The 12 Links _1_Wheel of Life image summary
Channel: Ven. Yönten
Date: 16/08/2019

Session 1 of a weekend course on the 12 Links of Dependent Arising

Wheel of Life Image Description
Summary compiled from various sources and oral commentaries. 
Any mistakes due to Ven. Yönten 2019


Buddha Pointing to the Moon = Liberation (the moon) is possible and the way is to be out of the wheel/samsara.


Monster / Yama the Lord of Death = Impermanence. His two arms are karma and disturbing emotions, his three eyes are the three times (past, present and future), the five-skull crown represents the five main afflictions and four fangs (only two visible) represent the four “maras.”


Outer Ring = the Twelve Links of Dependent Arising (images going clockwise)
1. Ignorance = blind person 
2. Karmic Formations = potter and varied sized pots
3. Consciousness = monkey
4. Name and Form = ship with people
5. Six Sources = empty house
6. Contact = couple (some images sitting together, kissing, or sometimes copulating)
7. Feeling = arrow entering the eye of a person
8. Craving = person drinking alcohol (sometimes two people: one offering, one drinking)
9. Grasping = grabbing fruit (usually a monkey, sometimes a human)
10. Becoming/ Potential Existence = pregnant woman (sometimes a couple copulating)
11. Birth = woman giving birth (Note: “rebirth” is at conception, not physical birth)
12. Old Age and Death = Old person carrying a corpse on their back


Inner Sections = The Six Realms the arrangement of the realms varies in different images but God realm is usually at “12 o’clock” and Hell Realms are usually at “6 o’clock”
1. God: Dominant disturbing emotion is Pride
2. Demi-God: Dominant disturbing emotion is Jealousy
3. Human: Dominant disturbing emotion is Desire/Attachment
4. Hungry Ghost: Dominant disturbing emotion is Miserliness
5. Animal: Dominant disturbing emotion is Ignorance
6. Hell Realms: Dominant disturbing emotion is Hatred


Small Inner Ring = repeated progression from higher/happier realms to lower/suffering realms 


Centre Circle = The Three Poisons 

The Bird = Attachment sometimes called a pigeon, sometimes a rooster – in reality some breed found in ancient India/Nepal that was particularly desirous

The Snake = Anger because snakes will strike at even the slightest provocation and the mere sight of them by others trigger aggression and defensiveness

The Pig = Ignorance While intelligence for an animal, they still foolishly trust the people who will eventually kill them for food, they eat everything without much discrimination