THE WHEEL OF LIFE

 The Wheel of Life

The Wheel of Life is a symbolic representation of true sufferings and true origins, delusions. The Wheel of Life is depicted within the jaws of Yama, the Lord of Death, since all living things must die in samsara. In the center are three animals that represent the three mental poisons of ignorance (pig), desirous attachment (pigeon), and aversion/hatred (snake). Since ignorance is the root delusion that leads to all other delusions, the pigeon and snake are coming out of the pig's mouth.

The next circle shows the six types of beings trapped within samsara as they take the form of their next rebirth in the bardo. The next circle shows the six realms of samsara: gods, demi-gods, and humans in the higher realms, and animals, hungry ghosts, and hell beings in the lower realms.

The outermost circle is a symbolic representation of the twelve dependent-related links, starting with ignorance depicted as a blind woman at the top, and working clockwise through compositional actions (a potter making good and bad pots), consciousness (a monkey running up and down a tree), name and form (a man rowing a boat), six sources (an empty house with five windows), contact (a couple embracing), feeling (a man with an arrow shot through his eye), craving (a man drinking beer), grasping (a monkey grabbing fruit), existence (a pregnant woman), birth (a mother and newborn baby), and aging and death (a man carrying a corpse on his back).

Buddha stands outside the Wheel of Life and points at the moon. This shows that Buddhas are outside of samsara since they have abandoned samsaric paths and attained the true path to liberation. The moon represents true cessations of delusions.

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