Giclee Print by Robert Beer
7"x 9" The Wheel of Life is a pictorial illustration of the Buddhist teachings on cyclic existence or samsara. In the central hub of the wheel are a pig, a cockerel and a snake, which represent the three primary poisons of ignorance, desire and aversion. In the second circle are beings that rise and fall into the six realms of existence. These six realms are depicted in the wide third circle of the painting, with the three 'higher realms'; the god realm (top), human realm (upper right), and the jealous god or asura realm (upper left) occupying the top half of the wheel. And the three 'lower realms'; the animal realm (lower right), hell realm (bottom), and hungry ghost realm (lower left) occupying the lower half of the wheel. In the outer ring of the wheel are symbolically illustrated the Buddhist doctrine on the 'twelve links of dependent origination'.