The wheel of existence (Wheel of Life) is considered an endless life circle of human being. It is believed to have been drawn first by the Buddha himself.

As seen in the picture, a minister demon, usually identified as Yama the god of death, hitches the whole wheel. In the smallest circle at the centre a pig, Snake and cock symbolize the three cardinal sins of ignorance, anger and lust, and are biting each others tail to show that these evils are inseparably connected.

Wheel of Existence Thangka Painting

Pig - Symbolises Ignorance
Snake - Symbolises Anger
Cock - Symbolises Lust, Greed.

In the narrow circle around the innermost circle the light half at the viewer’s left shows figures ascending to higher levels of existence, the dark half at the right shows figures descending to lower levels. The six men segments of the wheel depict the six world of existence. In the upper half are the relatively happier realms of the gods (in the centre), the asuras or demigods (at he right) and human beings (at the left). In the lower half are the more wretched realms of the animals (at the left), pretas or hungry ghosts (at the right), and those tortured in hells (at the centre). In the outer rim of the wheel twelve scences depict the chain of cause and effect.

1. A blind woman - Ignorance
2. A potter - Deeds, Forming Karma
3. A monkey - Restless Consciousness
4. Two men in a boat - Mind and Body
5. A house with six windows - The Six Senses
6. A pair of lovers - Contact
7. An arrow piercing the eye of a man - Feeling
8. A drinker served by a woman - Thirst and Craving
9. Man gathering fruits - Grasping of and Clinging to Desired Objects
10. A maithuna scene e.g. enjoying sex “pairing” - A New Process of Becoming
11. A new woman giving birth - Rebirth in a New Existence
12. A man carrying a corpse on his back - Death

But, all of the forms of existence shown in the entire wheel, even that of the gods at the top are transient, and that is why the the whole is held in his claws by the god of death.

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