Yama, the Monster of Impermanence
Yama, is the 3 eyes monster of impermanence. He wears a headdress of skulls, and a leopard skin loincloth, and clutches the wheel, attempting to devour it. In spite of his terrifying appearance, Yama is not evil. Although we may be frightened of death, it is not evil; just inevitable, as rebirth is inevitable. The beings on the wheel cannot escape impermanence.
The only way to escape from the endless round of rebirth, is to pursue enlightenment. In the sky behind the wheel there is the Buddha on the right, representing hope for escape from the wheel of rebirth. A stream of beings rise from the Human Realms toward the temple, which represents Nirvana.
The Heavenly Realm
This beautiful realm is inhabited by happy god-like creatures, free of the 3 fires and enjoying the fruits of previous good actions. However, in this happy state, beings risk forgetting that they still need to strive for Enlightenment. For this reason, the Bodhisattva in this realm plays the lute of impermanence, reminding them not to be complacent, as this state too is impermanent.
The Realm of the Asuras
Here, envious warlike beings engage in constant conflict, trying to capture the wish-fulfilling tree of the gods. The Asuras are the ambitious, the ruthless and the selfish. They have more power and happiness than humans, but they try to use their superior strength to fulfil their desires, by force if necessary, thinking that this will make them happy.
The Boddhisattva in this realm brings them the wisdom needed to see that this will not bring them peace. He advises them to overcome their enmity and see what is really worth striving for – enlightenment.
The Realm of Hungry Ghosts
Craving That Can Never Be Satisfied
This realm is inhabited by emaciated beings with swollen stomachs. Nothing can satisfy their neurotic desire for more. Everything they eat and drink turns to fire. Here the Boddhisattva brings true nourishment of Buddhist teaching which will really satisfy them and show them the way to peace.
Hungry Ghosts are associated with addictions, compulsions and obsessions. People who have everything but always want more may be Hungry Ghosts.
The Hell Realm
Fire and Ice
As a result of the mental state of hatred, beings in the hell realm suffer various torments, such as freezing or being boiled, mutilated or tortured. Fiery hell beings are angry and abusive, driving away anyone who would befriend or love them. Icy Hell Beings shove others away with their unfeeling coldness.
The Bodhisattva brings them nectar to provide relief. This food also represents nirvana, or Enlightenment, which Buddhists see as the ultimate cure for suffering.
The Animal Realm
This realm is inhabited by beings whose experience is dominated by concern for their basic physical needs – food, sex and sleep. Animal Beings are regular and predictable. They cling to what is familiar and are fearful, or uninterested, in anything unfamiliar.
The Animal Realm is marked by ignorance. Animal Beings are un-curious. They go through life seeking comfort and avoiding discomfort. They have no sense of humour.
The Boddhisatva brings them education and culture.
The Human Realm
The Hope of Liberation
Experience in this realm is a mixture of pleasure and pain.
As the realm of the happy, healthy human being, it is the ideal state to find enlightenment. Here the teaching of the Buddha is openly available, yet only a few seek it. The rest become caught up in striving, consuming and acquiring, and miss the opportunity.
Here the Boddhisattva points out that the way forward is wholehearted leading of the spiritual life.
The Centre
What Makes the Wheel Turn
At the centre of the Wheel of Life are the forces that keep it turning – the three fires, or poisons, of greed, anger and ignorance.
The cock represents greed/ craving, the pig represents ignorance, and the snake represents hatred. The cock, a snake and pig chase round and round, biting each others tails.
· ignorance about what produces real happiness makes people chase after experiences and possessions.
· Not getting what they want, people respond with hatred.
· hatred clouds their perceptions and fuels further ignorance and craving.
That is why the wheel keeps turning.
The Light and Dark circles around the centre
In the light semicircle, beings are shown progressing upwards through increasingly positive states of mind.
In the dark semicircle, beings tumble downwards, led by demons representing their negative states of mind.
This illustrates karma: that actions have consequences. Good actions have good consequences and lead to good states of mind. Bad ones leads to bad consequences and bad states of mind.
The Twelve Links
Around the 6 realms are 12 links. Each link depends on the one before. The first link, at 1 o’clock, shows ignorance. A blind man gropes his way forward. It represents spiritual ignorance – ignorance of the truth that the world is impermanent.
Ignorance means that people live their lives expecting lasting happiness from things. This is impossible. So we get into the habit of desiring things as if they could make us happy - the second link shows a potter (our desires) shaping the pot (ourselves). The other links show how different kinds of sense experience leads to pain and pleasure. We want to grasp pleasure permanently for ourselves – but since we have to die, this results only in being reborn and restarting the chain.
See if you can identify some of the types of pain/ pleasure that are shown on the wheel. The empty house represents the 6 senses, and the woman picking fruit is how we want to reach out and grasp existence itself.