In the dharmic religions (Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism), the wheel of life or dharmachakra (Sanskrit धर्मचक्र; Tibetan chos kyi 'khor lo; see also the Names section below) is a mandala or symbolic representation of samsara, the continuous cycle of birth, life, death. One is liberated from this endless cycle of rebirth when bodhi, enlightenment, nirvana, moksha, or samadhi is reached. Black and White Wheel of Life A black and white illustration of the wheel of life. ... map showing the prevalence of Dharmic (yellow) and Abrahamic (purple) religions in each country. ... Hinduism (Sanskrit/Hindi —, also known as , and ) is a religion originating in the Indian subcontinent, based on the Vedas and the beliefs of other people of India. ... Buddhism is a religion and philosophy focusing on the teachings of the Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama, who probably lived in the 5th century BCE. Buddhism spread throughout the ancient Indian sub-continent in the five centuries following the Buddhas death, and propagated into Central, Southeast, and East Asia over the... Jaina redirects here. ... Sanskrit ( संस्कृतम् ; pronunciation: ) is an Indo-European classical language of India and a liturgical language of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. ... Tibetan can refer to: A place or item from Tibet. ... Buddhist mandala Mandala (Sanskrit circle) is of Hindu origin, but is also used in a Buddhist context, to refer to various tangible objects. ... Illustration depicting the transmigration of the soul. ... Childbirth (also called labo(u)r, birth, partus or parturition) is the culmination of a human pregnancy with the emergence of a newborn infant from its mothers uterus. ... Wiktionary has related dictionary definitions, such as: life, living Life is a multi-faceted concept that may refer to the ongoing process of which living things are a part or the period between fertilisation or mitosis and death. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Past Lives redirects here. ... Bodhi is a past tense of bodhati meaning awake, become aware, notice, know or understand in both Pāli and Sanskrit. ... For other uses, see Enlightenment. ... In the Indian religions Buddhism, Jainism and Hinduism, nirvāna (from the Sanskrit निर्वाण, Pali: Nibbāna -- Chinese: 涅槃; Pinyin: niè pán), literally extinction and/or extinguishing, is the culmination of the yogis pursuit of liberation. ... Moksha - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... Samadhi of Meher Baba, Photo by Win Coates Samadhi is a term used in Hindu and Buddhist yogic meditation. ...

There are two primary forms of the wheel of life. The more elaborate form is usually six-spoked, though it is sometimes five-spoked. The simpler form, primarily used in Buddhism, is eight-spoked. The corresponding mudra, or symbolic hand gesture, is known as the Dharmachakra Mudra. A statue of Gautama Buddha showing a dharmacakra mudra In Hinduism, a mudra (Sanskrit, literally seal; 印相 inzō in Japanese) is a symbolic gesture made with the hand or fingers. ... A statue of Gautama Buddha showing a dharmacakra mudra In Hinduism, a mudra (Sanskrit, literally seal; 印相 inzō in Japanese) is a symbolic gesture made with the hand or fingers. ...

In the Unicode computer standard, the wheel of life is called the "wheel of dharma" and found in the eight-spoked form. It is represented as U+2638 (☸). Due to technical limitations, some web browsers may not display some special characters in this article. ... Dharma (Sanskrit: धर्म) Dhamma [Pali] means Natural Law or Reality, and with respect to its significance for spirituality and religion might be considered the Way of the Higher Truths. ...

Names of the Dharmachakra

The most common translation is the "wheel of life", but the wheel also has a variety of other names:

The Thammasat University seal features a 12-spoked Dharmachakra

• wheel of becoming
• wheel of dharma
• wheel of doctrine
• wheel of existence
• wheel of law
• wheel of rebirth
• wheel of samsara
• wheel of suffering
• wheel of transformation

The symbol is also known as chakra from the Sanskrit word for wheel (not to be confused with the Hindu use of the same word to refer to energy nodes in the body— cf. chakra). The wheel of life is specifically known as dharmachakra (lit. "the wheel of dharma") or bhavachakra (lit. "the wheel of becoming"). In Mandarin Chinese, it is known as falun 法轮, as in the practice of Falun Gong. Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... มหาวิทยาลัยธรรมศาสตร์ , Thailands prestigious university. ... Sanskrit ( संस्कृतम् ; pronunciation: ) is an Indo-European classical language of India and a liturgical language of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. ... In Hinduism and and in some related Asian cultures, chakra is thought to be an nexus of metaphysical and/or biophysical energy residing in the human body. ... Dharma (Sanskrit: धर्म) Dhamma [Pali] means Natural Law or Reality, and with respect to its significance for spirituality and religion might be considered the Way of the Higher Truths. ... This article is on all of the Northern Chinese dialects. ... The Falun emblem is the symbol of the Falun Gong. ...

