sogaya

Monday, April 21, 2008

Buddhist Wheel Of Life





Its divided into three main parts, The Outer Rim, The Six realms and the Hub. I’ll try to explain each division.
The Outer Rim : This is divided into 12 parts, known as the 12 Interdependent causes and their effects.

Ignorance, indicated by an old man with a stick unable to find his way.

Karma, showing a potter moulding his pots, indicating one being responsible for his Karma

Conciousness (Don’t really remember how this is signified)

Name and Form, it shows two people in a boat indicating name (spiritual) and form (physical energy).

Senses and Mind, shows a picture with 5 windows (indicating 5 senses) and a door (indiacating the mind)

Contact, the picture shows a man and a woman embracing, indicating human physical contact.

Sensation, it shows the emotions by which one is stuck throughout life.

Desire, shows a man drinking indicating desires stimulated by perceptions.

Entanglement, shows a man clinging onto a tree, indicating a longing to be what you desire.

Procreation, shows a young beautiful bride, indicating procreation of new life.

Birth, shows a woman in a crouching position, giving birth to a child.

Death, shows two men carrying a shroud, indicating the inevitable death!

The Six Realms : The inner circle is divided into six sectors indicating Six Realms of existence. As is evident from the picture the six worlds are (going clockwise again), The World of Devas (Gods), The World of Humans, The World of Animals, The World of Hell, The World of Pretas (Ghosts), The World of Asuras (Demigods, Titans).

The innermost Hub comprises of White Path (left side), a Dark Path (right side) and Root of Evil. The White Path or the Path of Bliss, indicates how souls move to the upper realms with successive rebirths, reaching Heaven. The Dark Path, indicates how the souls move to the lower realms with successive rebirths, reaching Hell. The central circle consists of a boar, foul and a serpent indicating the 3 poisons, viz. greed, hatred and delusion Basically the direction of their rotation is called as the Wheel of Woe, which causes the multiple rebirths, and these evils are responsible for trapping a Soul in the Six realms.

And last but not the least, the monster seen evidently in the picture is the monster of Impermanence, popularly known as Yama, the God of Death!
posted by Hemalatha at 11:09 PM

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