![]() However, this configuration is extremely rare: early on in the wheel’s depictions the Buddha figure was moved to the upper right corner ➋, outside the wheel itself, in what appears to be a Tibetan innovation. The instruction stipulated that a Buddha should be at the center of the wheel, with a pig, a snake, and a bird ➊ (representing the three poisons of ignorance, aversion, and attachment, respectively) placed in front of him. While there are many variations, the following sections are most common and can be seen in the image to the left, starting at the center and moving outward: the three poisons good and bad karma the five or six realms of existence the twelve links of causation, or dependent origination and, holding the wheel, a demon representing impermanence. Visually, the wheel contains several distinct parts. The bhavacakra, it should be noted, was in the beginning always a mural, not a thangka, or scroll painting. For the benefit of those who would not be able to hear Maudgalyayana, the Buddha said that the wheel of life should be painted outside the front entrance to temples and that a monk should be appointed to explain the painting to pilgrims. Maudgalyayana, one of the Buddha’s two main disciples, after periodically traveling through the realms of existence would return to describe them, inspiring those he addressed to make efforts to follow the Buddha’s teachings. The text explains how it came about that the Buddha asked for the wheel to be painted and gives the blueprint provided for rendering the image. The bhavacakra, the “wheel of existence,” or “wheel of birth and death,” found painted on the walls outside Tibetan Buddhist temples in Tibet, India, and China, goes back to a text from an early Indian school preserved in Chinese and Tibetan translations (the Mulasarvastivada-vinaya vibhanga).
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