The six-spoked wheel of life

The Wheel of Life, a Buddhist painting from Bhutan

The more elaborate form of the wheel of life has six spokes (or sometimes five, as described in more detail below) and is used in all the dharmic religions. There are four stages of life in Buddhism (same as Hinduism.) Download high resolution version (1072x1504, 721 KB) Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Download high resolution version (1072x1504, 721 KB) Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... A replica of an ancient statue found among the ruins of a temple at Sarnath Buddhism is a philosophy based on the teachings of the Buddha, Siddhārtha Gautama, a prince of the Shakyas, whose lifetime is traditionally given as 566 to 486 BCE. It had subsequently been accepted by... A dharmic religion is a religion which recognizes the concept of dharma. ...

Background

The wheel of life is represented as being held by the jaws, hands, and feet of a fearsome figure who turns the wheel. The exact identity of the figure varies. A common choice for the figure is Yama, the god of death. Tibetan Dharmapala at the Field Museum in Chicago, Illinois Yama is the name of the Buddhist god and judge of the dead, who presides over the Buddhist Narakas (Pāli: Nirayas), Hells or Purgatories. Although ultimately based on the god Yama of the Hindu Vedas, the Buddhist Yama has developed... Many cultures have incorporated a deity of death into their mythology or religion. ...

There is always a figure or symbol in the upper left and the upper right. The exact figure or symbol varies; common examples include the moon, a buddha, or a bodhisattva. Bulk composition of the moons mantle and crust estimated, weight percent Oxygen 42. ... A stone image of the Buddha. ... Prince Siddhartha Gautama as a bodhisattva, before becoming a Buddha. ...

Outer rim

The outer rim of the wheel is divided into twelve sections and given such names as the Twelve Interdependent Causes and Effects or the Twelve Links of Causality.

Ignorance is the first of the 12 causes and conditions, both of our rebirth and of maturing any karma within our dependent existence. Different causes can overlap in different stages and even mature in next existences - lives. Yet the turning of the wheel goes onward.

The twelve causal links are: (1) ignorance; (2) volitional action; (3) consciousness; (4) name and form (the fetus in a mother's uterus); (5) six sensory organs (i.e. eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind); (6) contact or touch; (7) sensation; (8) desire, craving; (9) possession; (10) creating more karma or becoming; (11) birth; (12) decay and death. The television show Lost is based on this idea. Lost is an American drama-mystery-adventure television series that follows the lives of the survivors of a plane crash on a mysterious tropical island. ...

Six Worlds

The Dharma wheel or the Ashoka Chakra as in the Flag of India.

The six spokes divide the wheel into six sections which represent the Six Worlds (or Realms) of Existence. These Six Worlds are: Image File history File links Ashoka_Chakra_1. ... Image File history File links Ashoka_Chakra_1. ... The Ashoka Chakra (Pronunced as Ashok Chakra, not Ashokaa Chakraa) is an ancient Indian depiction of the Wheel of Life and Cosmic Order (Sanskrit: Chakra, wheel. ... Indian National Flag Flag ratio: 2:3 The National Flag of India was adopted in its present form during an ad hoc meeting of the Constituent Assembly held on the 22nd of July 1947, a few days before Indias independence from the British on the 15th of August 1947. ...

1. The World of Devas or Gods
2. The World of Asuras, Demigods, Titans, Fighting Demons
3. The World of Humans
4. The World of Animals
5. The World of Hungry Ghosts
6. The World of Hell

The World of Devas is always at the very top of the wheel. The World of Asuras and the World of Humans are always in the top half of the wheel, bordering the World of Devas on opposite sides, but which of the two is on the left and which is on the right varies (leading to two different arrangements of the wheel). The World of Animals and the World of Hungry Ghosts is always in the bottom half of the wheel, with the World of Animals bordering the World of Humans and the World of Hungry Ghosts bordering the World of Asuras. Between the World of Animals and the World of Hungry Ghosts, at the very bottom of the wheel, is the World of Hell. In traditional Mahayana Buddhist cosmology, the six lower realms are six of the ten spiritual realms; these six realms compose the region known as samsara. ... Image:Http://www. ... // In Hinduism In Hindu mythology, the Asura (Sanskrit: असुर) are a group of power-seeking deities, sometimes misleadingly referred to as demons. ... A demigod, a half-god, is a modern distinction, often misapplied in Greek mythology. ... In Greek mythology, the Titans (Greek Τιτάν, plural Τιτάνες) were a race of powerful deities that ruled during the legendary Golden Age. ... Trinomial name Homo sapiens sapiens Linnaeus, 1758 Humans, or human beings, are biologically classified as bipedal primates belonging to the mammalian species Homo sapiens (Latin for wise man or thinking man) under the family Hominidae (the great apes). ... Phyla Subregnum Parazoa Porifera (sponges) Subregnum Agnotozoa Placozoa (trichoplax) Orthonectida (orthonectids) Rhombozoa (dicyemids) Subregnum Eumetazoa Radiata (unranked) (radial symmetry) Ctenophora (comb jellies) Cnidaria (coral, jellyfish, anemones) Bilateria (unranked) (bilateral symmetry) Acoelomorpha (basal) Orthonectida (parasitic to flatworms, echinoderms, etc. ... A hungry ghost is a kind of ghost associated with hunger common to many religions. ... Medieval illustration of Hell in the Hortus deliciarum manuscript of Herrad of Landsberg (about 1180) Hell, according to many religious beliefs, is a place or a state of pain and suffering. ...

