the practitioner as aligned with a cosmos that is ordered, moral, and alive with meaning. Practically, it represents the inner Dharma Wheel that is believed to protect, refine, and elevate the practitioner’s being through its ceaseless rotation. As the emblem of Falun Gong, the Falun gathers these layers of meaning into a single image: a universe in miniature, a moral law in symbolic form, and an inner spiritual engine that is said to drive the entire process of cultivation.