Shanmugam

Bhavachakra - The Wheel of Samsara

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Bhavacakra or Bhavachakra, known as the wheel of life is painted in the Buddhist temples in Tibet and India. It is a symbolic representation of the wheel of life.

Here is the gist of Bhavacakra:

  • Ignorance of mistaking non-self as self-leads to aversion and attachments.
  •  This, in turn, leads to volition, action and the pleasant or unpleasant consequences of the actions.
  •  Depending on the consequences, a person enjoys or suffers the fruits of his action.
  • The 12 nidanas give a clear picture of dependent origination. It states that everything is interconnected with various casual links. Nirvana or liberation is the only thing which is not affected by dependent origination.
  • The five aggregates are impermanent and clinging to them causes suffering.
  • There is a way to get liberated. It is called as eightfold path.

This is a mandala and can be used for meditation. To know more about the mandalas, read the following posts:

A Shamatha Meditation Based on Symbolism, Visualization, Mnemonics and Classical Conditioning

The Truth About Yantras, Chakras, Temples, Tantra and Agamas

(I will make a detailed video about this shortly. Subscribe to my Youtube channel to watch the videos in time: http://bit.ly/shanmugamy )

This is how it looks like:

wheeloflife-hi-res.jpg?w=840

 

Here are some useful infographics which give the details about various aspects of Bhavacakra mandala.

1.png?w=768

 

(You can also interpret these realms as the periods of your current life. For example, a person might be in any of the following realms for a few months:

Sometimes we are like devas, very happy and pleased;

Sometimes like asuras, even though happy we don’t feel content and this leads to craving, attachment, and aversion;

Sometimes like humans, being more responsible and showering love to friends, families, and others;

Sometimes like animals, just eating and sleeping;

Sometimes like a hungry ghost, deprived of our needs and feel totally dissatisfied, frustrated and helpless;

Sometimes like beings of the hell, going through extreme suffering that seems to be endless.

The idea is to convey that none of these states are permanent and a proper spiritual practice is the only way to find permanent bliss in life.)

2.png?w=768

 

3.png?w=768

 


Shanmugam 

Subscribe to my Youtube channel for videos regarding spiritual path, psychology, meditation, poetry and more: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwOJcU0o7xIy1L663hoxzZw?sub_confirmation=1 

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To me this looks like really old technology.  It's like dragging out a slide-rule to do contemporary calculations.  I see a lot of room for literal interpretations of what you posted that could cause a lot of tail-chasing if Enlightenment is what you want.  

Edited by Joseph Maynor

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11 minutes ago, Joseph Maynor said:

To me this looks like really old technology.  It's like dragging out a slide-rule to do contemporary calculations.  I see a lot of room for literal interpretations of what you posted that could cause a lot of tail-chasing if Enlightenment is what you want.  

True...  There is a room for literal interpretations but that has already happened over the centuries.. So I wanted to make a few articles regarding Tantra, concepts of Vajrayana Buddhism etc but provide explanations which are psychological. So I have given some disclaimers on such posts here:  https://nellaishanmugam.wordpress.com/a-shamatha-meditation-based-on-symbolism-visualization-mnemonics-and-classical-conditioning/


Shanmugam 

Subscribe to my Youtube channel for videos regarding spiritual path, psychology, meditation, poetry and more: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwOJcU0o7xIy1L663hoxzZw?sub_confirmation=1 

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In the last two years, I came across many traditional minded people, who are Indians. They don't want to let go of certain images, including the deities, symbols etc because of too much attachment to it. This also makes them to remain superstitious forever. For those people, these meditations are useful. This is actually an old idea. Even during or just after Buddha's time, many deities of folk religions were absorbed into Buddhism and made as the images for meditations involving complex visualizations. The whole Vajrayana is based on this. Basically, when you try to convert religious people to spiritual people, they feel comfortable when they see that they don't have to let go of these images. 

 


Shanmugam 

Subscribe to my Youtube channel for videos regarding spiritual path, psychology, meditation, poetry and more: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwOJcU0o7xIy1L663hoxzZw?sub_confirmation=1 

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@Shanmugam do you, as enlightened human, do you believe in God (in Bible’s transcendent God). And do you believe in heaven and hell in afterlife? And why yes/not? Thanks

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