Interactive Wheel of Life

[DSFriend]

Thought you might enjoy this interactive Wheel of Life tool for your reference. One of the things i don't get bored looking at is the Wheel of Life. The truths presented in this wheel is undebatable. May all sentient beings one day be free from the grips of Yama.

http://www.buddhanet.net/wheel2.htm

[RedLantern]

Te existence of four truths,the existence of earthly suffering,it's origin and cause,the ending or prevention of misery and the practice path to the liberation from suffering.
The wheel of life describe the cause of evil and it's effects.It reminds us that everyone is always hos or her own judge and is responsible for their own fate,because according to karma,causes and their effects are the fruits of one's own deeds.
All sentient beings who have not practiced the Dharma and liberated themselves, are bound in a cycle of existence whose very nature is suffering.

[dondrup]

The Wheel of Life depicts all the environments of samsara and all the beings who inhabit them. It reveals the nature of samsara and the paths that take us and keep us bound there. There are the Pig, Pigeon and Snake in the centre representing our ignorance, desirous attachment and hatred. There are the virtuous path and non-virtuous path which we take after death.  There are the six realms of existence.  The entire Wheel of Life is drawn within the cluthes of the Lord of Death, Yama reminding us of impermanence and death. Central to this Wheel of Life is the Twelve Dependent-related Links which explains True Sufferings and True Origins.

[vajrastorm]

The Wheel of life shows how, in unenlightened existence, we continue to circle round samsara, as we allow our Three Poisons of Desire, Hatred and Ignorance (seen in the hub of the Wheel, symbolized by the Rooster, the Snake and the Pig respectively) to control all our thoughts and actions.

We actually have a choice. We can choose the White Path that leads to liberation from suffering and from samsara; or we can choose the Black Path that leads to the misery of rebirth after rebirth in the Lower Realms  of Suffering- the Hell Realm, the Hungry Ghost Realm and the Animal Realm.  We are therefore the creators of our own fates.

Ignorance is the root of the three poisons. Ignorance is also the first of the 12  Links of Dependent Arising or the 12 Interdependent Cause-and-Effect Links .It is Ignorance that motivates us and drives us to choose the Black Path. There are 2 aspects of ignorance. The first refers to "the misconception of the person , specifically oneself, as inherently existent, and to the misconception that phenomena that are part of one's continuum, such as body and mind, inherently exists". The second is "the misconception about the effects of actions(i.e. Karma)"( p. 10 ,of HH Dalai Lama's "The Meaning of Life").

Thus the Wheel of life shows us very explicitly the Four Noble Truths in operation. Knowing and understanding the Wheel of Life, we can the make the right choices to determine our liberation from suffering and our exit from samsara( which is in the nature of suffering).

[pgdharma]

The wheel of life is also referred to as the wheel of cyclic existence or the wheel of becoming. It is a symbolic representation of cyclic existence and are commonly found outside walls of Tibetan Buddhist Temples and Monasteries. It is believed that the drawing was designed by Buddha himself in order to help ordinary people understand the Buddha's Teachings. One of the reasons why the Wheel of Life was painted outside the monasteries and on the walls (and was really encouraged even by the Buddha himself) as during ancient time it is to teach this very profound Buddhist philosophy of life and perception to more simple-minded farmers or cowherds. So these images on the Wheel of Life are just to communicate to the general audience and since then it has been used to explain the core of the Buddha's Teachings.

[Dorje Pakmo]

Thought you might enjoy this interactive Wheel of Life tool for your reference. One of the things i don't get bored looking at is the Wheel of Life. The truths presented in this wheel is undebatable. May all sentient beings one day be free from the grips of Yama.

It’s a pity that this picture cannot be any bigger as it is already very informative with all the details one need to know about the Wheel of Life.  It will be better for the more people to view and understand the deeper meaning behind this picture which is believed to have been created by Lord Buddha himself.  The Wheel of Life was painted for lay people to understand the nature of cyclic existence and the cause behind it.

It is really wonderful how a picture can show so much of Lord Buddha’s teaching. It shows us how beings go from one life to another starting from the centre part of the picture which depicts the 3 poisons that affects everyone (except for the Buddha, this is because an enlightened being are not subjected to the law of Karma). How IGNORANCE (PIG) DESIRE (BIRD) and ANGER (SNAKE) causes the whole cyclic existence and how by doing virtuous or non virtuous actions determines one’s Karma, and how Karma gives rise to the  six realms of SAMSARA. IGNORANCE is depicted by pig because of the pig’s nature of living only to eat and sleep, DESIRE depicted as a bird because of its attachment to its partner (birds normally fly in a flock), and ANGER depicted as snake because it is easily aroused and leap at the slightest touch. Without these three poisons, then there will be no SAMSARA.

The six realms of SAMSARA consist of three upper realms and three lower realms. The upper realms are GOD realm, DEMIGOD realm and HUMAN realm with GOD realm being at the top middle part at the top of the painting and DEMIGOD and HUMAN realm on either side of GOD realm. Which means, even that GODs are also subjected to the law of KARMA and are still affected by KARMA which can make them to fall into DEMIGOD or HUMAN realm. Or worse still, the three lower realms which is HELL realm, HUNGRY GHOST realm and ANIMAL realm.

Therefore, the Buddha being depicted outside the Wheel of Life is a reminder to all beings that achieving enlightenment is possible.  He indicates the path to us, he points out to us what to practice and what to abandon in order to be liberated. When we follow the path, we get the result, which is nirvana.

According to the Buddhist tradition, the Buddha told his followers:
“I have shown you the path that leads to liberation
But you should know that liberation depends upon yourself.”

[Tenzin K]

The Wheel of Life (called the Bhavachakra in Sanskrit) represents the cycle of birth and rebirth and existence in samsara.

This gallery looks at different parts of the Wheel and explains what they mean. The main sections are the hub and the six "pie wedges" depicting the Six Realms. The gallery also looks at the Buddha figures in the corners and at Yama, the fearsome creature holding the Wheel in his hooves.

Many Buddhists understand the Wheel in an allegorical, not literal, way. As you examine the parts of the wheel you might find yourself relating to some of it personally or recognizing people you know as Jealous Gods or Hell Beings or Hungry Ghosts.

The outer circle of the Wheel (not shown in detail in this gallery) is the Paticca Samuppada, the Links of Dependent Origination. Traditionally, the outer wheel depicts a blind man or woman (representing ignorance); potters (formation); a monkey (consciousness); two men in a boat (mind and body); a house with six windows (the senses); an embracing couple (contact); an eye pieced by an arrow (sensation); a person drinking (thirst); a man gathering fruit (grasping); a couple making love (becoming); a woman giving birth (birth); and a man carrying a corpse (death).

[Dondrup Shugden]

Wonderful post to study the very essence of Wheel of life and the noble truths of suffering.

Thank you for the detail explanations and the graphics of the Interactive Wheel of life.

[MoMo]

The saying “A picture paint a thousand words”. On the advice of Lord Buddha, King Bimbisara use a pictorial method to explain to King Utrayana on how human took rebirth in six realms of samara. King Utrayana thus develops weariness of samsara.
 Today, this ingenious method of the past was really helpful as a teaching aid to many Dharma teachers to explain the “Four Noble Truths” and how we suffered from our current earthly existence to many who do not like to read long text. I’m sure this would create the same result to just as King Utrayana had in their mind stream.