The Wheel of Life (Bhavachakra) Thangka - A meditation
anataman
Who needs a title?Where am I? Veteran
The wheel of life - an artistic representation of samsara. I have been specifically meditating on its symbology and would like to share an understanding of it. It is rich with insight, and even a brief study of it may become illuminating. It is a blueprint of how internal processes lead to external effects.
As it is a meditation I would like to start by taking refuge:
I take refuge in the buddha, the dharma, and the sangha.
Outside the wheel of life:
^ At the top of the picture the moon symbolises liberation from samsara.
^ The Buddha, or boddhisattva, pointing to the moon symbolises the path to liberation.
^ Gripping the wheel of life is the lord of death (Yama) here it is represented as a monstrous being, but sometimes it is depicted as a skeleton, and represents impermanence; it encircles the wheel with its fearsome claws and fangs which bite deep into the wheel. There is no escaping the transience of the nature of the message it injects into our lives. The forehead of yama has a third eye, which symbolises wisdom, and its head is adorned with 5 human skulls, which represent the 5 aggregates.
-form
-feeling
-perception
-mental formation
-consciousness
The 4 limbs of Yama symbolise birth, old age, sickness & death and the tiger skin between the legs symbolise fearfulness. It's the fear that the realisation of impermanence brings that leads some on the path to liberation.
The 3 inner circles symbolise how the three afflictive emotions of greed, hatred and ignorance, give rise to actions which in turn give rise to the cyclic existence of the suffering of samsara
^ The inner circle represents the 3 poisons, which are the driving force that turns the wheel:
-Greed or Desire, represented by the bird.
-Hatred or Anger, represented by the snake.
-Ignorance, represented by the pig.
They are the core of the Wheel of Life, and stirred by these, the cycle of existence evolves. N.B. without them, there is no samsara.
^ The second circle, encircling the inner core is divided into two semi-circles:
The one on the right depicting non-virtuous actions on a black background represents those who have forgotten the dharma and have let the 3 poisons overcome them such that they are moving down or regressing to a lower state of existence, in the lower realms.
The One on the left depicts virtuous actions and has a white background and represents those moving up to a higher state of existence, having discovered and are following the dharma, to rise to one of the higher realms.
It symbolises the law of cause and effect resulting from positive and negative actions AKA Karma.
^ The third circle encircling the 2nd circle is divided into 6 parts, symbolising the Six Realms of Existence the top 3 representing the higher realms and the bottom 3 the lower realms, and can be interpreted on various levels. I comprehend this circle in two ways, the first is the one that relates to karmic rebirth into one of these 6 realms in a buddhist cosmological way, and secondly, and with a more immediate understanding is the one that at any time we abide in a psychological state akin to one of these realms.
Deva or God Realm:
The highest of the six realms of existence characterized by the attributes of the Buddha. It is a pure land and if you are born into this realm, awakening is easily attained.
Aysura or Demi-god Realm
The second highest realm of existence is called the Demi-god realm, characterised by jealousy. It is believed to be the realm of the Asuras or Titans (divine beings that may be good or evil in indian cosmology). Those born into this realm, although considered to be a high birth, are jealous of the God realm and of each other. They are believed to spend most of their time fighting among themselves to compete. Sounds reminiscent of a buddhist forum sometimes.
Human Realm
Being born out of desire one is born into the human realm, which is considered to be a blessed birth, as it is only in the human realm in which liberation from all the six realms is deemed possible. The human realm is characterized by doubt, curiosity and the desire for something better. Suffering of birth, old age illness and death are pre-eminent.
Animal Realm
The Animal Realm is characterized by ignorance, and limited intelligence and is nothing but suffering, and where there is no way of obtaining knowledge and taking steps towards awakening.
Preta or Hungry Ghost Realm
This realm is characterized by craving/desire. There is suffering from a greed that can never be satisfied. Addiction and craving for drugs for instance, may well lead you here.
Hell Realm
Characterised by hatred one born into this realm must not only endure suffering in their respective hell but also pass through other lesser hells. This journey is supposed to take a long time to complete and the Dharma may be completely forgotten. Even if it is remembered, its practice is impossible. Imagine existing in a state of blind rage, and trying to meditate!
^ The outer circle symbolises the twelve links of dependent origination, or interdependent co-arising.
Ignorance (Skt. avidyā; Tib. ma rigpa): Fundamental ignorance of the truths and the delusion of mistakenly perceiving the skandhas as a self. It is often depicted as an old blind person groping for his way.
Formation (Skt. saṁskāra; Tib. duje): With ignorance as a condition, formation arises. As long as there is ignorance there is the formation of karma: positive, negative and neutral. This forms the rebirths in the various realms. It is often depicted as a potter making a vase on a potters wheel. The manufactured pots symbolise the actions of body, speech and mind with which one moulds ones karma in the wheel of life. N.B. Karma exerts an influence beyond the present moment just as a potter’s wheel will keep turning long after it has been set in motion.
Consciousness (Skt. vijñāna; Tib. nampar shepa): With formations as a condition, consciousness arises. Formations cause the consciousness of the next existence. It is often depicted as a monkey swinging from a tree, The monkey represents consciousness, the way we tend to leap from one thought to another in an uncontrolled manner.
