Chakra Imagery

Lore & Background

Legend states that the historical Buddha instructed an artist to create the first depiction of the bhavachakra, though he did not personally draw it. The story of how he gave this illustration to King Rudrāyaṇa appears in the Divyāvadāna, an anthology of Buddhist narratives. Specifically, the Sahasodgata-avadāna describes the Buddha's instructions for creating the wheel in its opening paragraphs. In Buddhism, the term bhava denotes the continuity of becoming (reincarnating) in one of the realms of existence and is the tenth of the Twelve Nidanas. The word chakra derives from Sanskrit meaning 'wheel,' 'circle,' or 'cycle.' While the term also denotes yantras like trikoṇa-cakra and aṣṭakoṇa-cakra, or parts of the subtle body in Tibetan Buddhism, the bhavachakra specifically maps the cycle of rebirth.

In Their Own Story

The wheel begins with three animals in its hub: a pig, a rooster (bird), and a snake. The pig represents ignorance, based on the Indian concept that it is the most foolish animal for sleeping in dirt and eating anything. The snake stands for aversion or anger, striking at the slightest touch, while the bird symbolizes attachment to its partner. In many drawings, the snake and bird emerge from the pig's mouth, showing how aversion and attachment arise from ignorance, yet they also grasp the pig's tail to promote greater ignorance. Under these poisons, beings create karma, shown in the second layer as two half-circles: a light one where contented people move upward from positive actions, and a dark one where miserable people descend due to negative actions.

Reader's Guide

The third layer divides into six sections representing the realms of samsara. The three higher realms include the God realm (Deva), where beings pursue meaningless distractions until their good karma exhausts; the Demi-god realm (Asura), filled with constant fighting and jealousy against gods; and the Human realm, considered most suitable for practicing dharma despite suffering from hunger, thirst, and aging. There are four human realms: Jambudvīpa, Pūrvavideha, Uttarakuru, and Aparagodānīya. The three lower realms consist of animals (Tiryagyoni) living in fear or exploitation; hungry ghosts (Preta) with huge bellies and thin necks who burn on food that never satisfies them; and hell beings (Naraka) enduring torment in eighteen types of hot and cold hells. The outer rim details the twelve links of dependent origination, showing how poisons and karma produce suffering.

Did You Know?

• The historical Buddha is said to have instructed an artist to create the first depiction of the bhavachakra, which he then gave to King Rudrāyaṇa.
• The pig in the hub represents ignorance (moha) because in Buddhist iconography it symbolizes delusion and heedlessness, not because of a general Indian tradition about pigs being foolish.
• The four continents of Buddhist cosmology—Jambudvīpa, Pūrvavideha, Uttarakuru, and Aparagodānīya—are subdivisions of the human realm (manuṣya), which is one of the six realms in the bhavachakra, not separate human realms
• Hell beings endure unimaginable suffering in eighteen different types of hells, divided into hot and cold categories.
• The snake and bird are sometimes shown grasping the pig's tail to indicate they promote greater ignorance.