The origin story of the two kings
During the Buddha’s lifetime time there were many small kingdoms in India and Nepal and two of these were ruled by friends, King Bimbisara and King Udayana. The latter had a large empire, Vasta, and the former a smaller kingdom, Magadha.
King Bimbisara gave the Buddha the serene Bamboo Grove at Rajir which became the site of the first Buddhist monastery and place of shelter for the Buddha and his followers during the rainy season. King Bimbisara was very keen to learn from the Buddha, and he eventually became one of Buddha Shakyamuni’s greatest supporters. To this day this historic park remains a popular place of pilgrimage.
The priceless gift
One day King Bimbisara received a priceless gift from King Udayana, an armour made of precious stones and jewels. On receiving this he was overjoyed but soon felt that he had to repay King Udayana and felt sad as he didn’t have the wealth to purchase a similar gift in return. King Bimbisara sought advice from his teacher, the Buddha, who directed him to get one of his painters to ‘come to me’. The Buddha then instructed him to paint the Wheel of Life providing every detail of what to paint, as it had to be very precise for its meaning to be understood.
The Buddha then directed King Bimbisara to give the Wheel of Life painting as a present to King Udayana saying that there was no greater gift than that of the Holy Dharma. Consequently, King Bimbisara came with this painting wrapped in precious cloth and gave it with great respect to King Udayana.
On the way back to his kingdom King Udayana noticed the painting was in layers of exquisite cloth, and he wondered why the gift was so precious. He noticed a figure at the top in the painting and asked his minister who this was. The Minister replied that he was the enlightened one. The King then asked ‘Where then does he live?’. The Minister replied that the enlightened one lived in King Bimbisara’s kingdom. Eventually King Udayana asked if he could invite the Buddha to his kingdom.
It is said that when King Udayana received and meditated on the complex image, he too attained a deep understanding of the four noble truths and eventually reached enlightenment.
The Buddha’s instructions
The Buddha then directed that this image should be painted on the entrance walls of all Buddhist monasteries, and that a monk should be appointed to use this visual aid to teach all those who visited the temple seeking to understand the nature of existence. In this way the very profound Buddhist philosophy of the path to enlightenment could be taught to local farmers and village folk using both words and a visual image.
Understanding the symbolism of the Bhavachakra
The Wheel of Life (Bhavachakra in Sanskrit) is a symbolic Buddhist diagram depicting the cycle of samsara (rebirth), driven by karma and the “three poisons”—ignorance, attachment, and aversion—which are held by Yama, the lord of death. It represents six realms of existence, illustrating how our actions lead to different rebirths.
Briefly, the centre circle of the wheel of life contains the three poisons, ignorance (a pig) aversion, (a snake) and attachment (a bird).
The second circle represents karma, the universal law of cause and effect. Sentient beings can move down realms of existence while others keep moving peacefully and smoothly upwards towards enlightenment.
The third circle consists of six sections, which are the realms of samsara (three higher and three lower). The upper half contains the three higher realms; the god realm, the demigod realm and the human realm. The second half contains the three lower realms; the animal realm, the hungry ghost realm and the hell realm.
The outermost circle shows the twelve links of dependent origination, starting from ignorance and ending with aging and death.
The image has been painted thousands of times since the Buddha was alive, by many artists, over three millennia. It was painted on the walls of cave monasteries such as Ajanta in India as far back as the 2nd century BCE. It appears on the walls of Buddhist monasteries across the Indian subcontinent — and then, on the walls of Buddhist monasteries around the world.
Where to see the Wheel of Life today: a living pilgrimage
If you have the good fortune to visit the great monastic universities in Southern India, for example Sera Jey or Sera Mey or Drepung Loseling, as you reach the top of the great stairs in the front of each temple, cast your eye to each side of the great entrance doors and there you will see the Wheel of Life painted for all who visit just as the Buddha directed 2500 years ago.
Editors note: On the other side of the great entrance doors of the temples, you will see the painting depicting the path to calm abiding – the nine stages of concentration
For information about classes and retreats held at our meditation centre in Melbourne VIC, please visit tibetanbuddhistsociety.org