Tibetan art symbols: Wheel of Rebirth

CC Liu, Ashley Wells, Dhr. Seven, Pat Macpherson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly Wikipedia edit

Diagram explanation

Tibetan Buddhism

The bhavacakra is painted on the outside walls of nearly every Tibetan Buddhist temple in Tibet and India.

It instructs non-monastic audiences about the Buddhist teachings (Dzongsar Khyentse, 2004, p. 3; Dalai Lama, 1992, p. 1). The bhavacakra consists of the following elements:

The pig, rooster, and snake in the hub of the wheel represent the Three Poisons of ignorance (delusion), attachment (passion), and aversion (hatred/fear).

Mandala maps represent this world-system.

The second layer represents karma. The third layer represents the Six Realms of Samsara [though the historical Buddha Gautama, Shakyamuni, the "Sage of the Scythians," categorized these six into 31 Planes of Existence].

Tibetan symbolism: The elements of the bhavacakra or Wheel of Rebirth (Mistvan)

The fourth layer represents the 12 links of Dependent Origination.

1. The fierce figure holding the wheel represents impermanence (Dalai Lama, 1992, pp. 42-43).
2. The moon above the wheel represents liberation/nirvana from samsara or continued wandering through painful cyclic existence.
3. The Buddha pointing to the white circle indicates that liberation is possible.
4. Symbolically, the three inner circles, moving from the center outward, show that the Three Poisons of ignorance, attachment, and aversion give rise to positive and negative actions; these "actions and their results" are called karma [and vipaka].

Thikse Monastery, Ladakh, India

Karma in turn gives rise to the Six Realms, which represent the different places of results within samsara.

The fourth and outer layer of the wheel symbolizes the 12 links of Dependent Origination; these links indicate how the sources of suffering—the Three Poisons and karma—produce more lives (rebirths) within the cycle of continued existence.

(Birmingham Museum of Art)

The fierce being holding the wheel represents impermanence (Mara or Yama or the ogre rakshasa/yaksha Mara or a dharmapala or wrathful deity); this symbolizes that the entire process of samsara or cyclical rebirth that is impermanent, transient, constantly changing; painful, disappointing, unfulfilling; impersonal, egoless, and not-self.

The moon above the wheel indicates final liberation or nirvana. The Buddha is pointing to the moon, indicating that liberation from samsara is possible. More