![]() ![]() Moral action is admirable in itself it benefits both the practitioner and recipient, but it does not lead to the conquest of delusion. Heaven offers no permanent way out of Dukha in its severest forms. Good works at best qualify people for transient joys in the highest of the 6 states of existence, where they are still subject to Dukha, even if it is in the form of general dissatisfaction rather than acute suffering. Sentient beings have a choice between eons of suffering and Nirvana’s bliss, the fruit of Enlightenment.Īmong the numerous lessons to be learned from contemplating this symbol is the futility of piling up good works without making a genuine spiritual advance. The Buddha points to a proper understanding of the Doctrine and conformance with Universal Law as the best way to Liberation. Near the top of the picture stands the Buddha indicating not at the Wheel of Life, but at another more simple and very beautiful wheel with 8 spokes (Asoka’s wheel), which, for more than 2000 years, has been a symbol of the Dharma, i.e., the Doctrine of the Buddha, and in another sense, Universal Law. The 5 skulls in Yama’s headdress represent the 5 senses, the 5 illusory perceptions, the 5 kinds of wrongdoing, the 5 aggregates of being – the very opposites of all that is personified by the 5 Jinas at the core of the mandala. ![]() Merely rising from one state to another, even though it be to the heavenly bliss of the gods (Devas), brings no release from delusion’s grasp sooner or later, the gods will tumble back into the more unsatisfactory states – no permanent gain accrues from utilizing merit to procure a positive rebirth. Yama, Lord of Death, represents Avidya, with the entire universe in its clutch. The entire wheel is in the grasp of a huge and hideous demon who resembles Yama the Lord of Death and wears 5 skulls upon his crown. A corpse – Decay: rebirth giving rise to renewed death and further rounds of birth and death forever and ever.Childbirth – Birth: birth giving rise to rebirth.A pregnant woman – Becoming: grasping giving rise to the continuity of existence.A monkey snatching fruit – Appropriation: thirst giving rise to grasping.Drinking – Thirst: feeling giving rise to a thirst for more.Blinded by arrows in both eyes – Feelings of pleasure and pain: contact giving rise to blind feeling.Love-making – Contact: the senses giving rise to the desire for contact with their objects.Six empty houses – 6 senses (including mind): personality giving rise to sense perception.Two men in a boat – Personality: consciousness giving rise to name and form.A monkey playing with a peach – Tasting good and evil: impulses, giving rise to consciousness.A potter – Fashioning: ignorance giving rise to elemental impulses.The 12 links in the chain of causation (Pratitya-samutpada) are illustrated in slightly different ways by different artists, but generally, they are as follows: The rim is divided into 12 sections, each with a picture signifying one of the links in the twelvefold chain of causality, through which beings are ensnared in life afterlife. Then come 6 segments of the circle representing the 6 states of existence separately (Gods, Asuras, humans, animals, hungry ghosts, and denizens of hell) or 5 segments, with the first 2 orders in the upper and lower parts of the same one. All these beings endlessly revolve among the 6 states. These 3 creatures represent: craving, wrath, and ignorance are the three fires of evil that make sentient beings the victims of Avidya – primordial delusion.Īround them is a narrow circle, half of which is loaded with happy-looking but rather worldly people going up, and half with naked wretches falling down.Īs a result of relative victories or defeats in their contest with the ego, sentient beings rise or fall within Samsara’s round, any rise being accomplished by a fall if negative Karma is acquired in the new existence, and each fall being succeeded by a rise when the evil Karma is worked off or if the being acquires merit. a pig, signifying ignorance and delusion.In the center of the wheel are 3 creatures: – Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche’s quote. ”One of the reasons why the bhavacakra was pictured outside the monasteries and on the walls (and was really encouraged even by the Buddha himself) was to teach this important Buddhist philosophy of life and perception to more simple-minded farmers or cowherds. In Mahayana Buddhism, it is believed that the drawing was outlined by the Gautama Buddha himself in order to help normal people understand Buddhist teachings. ![]() What is Bhavacakra – Tibetan Wheel of Life?Īt the doorway to most Tibetan gompas, there is a large fresco of the Wheel of Life (the term is also translated as wheel of becoming or wheel of cyclic existence), which is a great painting signifying Samsara as the plaything of delusion. ![]()
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