-
held fast in the clutches of the
-
demon Impermanence,
-
whose fanged jaws project over the top,
-
while his reptilian tail is visible below,
-
the wheel is divided by
-
five or six spokes
-
into an equal number of sections.
-
-
In the topmost section are depicted
-
the heavenly mansions of the gods;
-
in the second,
-
the realm of the asuras (titans),
-
in the third,
-
the animal kingdom;
-
in the fourth and bottommost section,
-
the hot and cold hells,
-
in the fifth,
-
the abode of the pretas,
-
beings with pot bellies and needle-eye mouths,
-
and in the sixth and last section
-
the world of men.
-
-
At the hub of the wheel,
-
biting each other's tails, are
-
a cock, a snake, and a pig,
-
representing
-
greed (lobha), anger (dvesa) and ignorance (moha).
-
-
Round the rim, which is divided into a dozen sections.
-
runs a series of pictures,
-
each of which stands for
-
one of the twelve links of
-
conditioned co-production.
-
-
Reckoning clockwise, they are:
|
[last birth]
|
ignorance |
(avidya) |
a blind man with a stick; |
| the karma-formations |
(samskarah) |
a potter with a wheel and pots; |
|
[present life]
|
consciousness |
(vijnana) |
a monkey climbing a flowering tree |
| 'name-and-form', mind and body |
(nama-rupa) (rupa: form, a 'heap' of phenomena) |
a ship (body)
with four passengers (the four mental aggregates)
one of whom (consciousness) is steering |
| the six sense-organs |
(sada yatanani) |
an empty house |
| contact |
(sparsa) |
a man and woman embracing |
| feeling or sensation |
(vedana) |
an empty house |
| thirst or craving |
(trsna) |
a woman offering a drink to a seated man |
| grasping |
(updana) |
a man gathering fruit from a tree |
| coming-to-be |
(bhava) |
a pregnant woman |
| next birth |
birth |
(jati) |
a woman in childbirth |
| old age and death |
(jara-marana) |
a man carrying a corpse to the burning ground |
-
Impelled by
-
greed, anger, and ignorance,
-
worldly beings 'transmigrate' through the six spheres of
phenomenal existence
-
in accordance with the law of
Conditioned Co-production.
|