The understanding of the wheel of life or Samsara as some prefer to call it, would not be complete without this vital piece of information: The human world, due to a balance between good and evil, makes spiritual practice easier to accomplish, and hence is favoured by the Buddhas. I have tried to divide the different elements of the Thangka into sections, so you can better understand this beautiful painting. This motif is a little more complex than the introduction I gave here, scroll down if you wish to read a more detailed look or buy a wheel of life. We are all Buddhas waiting to become enlightened. This idea of a rotation or cycle, is in fact re-incarnation ! We do not occupy a stable place within Samsara, but depending on our Karma we will pass from one existence to another.īeyond the Samsara we have Nirvana, the world unaffected by negative emotions, which by definition is the true nature of happiness and the ultimate realization that we are all seeking for. This can be divided into - bhava - which means origin or worldly existence and - chakra - which means circle or rotation. The notion of re-incarnation is also to be found in Vedic literature - " bhavachakra" in Sanskrit is a synonym of the word Samsara. It also shows the importance our actions have on our existence - or what we like to call Karma. It depicts and explains the cyclic nature of re-incarnation and the different aspects of our perceived reality. Often painted on the exterior walls of Buddhist monasteries, The Wheel of Life can be considered the very essence of the Buddhist philosophy as it offers insights into some of its most important concepts. When someone asks - what does Samsara mean ? The answer can be shortened to - all existences that are conditioned by: ignorance, suffering and the inexplicable flow of time.
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