Mythological / Religious Art: The Wheel of Becoming

The Tibetan "Wheel of Life" - "Wheel of Becoming"

Amazing - ran across a discussion of this beautiful illustration in "The Power of Myth" (Moyers & Campbell).. Something very fascinating about such metaphorical interpretations of the different worlds.. A longer post will come soon on the book


The 12 Links of Dependent origination:
1. blind old woman (ignorance),
2. potter making a pot (formation),
3. monkey in a tree (consciousness),
4. three men in a boat (name and form),
5. house with 6 windows (the 6 senses),
6. couple making sweet love (contact),
7. man with an arrow in his eye (feeling - youch!),
8. man drinking milk and honey (craving)
9. monkey gathering fruit (grasping)
10. pregnant woman (becoming)
11. woman giving birth (birth)
12. man carrying a corpse (death)

The Symbolic Six Worlds:

1. Abode of the Gods
2.The World of Men
3.The Realm of the Insatiable
4. The World of Hells
5. The World of Animals
6. The World of the Titans

The White Path
This is the “Path of Bliss” which leads to better rebirths and towards a final liberation. Saints and sages are shown leading the virtuous along the path.

The Dark Path

This is the path where the ignorant and sinners are dragged along by demons armed with nooses. This is the path for those who engage in ignorance, envy and hatred, and greed. This path leads to hells and bad rebirths.

The Roots of Evil
The force that drives the wheel from its hub. Depicted are 3 symbolic animals known as the “Three Unwholesome Roots” because from them grow all the evils of life, or as the “Three Poisons” because they corrupt from within. The cock represents greed, the snake hatred and the pig ignorance, and these are the three things that create all human bondage and misery.

Bodhisattava (See THIS for example)

(Shown at the very top left of the illustration) -- The Bodhisattava of compassion looks down in compassion. He is saddened for those suffering in all the six realms. The Bodhisattava is the link between the mundane and the transcendental. He represents the drive within the ordinary to fulfill the transcendental. This link is depicted, if you look closely you can see a discrete line drawn from the top of the “White Path” leading to Buddha representing those beings attaining nirvana.

More Explanations Here and Here

This is interesting too : http://www.onmarkproductions.com/html/six-states.shtml

Cycle