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Here is an image of the Lord of the Dead, Yama, also known as
Mara, grasping Wheel of Life in his fangs and claws. At its center
is a Chicken, a Snake, and a Pig. These symbolize the lusts, hatreds,
and stupidities that hold us in the wheel of discontent. Around
them are living beings, going up and down through the twilight
zone between birth and death to find their new embodiments. This
depends on their Karma, which is measured at death by Yama, to
determine where they may wind up next. Around this is portrayed
the realms of the six classes of living beings, each with their
own problems, and each with a Buddha to help guide them. The Gods
at the top have everything, but deny their own deaths, and suffer
greatly when their splendor comes to an end. The Anti-gods have
everything they need, but live in constant jealousy of the gods,
and fight bitterly to gain the luxury of the gods. Human beings
have intelligence and opportunity, but suffer from birth, sickness,
old age, and death. Animals live in servitude to men and nature,
and are victimized by a life-style characterized by eating and
being eaten. Ghosts come in many forms, but all have in common
desires which can never be satisfied, and even when they get what
they are after, they no longer desire it, and want something else.
The Hell beings suffer from long bouts of burning and/or freezing,
tormented by the pain they have caused in previous births, and
they constantly hope to gain release from this pain that they
cannot escape. All of these conditions are impermanent, for all
are in the grip of Death. Yama wears the five skulls as a crown
which symbolize the death of body, sensory perception, understanding,
impetus, and awareness. His three eyes see all the living and
the dead. His very form represents endless pain.
The outermost circle shows the Twelve Fold Cycle of Interdependence,
by which living beings are continually lured in living lives of
Grief, Ignorance, Karma, Consciousness, Egoism, the Six Senses,
Contact, Feeling, Desire, Attachment, Action, Rebirth, and Pain.
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