The Living Journal – The Wheel of the existence.
(For general introduction only)
Samsara is the whole round of existence, Samsara with its
miseries, is the true cause of suffering. To Samsara belongs everything which
proceeds from a chain of other causes and which is thus involved in Karma and
delusion.
Its essential nature is misery; its function is to provide a
basis for the spread of misery and by nature to attract miseries for the
future.
Samsara is divided into three worlds:-
1] The world of the senses - Beings in these worlds enjoy
external sensual pleasure.
2] The world of the form – Beings can not enjoy external
sensual pleasures but with the capability enjoy the undisturbed pleasure of
internal contemplation.
3] The world of the formless – Beings in these worlds, the
objects of the five senses do not exist, nor the five sensual organs with which
we enjoy. There is only a bare mind or consciousness that devoid of
distractions and beings exists and dwells entirely in a state of equanimity.
Samsara may also be divided according to the nature of the
beings it contains and by this system, known as the Wheel of life of the six
realms. Buddhist cosmology typically identifies six realms of existence, The Wheel of six realms or the Karmic
Destinations, which is known as the cyclic of existence.
Cyclic of existence is
beginingless which means that each being has lived countless lifetimes and as
such, there is no being that has not been our mother or father at one existence
or another.
Buddhism therefore teaches that every being is in fact a kind
mother being who has, in the past, shown great love, kindness and protection to
each one of us and that we should in turn be ready to repay them with similar
acts of kindness.
This is a very important aspect of Buddhist practice that
will help one to develop loving compassion and this is why the first precepts
of Buddhism is refrain from KILLING.
The Law of the twelve stages of causes or dependent
The law is also known as the law of Dependant origination or
the Wheel of Life and is a discourse on the process of birth and death. It
deals with the causes of rebirth and suffering with the view of helping mankind
to get rid of their ills of life. It is not an attempt to solve the riddle of
an absolute origin of life. It merely explains the “simple happening of a
state, dependent on its antecedent state.
Ignorance of the truth of suffering, its cause, its end and
the way to its end, is the main cause that set the Wheel of the six realms in
motion. The Buddha said; ignorance is the deep delusion wherein we here so long
are circling round.
The twelve Causes and their interdependent relationship are
as follows:-
1] Ignorance
2] Action
3] Consciousness
4] Form and existence
5] The senses
6] Contact –Love Making
7] Sensation
8] Craving
9] Grasping
10] Existence
11] Rebirth
12] Old age and death
The Wheel of the six realms
1] The God or The Devas realms.
2] The Asura the Demi–Gods or Titan realms.
3] The Human realm.
4] The Animal realms
5] The Preta – gati or Hungry Ghost realms
6] The Hell realms.
1] The God realms - Include beings in the realm of celestial
form and celestial formless, and are the
happiest realm as those beings who dwell there are enjoying with great power,
wealth and long life. They are enjoying with continual pleasure and sensual
delight, mitigated only by the fact that they too must eventually grow old and die
and pass on to the other states once their karmic forces end or die out. Those
beings born into the god realms are mainly due to one having lived virtuously
and generously towards others.
2] The Asura the Demi–God or Titan realms - Is populated by
“jealous gods” who should be as happy as the celestial beings, but their minds
are clouded with anger and envy over the better fortunes of the god realm. Take
a closer look at the picture of the Wheel of the six realms, there is a tree
growing from the realm of the Asura to the realms of the Gods.
This is a “wish-fulfilling” tree whose fruits and flowers can
fulfill every desire which the Asura or the Demi-Gods they are unable to get
hold of. This causes them great frustration, anger and jealousy and therefore
constantly wage against the Gods and try to claim the fruits of their tree.
However they are always defeated because the Gods are farmore powerful due to
their karmic legacy. Despite being a heavenly realm the Asuras live in a great
suffering due to the delusion of anger and jealousy. The male Asura suffering
is further increased by being born with a monstrous looks while the female
Asura are born exquisitely beautiful and the female Asura only yearn for the
love of the handsome Gods and rejecting their own kind.
