Offer

WHEEL OF LIFE:

The Wheel of life symbolizes the limitation of mundane existence. At the centre of the wheel is a cook, a snake and a pig, that represent greed, hatred and spiritual ignorance the whole wheel rotates around these three qualities.The six(sometimes just five) main segments of the wheel represent different realms that beings are reborn into, and also different states of mind that we can find ourselves trapped in at times. The heavenly realms are at the top, then the "Jealous Gods", human beings, animals, "Hungry Ghosts", and the different hellish states at the bottom.The whole wheel is in the grip of Yama, "the Lord of Death" or "Lord of Impermanence", who is biting into the wheel and tearing, is apart. At the top right of the thanka, out of Yama's sight, is a Buddha figure (or a sun, representing the Buddha). He points to the top left, where there will be a Bodhisattva (or a moon), indicating that the practice of a Wisdom and Compassion of the wheel.There is also a Buddha figure in each of the Six Realms, there are the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, talking rebirth amongst the beings of each realm out of compassion. In each realm he offers something that suggests what the beings in that realm need to do. In the human realm, for example, Avalokiteshvara appears as a monk, suggesting that, a human being, we have an opportunity to practice the way to Enlightenment.