Name-and-form (mind and matter) (Skt. nāma-rūpa; Tib. ming dang zuk): With consciousness as a condition, the five skandhas arise: form and the four ‘name’ skandhas of feeling, perception, formation and consciousness. It is often depicted as a person (or people) on a boat. The five skandhas that make up our sense of ‘self’ need a physical body, or form (the boat) and a psyche (a name)
Feeling or the six ayatanas (or sense bases) (Skt. ṣaḍāyatana; Tib. kyemche druk): With Name and Form as a condition, feeling arises. It is often depicted as a house with five windows and a door, symbolising the six senses by which the outer world is perceived. In the wheel of life they are normally represented by an empty house, as no one is at home yet 
Contact (Skt. sparśa; Tib. rekpa): With feeling as a condition, contact arises. The coming together of objects, sense bases and consciousness is contact. It is often depicted as a couple embracing.
Sensation (Skt. vedanā; Tib. tsorwa): With contact as a condition, sensation arises. From contact arises sensation: pleasurable, painful and neutral. It is often depicted as a person with an arrow in their eye.
Craving (Skt. tṛṣṅā; Tib. sepa): With sensation as a condition, craving arises. There then develops a desire not to be separated from pleasurable sensations and to be free from painful sensations. It is often depicted as a woman offering a drink to a man
Grasping/Clinging (Skt. upādāna; Tib. lenpa): With craving as a condition, grasping or clinging arises. Or to put it another way as craving increases, it develops into grasping/clinging, i.e. actively striving never to be separated from what is pleasurable and to avoid what is painful. It is often depicted as a man plucking fruit from a tree.
Becoming (Skt. bhava; Tib. sipa): With grasping/clinging as a condition, becoming arises. By grasping one acts with body, speech and mind, and creates the karma that determines one’s next existence. It is often depicted as a bride, a couple making love or a pregnant woman.
Rebirth (Skt. jāti; Tib. kyewa): With becoming as a condition, rebirth arises. Through the power of becoming, one is reborn in a particular birthplace whenever the necessary conditions are assembled. It is often depicted as a woman giving birth.
Old age and Death (Skt. jarā-maraṇa; Tib. ga shi): With rebirth as a condition, Old age and death arise. Following rebirth there is a continuous process of aging as the aggregates change and develop; and eventually there is death when the aggregates finally cease. It is often depicted as someone bearing a corpse or a burden.
To end this meditation I offer it, in the hope that another sentient being will awaken to some aspect of it:
By the power and truth of this practice may all beings attain happiness, and the causes of happiness,
May all be free from suffering, and the causes of suffering,
and may all dwell in the great happiness, that is sorrowless,
free from attachment or aversion,
and live believing in the equanimity of all that lives.
And with that, I seal the meditation, with the insight that everything associated with this offering is inherently empty, me, you, and even the teaching of the wheel of life.
Liberation and awakening awaits us all.
Mettha
Comments
I love this thanka!
The iconorgraphy is so rich.
If I may ....
In the upper right is Shakyamuni Buddha teaching the path to liberation.
In the left is, I believe, Buddha Amithaba teaching the Dharma is his pure land, Sukhavati. To his right is his family's bodhisattva, Avalokiteshvara. To his left may be Tara, but I'm not sure. The Pure Land/Amithaba reference indicates that this may be a Kagyu Thanka.
There are so many different renditions of the WOL that it's difficult to categorize so easily.
The rendition of skulls as a crown for Yama, indicates that this is a tantric version of the WOL, and a sixfold refuge - Buddha, Dharma, Sangha, Guru, Yidam and Protector , recited three times, might be more appropriate.
Most Thankas are tantric at some level.
However you approach practice, there is much to contemplate in a WOL Thanka. Wonderfull.
Anyone and everyone is welcome to contribute and comment. Thanks for enriching the view @Chaz.
As you say @anataman the Realms can be interpreted as states of consciousness..for a justly famous treatment of the Realms seen in this way I would recommend
" Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism " by Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche
Thanks for the thread.
_/_
Thanks for the reference. My reading list is enormous. However, after reading the first chapter It's now gone on my Easter holiday reading pile.
Love it
(though you probably already knew that)
Any chance of a bigger picture? That one definitely works if I zoom in a bit on my monitor but I would love a high res version. Found a lot online but don't seem to be the same (which probably doesn't mean anything but I really like your version in particular).
Sadly @lostsoul this is just a linked image from a Tibetan web site (there is no other resolution) - I love this one in particular as well, particularly because of the little whisp of smoke emanating from the highest figure depicted in the top of the 'virtuous action semicircle' that has prostrating shadows leading to the buddha realm resulting in full liberation of our buddha nature, indicating that we can escape samsaric existence. A little bit of hope for us all!
I posted another wheel of life thangka image which can be clicked on to examine the imagery in more detail, in this thread interdependent coarising
Thank you @anatman that one is really cool as well.
I also found this one as well if anybody is interested. Different from OP but I like it.