![]() The gods, who in Buddhism are entities more powerful than human beings but undeserving of worship, are inclined to lives of pleasure and abundance. The first three are more pleasant but all six ultimately remain domains of suffering. The third layer consists of six wedge-shaped sections, which are the realms of samsara (three higher and three lower). The upper half contains the three higher realms – Devarealm (god realm), Asurarealm (demi-god realm) and Manuṣya(human realm). The second half contains the three lower realms – Tiryagyonirealm (animal realm), Pretarealm (hungry ghost realm) and Narakarealm (hell realm). People on the dark path, through much disturbance, move down realms of existence while those on the bright path peacefully and smoothly keep moving up. The full circle represents Karma, the universal law of cause and effect. The hellish and heavenly destinies are indicated by the semi-circles of black and white immediately surrounding the three animals. It is these three that set the whole wheel in motion and lead to both negative and positive human action. (1) THE THREE POISONS, (2) KARMA The Three Poisons of Ignorance, Aversion and Attachment represented by Pig, Snake and Bird, respectivelyĬomplex and multi-layered, the Bhavachakra, at its very centre contains the Three Poisons ( kleshas) of Ignorance (a pig), Aversion (a snake) and Attachment (a bird). It is believed that the Buddha himself developed the concept of the artwork to communicate Buddhist philosophy to a general audience. The Buddhist Bhavachakra is a form of mandala – any diagrammatic representation of the universe/worldview in Asian religious art used for sacred rites and meditation – largely found in Mahayana Buddhist monasteries in the Indo-Tibetan region, either painted directly on the walls or on wall hangings ( thangka). Known as the “wheel of life” or the “wheel of becoming” or the “wheel of cyclic existence”, the Bhavachakra is a symbol of samsara(literally “continuous movement” in Sanskrit) – the repetitive cycle of birth, death and rebirth that arises out of ignorance and is characterised by suffering ( dukkha).
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