Bhavacakra
The expression of Life (also: wheel of becoming; Sanskrit: Bhava -cakra; Tibetan: srid pa ' khor lo ) refers among other things a symbol of Buddhist meditation. Shortly before his enlightenment ( bodhi ) to Buddha have seen and known the way of liberation the eternal cycle of life.
Representations of the wheel of life are now used as an aid to meditation, as a mandala; often they are depicted on the so-called thangkas. They always contain the same symbols and follow a specific schema. In the rim there is a twelve -part pictorial representation of the chain of dependent origination, which has the eternal cycle of rebirth result. The wheel of reincarnation is by a demon ( Yama, lord of death ) clutching, reducing the time to be symbolized by their devouring and eternal aspect.
Importance
The Wheel of Becoming is the representation of the suffering adhere rebirth cycle ( samsara ) to find out the liberation everyone should strive. It is one of the oldest types of images of Buddhist painting. It is the ancient Indian idea of the working of karma, which is symbolically illustrated in the image of the wheel of life.
At temples, it usually adorns the outer wall of the porch. Before the believer enters the temple his gaze falls on the wheel of life and this urges him to change his life. In the wheel of life he knows himself, it is a reflection, an encrypted expression of his unconscious. Who enter the temple, proceeds symbolically by the samsaric world and into salvation; meditation on the Bhavacakra may be a preparatory exercise for self-realization. Even the uninitiated can absorb by reading the wheel of life, the Buddha's teaching in itself.
Description
Mara, the grim, Razormaw, clad in a tiger Schurz demon of death and unwholesome keeps the wheel of life in its talons. Mara figured as " tempter " (eg in the depictions of the Buddha's life) and is in this capacity by his three daughters rati - the greed often supported - the desire arati - the discontent and tanha. In this role, Mara is compared with the Christian devil. Outside the wheel free from rebirth, sitting in front of a temple top right of Gautama Buddha and Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara top left of the transcendent. Gautama Buddha is shown with the begging bowl as a religious founder, his right hand performs the Erdberührungsgeste ( Bhumisparshamudra ) as a sign that he is calling the earth as a witness for the truth of his teaching.
The wheel of becoming consists of four concentric circles:
First circle ( hub )
Rooster, snake and pig hunt in the center of the wheel. They symbolize the three root poisons:
- Hahn: greed ( principle of attraction )
- Snake: Hate (principle of rejection)
- Pig: blindness (principle of restricted point of view)
Another system is in the center of the wheel a pig as an image of ignorance, a dove as the image of greedy attachment and a snake as an image of anger.
These three root poisons bind to the World Analysis of the Buddha, the essence of the rebirth cycle ( samsara ). Only by overcoming and destruction of these forces, it is possible to escape from samsara and attain salvation ( Nirvana ).
Second Circle
In the adjacent ring is in the right, the dark half of the karmic descent, indicated in the left, the bright karmic ascension. Commit evil deeds or follow the Dharma, and do good, between these two possibilities, everyone has to choose.
Third circle
Main article: Six realms ( six areas )
In the broader, subsequent ring according to Buddhist understanding of the six areas, worlds or forms of existence are illustrated, in which the nature, depending on the quality of their deeds (karma) and Tatabsichten ( samskara ) born again. Namely, the realm of the gods, jealous gods, the people, animals, hungry ghosts ( preta ) and hell beings. Everyone will be reborn in the form of existence, which he has earned by the karmic causes itself down. In each of the six areas Buddha is trying to bring the essence of their lot and facilitate the knowledge of his teaching.
Fourth circle
In the outer ring of the wheel of life, the various factors of existence are presented that determine the life of every human being. They are described as the twelve links ( nidana ) a chain that pulls people over and over again in the cycle of birth and death. Each of the twelve links is not the sole cause, but one of several conditions that the next element is created.
A description of the twelve stations starts up in the middle and continues clockwise.
- Chogyam Trungpa: Spiritual Materialism cut. Theseus, 1989, ISBN 389620100x
- Dalai Lama: The teaching of the Buddha of addicts emerge. Dharma Edition, 1996, ISBN 3927862274
- Dieter Halcour: The Wheel of Life Tibetan. Hake - Verlag 1991, ISBN 3925338071