3] The Human realm - Is where we
are, it is filled with the up and downs of life, and we should be grateful for this
conditions to be around. These bring about the awareness of the bliss of
happiness and the misery of suffering and therefore become the way causes that
lead to a spiritual practice.
It is the most fortunate realm to
take rebirth into the world where one is able to listen to the Dharma and
practice it to attain enlightenment. In the God realms the Gods are far too
happily engrossed with their pleasures to bother about further cultivation
while the Asura realms are too much affected by anger, jealousy and
dissatisfactions of their existence.
The
Human Realm is the only realm of the six from which beings may escape samsara.
Enlightenment is at hand in the Human Realm, yet only a few open their eyes and
sees it. Rebirth into the Human Realm is conditioned by passion, doubt and
desire.
4] The Animal realms – Born due to the result of their
willful ignorance and are therefore unable to derive any benefit from the
Dharma. Animals live only by instinct and must face daily reality of searching
for food or mate and killing or be killed
5] The Hungry Ghost realms – The living spirits born here due
to there are associated with addiction, obsession and compulsion. Who are
afflicted constantly with the miseries of hunger and thirst. These beings with
huge, empty stomachs, but they have pinhole mouths, and their necks are so thin
they cannot swallow any food or water.
6] The Hell realms – As the name suggests, the Hell realm is the
most terrible of the Six Realms. Hell beings have a short fuse; everything
makes them angry. And the only way hell beings deal with things that make them
angry is through aggression, violence. There are many different regions of hell, and
the living beings in each of them also vary in nature, accordingly to their
past Karma. Hell living beings only await the exhaustion of their karma to end
their indescribable sufferings.
In the center of the Wheel of the six realms is seeing there are Three Animals which signifies the three poisons or three root causes of the
suffering existence as follows:-
1] The rooster represents the passionate desire and
attachment.
2] The snake represents hatred, enmity and aversion.
3] The boar represents the darkness of ignorance,ego & delusion.
In the top right corner, Buddha is showing the
way. He is outside the Wheel of the six realms and to demonstrate that Buddha
has escaped the cycle of life and death. Buddha is pointing to the Yama and the Wheel
to instruct his followers the true nature of existence.
The above explanation of the Wheel of the six realms helps us
to understand clearly that our existence and sufferings are the result of the
cause and effect and conditions which are without beginning of birth, death and
rebirth. This Wheel of the six realms is a unique and superb representation of
Samsara, the world of birth and death, it included all kind of living beings
exist are classified into six types.
Mara is the king of the death and demons
The frightening
figure holding the wheel of life is held between the jaws of the King the
Demons, The Mara or Yama. Yama is the Lord of Death or Monster of Impermanence.
He has three eyes and wears a crown of skulls.
Who
always attempts to rule the mind of mankind and holding all living beings in a
state of delusion. Yama
symbolises the impermanence of everything. The beings, he holds are trapped in
eternal suffering by their ignorance of the nature of the universe. Buddhism
teaches that death is not the end and is not to be feared.
* Footnote *
Please consult your Guru or a qualified lineage master for Vajrayana practice! Should a devotee even want to start studying and contemplating the Vajrayana practice, then it is truly necessary to first have completed the preliminaries and to be certain and sure that bodhicitta has arisen and developed in one’s mind.
Vajrayana features countless skillful and powerful methods which, if they are practiced in the proper way, can make the process of accumulation and purification incredibly swift and direct. It is absolutely necessary to have the pure motivation and to know that Vajrayana practice is not carried out to increase one’s own power, ego and benefit.
Thank you for reading, may you find peace and great bliss.
With your support it helps to spread the precious Buddha’s precious Dharma and
turning the Dharma wheels in the world.
Aspiration For Bodhichitta
For those in whom the precious bodhichitta has not arisen
May it arise and not
decrease
But increase further and further.
Nagarjuna's Dedication of Merit
By this merit may we obtain omniscience then.
Having defeated the enemies wrong-doings.
May we liberate migrators from the ocean of existence.
With its stormy waves of birth, old age, sickness and death.
*Note
I do not own or infringe any copyright of these pictures.
Pictures courtesy and credit to the rightful owners.
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