Sometimes, the wheel is represented as only having five spokes because the World of the Devas and the World of the Asuras are combined into a single world.

In Buddhist representations of the wheel, within each of the Six Realms, there is always at least one buddha or bodhisattva depicted, trying to help souls find their way to nirvana. A stone image of the Buddha. ... Prince Siddhartha Gautama as a bodhisattva, before becoming a Buddha. ... In the Indian religions Buddhism, Jainism and Hinduism, nirvāna (from the Sanskrit निर्वाण, Pali: Nibbāna -- Chinese: 涅槃; Pinyin: niè pán), literally extinction and/or extinguishing, is the culmination of the yogis pursuit of liberation. ...

Hub

The rim of the hub is divided into two sides. One side is the White Path or Path of Bliss, and represents how souls may move upward to the World of Gods. The other side is the Dark Path, which represents how souls may move downward to the World of Hell.

In the hub, the center of the wheel, a pig, snake, and rooster turn in a circle, each biting the tail of the next animal. The pig represents ignorance. The snake represents hatred. The rooster represents greed. These are the evils which are responsible for the trapping of souls within the Six Realms. Species Sus barbatus Sus bucculentus Sus cebifrons Sus celebensis Sus domesticus Sus heureni Sus philippensis Sus salvanius Sus scrofa Sus timoriensis Sus verrucosus Pigs are ungulates native to Eurasia collectively grouped under the genus Sus within the Suidae family. ... Superfamilies and Families Henophidia Aniliidae Anomochilidae Boidae Bolyeriidae Cylindrophiidae Loxocemidae Pythonidae Tropidophiidae Uropeltidae Xenopeltidae Typhlopoidea Anomalepididae Leptotyphlopidae Typhlopidae Xenophidia Acrochordidae Atractaspididae Colubridae Elapidae Hydrophiidae Viperidae Snakes (from Old English snaca, and ultimately from PIE base *snag- or *sneg-, to crawl), also known as ophidians, are cold blooded legless reptiles closely... Rooster in grass, demonstrating the alert stance before sounding an alarm A cock or rooster is a male chicken, the female being a hen. ...

The eight-spoked wheel in Buddhism

Wheel of life (flowers not traditional)

The simpler form of the wheel of life has eight spokes and is primarily used only in Buddhism rather than in all the dharmic religions. Download high resolution version (706x712, 83 KB)Dharma Wheel (flowers not traditional) Drawn by Pschemp File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Download high resolution version (706x712, 83 KB)Dharma Wheel (flowers not traditional) Drawn by Pschemp File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Buddhism is a religion and philosophy focusing on the teachings of the Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama, who probably lived in the 5th century BCE. Buddhism spread throughout the ancient Indian sub-continent in the five centuries following the Buddhas death, and propagated into Central, Southeast, and East Asia over the... A dharmic religion is a religion which recognizes the concept of dharma. ...

The eight spokes represent the Noble Eightfold Path of Buddhism. They are said to have sharp edges to cut through ignorance. The Noble Eightfold Path (Pali: ariya atthangika magga), according to Buddhism and as taught by Siddhartha Buddha, is the way to the cessation of suffering, the fourth part of the Four Noble Truths. ...

Other symbolisms in the eight-spoked wheel of life in Buddhism:

• Its overall shape is that of a circle (chakra), representing the perfection of the dharma teaching
• The hub stands for discipline, which is the essential core of meditation practice
• The rim, which holds the spokes, refers to mindfulness or samadhi which holds everything together

According to some Buddhist schools, the Buddha turned the one or more wheels of life into motion. For instance, the second wheel of Dharma was said to be the Abhidharma, whereas the third wheel of Dharma were the Mahayana Perfection of Wisdom Sutras, and the fourth wheel of Dharma were the Yogacarya or Cittamatrin sutras that taught the Tathagathagharba. In Euclidean geometry, a circle is the set of all points in a plane at a fixed distance, called the radius, from a fixed point, the centre. ... In Hinduism and and in some related Asian cultures, chakra is thought to be an nexus of metaphysical and/or biophysical energy residing in the human body. ... Meditation is the practice of focusing the mind, often formalized into a specific routine. ... Samadhi of Meher Baba, Photo by Win Coates Samadhi is a term used in Hindu and Buddhist yogic meditation. ... The abhidhamma is the name of one of the three pitakas, or baskets of tradition, into which the Tipitaka (Pali; Sanskrit: Tripitaka), the canon of early Buddhism, is divided. ... Relief image of the bodhisattva Kuan Yin from Mt. ...

