The wheel of life is a superb picture of samsara, the world of birth and death. All kinds of living beings exist in this samsara. The lord of death, Yama, holds samsara between his jaws. The Wheel of Life illustrates the functioning of karma and the process of continuous rebirth. Once, long ago, the Buddha himself created the image to illustrate the cycle of birth and death to his disciples.
The image of the wheel of life is found at the entrance of the Buddhist monasteries to help people understand the Buddhist teachings everywhere in the Buddhist world. Within the wheel of life are four circles. At the very center of the wheel are three animals chasing each other in a circle. These three animals represent the root of poisons, which prevent living beings from being enlightened. The circle of the second layer divides into two parts: white and black. The white part represents virtuous living, moving upwards to Buddhahood, while the black part represents non-virtuous living to be dragged into hell.
The circle of the third layer of the Wheel of Life is classified into six realms: Devas or Gods, Asuras or demi-gods, Humans, Animals, Ghosts or Pretas, and Hell. The uppermost realm is of the Gods, who are in their happiest state, to be pleasure and delight. Surrounding the wheel of life is Yama, the lord of death, who holds it in his jaws. On the upper side, to the left of the wheel is the Buddha, and to the right is the moon. The moon symbolizes liberation, nirvana. Therefore, the Buddha points to the moon to show the path of nirvana.
Three Root Poisons
Three animals roaster. pig, and snake, which symbolize desire, ignorance, and hatred, are in the center of the wheel of life. These three poisons drive beings round by round in an unending circle of births and deaths. Depicted three animals biting each other’s tails means that desire, ignorance, and hatred are the root causes that living beings are unable to free themselves from samsara. Unless living beings have comprehended the sufferings arising from own three poisons, they remain in the spinning wheel of pain.
The second layer, the ascending and descending path in the wheel of life:
The circle in the second layer of the wheel of life is divided into two halves, white and black. The people are seen in both places. It is shown to refer to the cause and effect of the three root poisons that are in the center. The people who are free from desire, ignorance, and hatred have moved to a higher state, Nirvana, in a white place. Another black place has people who are plagued by the three root poisons. They have gone downwards as a result of the three poisons. These two halves, white and black, represent the law of cause and effect.
The six realms- the full cycle of Samsara
The third layer of the wheel of life is classified into six realms, which are known as cyclic existence. The cyclic existence is beginningless, meaning that each being has lived countless lifetimes. As such, there is no being who has not been a mother or father at some point in their existence. The beings are reborn according to their karma. Therefore, the Buddha has created six realms that help beings to develop compassion and enlightenment.
1. The God realm (Deva Loka)
The realm of the Gods is the happiest state, where the Gods live in continual pleasure and sensual delight. They are born to that state due to their generosity and moral conduct in a past life. These pleasures and delights blind them so that they do not engage in any Dharma. Therefore, eventually they must die and pass to another state. The Gods are such fortunate beings that they can consume fruits and flowers ripen from the wish-fulfilling tree grown in Asura’s state. The Gods defeat the Asuras with their karmic legacy of generosity and pure moral conduct.
2. The Demi- God realm (Asura Loka)
The Asuras’ minds are clouded with anger and envy over the better fortune of the Gods. As the Asuras’ realm is always full of quarrels, fighting, and violence, they are classed as demons. As Asuras can not consume fruits and flowers ripen from the wish-fulfilling tree, which is grown in their state, they constantly wage war against the Gods. But, they are defeated by the Gods. Despite being a heavenly realm, the Asuras live in great suffering.
3. Human realm
The human realm is where human beings are. The human realm has both pleasures and suffering. Those who reside in the human realm have the opportunity to study, practice, and apply the Dharma to make life beautiful. One can attain enlightenment in just one human life. Whatever sufferings do appear in life are the lessons that allow human beings to move forward, correcting the faults made in the past. Thus, behind suffering is pleasure. Therefore, the human realm is more precious than other realms.
4. The Animal Realm
The animals suffer from ignorance. Many of the animals live in fear, serving others or being preyed upon. The animals have no aim in life but to follow their physical instincts or to be tamed or subservient to others. Due to the result of willful ignorance, they can not change their fate. Being knowledgeless and stupid, they are locked in cages, they fight themself to survive, and they can not judge right from wrong deeds.
5. The Hungry Ghost Ream
The hungry ghosts are born in this realm because their heart and mind were greedy and attached in their previous life. They have bellies like hills, and their necks are the size of pins; even if food and water are available, they turn to fire. They are always craving but never satisfied. They must endure such a painful life until their lives are ended.
6. The Hell realm
The hell realm is the realm of fire and ice, where beings are burned, frozen, pierced, and crushed. There are countless accounts of screaming and torture of beings who live there. How many pains, sufferings are in hell that can not even listen. The beings are born in hell because of hatred, sin, and an evil mind and heart. Violent minds create violent worlds, one kills the other, one is killed by the other in return, sooner or later. Therefore, this is a realm to suggest that human beings to only act virtuously.
The Twelve Links- The chain of dependent origination
The circle of the fourth layer, the wheel of life, is divided into twelve sections. Twelve sections in the circle illustrate the links of the chain of interdependent origination. It represents samsara. Human beings’ existence and sufferings are the result of twelve causes and conditions which are without beginning of birth, death, and rebirth. The symbolic illustration in twelve sections represents the linking of a twelvefold chain of causation whereby human beings are ensnared life after life.
Twelve causes and conditions of the wheel of life are as follows:
- A blind man as primordial IGNORANCE.
- A potter as ACTIVITY which brings about karmic formation.
- An activity monkey as CONSCIOUSNESS.
- Two men in the boat as NAME and FORM.
- House with six windows as SIX ENTRANCES.
- Love making as CONTACT.
- Arrow in the eyes as FEELING.
- Drinking as THIRST or CRAVING.
- A monkey grasping fruits as GRASPING.
- A pregnant woman as BECOMING EXISTENCE.
- Childbirth as BIRTH.
- Man carrying a corpse representing DECAY, which results in DEATH, to be followed by rounds of birth and death endlessly within the samsaric existence.
The Yama, the lord of death
The Yama, a terrifying figure, is holding the entire the wheel of life in his jaws. He is the lord of death, impermanence, not evil. He symbolizes the mechanism of karmic judgment and rebirth. He holds up the mirror of karma. The dead beings are shown a mirror to allow them to know what they have made of themselves before their death. The Yama sends them on their way according to their past karma.
The Buddha and Moon
Above the wheel of life on the right side is the Buddha, and on the left side is the Moon. The Moon symbolizes liberation, cool, vast, and beyond birth and death. The Buddha is pointing to the Moon, giving teachings to his disciple.