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What is tibetan wheel of life4/24/2024 Picture by picture it reminds us that everyone is always his or her own judge and responsible for their own fate, because, according to Karma, causes and their effects are the fruits of one's own deeds. The Wheel of Life describes the cause of all evil and its effects, mirrored in earthly phenomena just as it is experienced by everyone from the cradle to the grave. The Wheel of Life illustrates in a popular way the essence of the Buddhist teachings, the Four Truths: the existence of earthly suffering, its origin and cause, the ending or prevention of misery and the practice path to liberation from suffering. This all portrays the unacceptable condition of samsara, the only viable release is offered outside the wheel, by the Awakened One, Buddha.Wheel of Life - Sanskrit: " Bhavacakra", tib.: " Srid pa khor lo". This is the key experience of Siddhartha Gautama, which led to his awakening. Finally, the old man burdened symbolizes the inevitable move from birth to old age and death. Birth the natural result of existence and entrance into the human realm. The man and woman making love depict that grasping leads to the existence, which is followed by the woman in childbirth. We become more immersed in the sensory aspect of existence. The monkey picking fruit symbolizes the grasping that follows attachment. The man drinking shows the movement from feelings to the attachment as we drink in the world. This is the wound or the suffering that results from feelings. From contact follows feelings, symbolized by the arrow in the eye. The lovers are the six senses (the sixth sense is apperception, subconscious recognition), human contact with the world. Next is an empty house, the doors and windows are the developing sense organs by which we experience the world. The people in the boat are the name and form the arise from consciousness. The monkey is the restlessness of ordinary attention. The potter follows, symbolizing that humans mold our own destiny by our actions. In this state of spiritual blindness, we easily lose our way. Moving clockwise from the top: A blind man symbolizes ignorance, the true nature of existence. This is a wheel of causality that describes the causal chain of existence. The in-between states are the Tibetan bardo, also a condition of dreaming consciousness. Hungry ghosts cannot eat or drink and are still attached by their desire for this world. The hells are products of our own consciousness. Animals are confined to a lower realm in fear and ignorance. The lower three realms are symbolized by animals, hell-beings and hungry ghosts. The higher three are represented by humans, gods, and demi-gods. The areas between the spokes signify the six realms of existence. Contrasted are the figures on the right, who, based on ignorant actions, are descending to the lower realms of existence. The figures on the left are rising toward the higher realms for their virtuous actions. The ring around the center is karma, the principle of causality that attends every part of life. The snake symbolizes hatred, the rooster stands for ignorance and the pig symbolizes greed. The symbols in the inner wheel are the three root delusions. The Buddha points to Nirvana, liberation symbolized by the moon. In the Wheel of Life, because the Buddha is the “ Awakened One,” he is outside of the wheel. Yama is central because the impermanence of all life is a primary Buddhist tenet and was the key instigator to the Buddha’s awakening. Yama, the Lord of Death, turns the wheel. The whole of existence, samsara (the repetitive cycle of birth, life, and death) and liberation by enlightenment is revealed in the Bhavacakra. The symbols found in the Bhavacakra describe the theory of causality that is central to karma. Although there are several versions of the Wheel of Life, the symbols maintain their meanings. The Bhavacakra, or Tibetan Wheel of Life, is a graphic depiction of Tibetan Buddhism’s philosophy of existence.
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