Samsara, The Wheel of Life and The Three Root

Poisons.

The Wheel of Life (Wheel of Samsara)

The wheel originally came from Hinduism, but was adopted by Buddhism. It helps people to

understand the idea of Re-birth and how they can affect their lives, and future lives.

LifeLife

Wheel of Life

There are 4 circles

Each circle represents the constant cycle of rebirth

At the centre are the 3 root poisons of greed, hatred and delusion. They feed off of each other which fuels the cycle. They also depend on each other and are shown to be eating each other.

Centre

The Three Root Poisons

Notice how they’re biting at each others tails. This is because they eat each other. It means that one poison leads to another.

Greed

Hatred

Ignorance

Wishing

Passion

Ambition

Dislike

Resentment

Irritability

Confusion

Prejudice

Dogmatism

These poisons are deeply embedded within us and our personalities are very attached to each of them. This is why we find it very hard to rid ourselves of these ‘Fetters’ , ‘Hindrances’, ‘Knots’, and why it is so difficult to escape from the Wheel of Samsara.

These are the cause of all actions that produce bad Kamma and are the cause of all human suffering.

The Three Root Poisons

Wheel of Life

There are 4 circles

This shows images of one being through six different existences. Three good existences are shown on the left and three evil existences on the right.

2nd from the centre

Wheel of Life

There are 4 circles

Third circle from the centre

These are the realms through which rebirth can move.

Hell

Animal

Ghosts

Titans Human

Heaven

Wheel of Life

There are 4 circles

This is supposed to give an idea about how things link to each other as cause and effect.

12 Stages of Dependent Origination

Dependent OriginationThis is the idea that what you do in your life,

can affect what happens in future lives. So the origins of future births are dependent on past life that was lived.

This means that some rebirths are going to be less happy than others, due to the previous life.

12 Stages of Dependent Origination

1. Ignorance

2. Kammic Formation

3. Consciousness

4. Mind and Matter

5. Empty House

6. Contact

7. Feeling

8. Craving

9. Grasping

10.Becoming

11.Rebirth

12.Old age and death

You do not need to memorise them all. But

you do need to understand the basic idea, that our origin is

dependent on the actions of those that

came before us.

Should the Wheel of Life be seen as a Literal interpretation

of the process of Samsara?

The short answer is no. Buddhism arose in a Hindu country and so many of it’s ideas were incorporated. Some Buddhists do believe in such things as heavens, hells, demons etc. But for the purpose of this course, we just need to know that the wheel is a pictorial representation of Samsara and the cycle of rebirth. It reminds people how their actions have effects on future rebirths.

1.What does the word Samsara mean?

2.What is the Wheel of Life?

3.What are the three root poisons?

4.Why are the three root poisons at the centre of the Wheel of Life?

5.How can you escape Samsara?