The wheel in Tibetan Buddhism

Tibetan chakra in Sera, Lhasa.

The wheel of life is one of the eight auspicious symbols of Tibetan Buddhism. ImageMetadata File history File links Download high resolution version (689x1000, 128 KB) Photographer: Philipp Roelli (2005) File links The following pages link to this file: Wheel of life Sera Monastery ... ImageMetadata File history File links Download high resolution version (689x1000, 128 KB) Photographer: Philipp Roelli (2005) File links The following pages link to this file: Wheel of life Sera Monastery ... In Hinduism and and in some related Asian cultures, chakra is thought to be an nexus of metaphysical and/or biophysical energy residing in the human body. ... Sera Monastery is one of the great three Gelukpa university monasteries of Tibet. ... Lhasa prefecture-level city in Tibet Autonomous Region Lhasa (Tibetan: ལྷ་ས་; Wylie: lha-sa; Simplified Chinese: 拉萨; Traditional Chinese: 拉薩; pinyin: Lāsà), sometimes spelled Llasa, is the traditional capital of Tibet and the capital of the Tibetan Autonomous Region of the Peoples Republic of China. ... Buddhist symbolism appeared from around the 3rd century BCE, and started with aniconic symbolism, avoiding direct representations of the Buddha. ... Tibetan Buddhism is the body of religious Buddhist doctrine and institutions characteristic of Tibet, the Himalayan region, Mongolia, Buryatia, Tuva and Kalmykia (Russia), and northeastern China (Manchuria: Heilongjiang, Jilin). ...

The dharma wheel can refer to the dissemination of the dharma teaching from country to country. In this sense the dharma wheel began rolling in India, then arrived in China, and then to Korea, etc. Korea (Korean:한국, Hanguk, or 조선, Chosǒn or Joseon) is a civilization and geographical area situated on the Korean Peninsula in East Asia, bordering China (PRC) to the northwest and Russia to the northeast, with Japan situated to the southeast across the Korea Strait. ...

Doctrine of Three Wheels

The Doctrine of Three Wheels is Buddha's teaching that the dharma wheel must turn three times for a student to understand the dharma: once for hearing, again for understanding, and finally for internalizing.

In Vajrayana Buddhism

Tantric (Vajrayana) Buddhists also use the term "turning of the dharma wheel" to refer to the progressive development of Buddhism which culminates in their school. According to this image:

• The first turning of the dharma wheel refers to Gautama Buddha's original teaching, in particular the Four Noble Truths which describes the mechanics of attachment, desire, suffering, and liberation via the Eightfold Path.
• The second turning refers to the teaching of the Perfection of Wisdom sutra, a foundational text of Mahayana Buddhism.
• The third turning refers to the teaching of the Mahavairocana Sutra, a foundational text of Tantric Buddhism.

Standing Buddha, ancient region of Gandhara, northern Pakistan, 1st century CE, Musée Guimet. ... The Four Noble Truths (Pali, cattari ariya saccani) are taught in Buddhism as the fundamental insight or enlightenment of Sakyamuni Buddha (the historical Buddha), which led to the formulation of the Buddhist philosophy. ... Perfection of Wisdom is a translation of the Sanskrit term prajñā pāramitā (Hanzi. ... Relief image of the bodhisattva Guan Yin from Mt. ... A mandala used in Vajrayana Buddhist practices. ...

See also

• Buddhist symbolism
• Falun Gong
• Kalachakra
• Wheel of time

Buddhist symbolism appeared from around the 3rd century BCE, and started with aniconic symbolism, avoiding direct representations of the Buddha. ... The Falun emblem is the symbol of the Falun Gong. ... Kalachakra is a term used in Tantric Buddhism that means time-wheel or time-cycles. It refers both to a Tantric deities (tib. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

Reference

• Epstein, Mark (1995). Thoughts Without a Thinker: Psychotherapy from a Buddhist Perspective. BasicBooks. ISBN 0465039316.

External links

• "Interactive Tour of the Wheel of Life"
• "The Wheel of Existence or, of Rebirth"
• "The Wheel of Life"
• "The Wheel of Life: Aethestics of Suffering and Salvation"
• "The Wheel of Suffering"