Mystical systems
Bhavachakra
Direct answer
Bhavachakra: The bhavachakra, the wheel of life or wheel of becoming, is a Buddhist painting that lays out the whole round of rebirth in one image, gripped in the jaws of a fierce figure.
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At a glance
- Also called
- wheel of life buddhism, bhavacakra, wheel of becoming, tibetan wheel of life
- Found in
- Mystical Systems
- Related
- Samsara, Karma, Nirvana, Bardo
The bhavachakra, the wheel of life or wheel of becoming, is a Buddhist painting that lays out the whole round of rebirth in one image, gripped in the jaws of a fierce figure.
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What is the bhavachakra?
The bhavachakra is a teaching picture, painted by the door of almost every Tibetan monastery. At its hub three animals chase one another's tails: a pig for ignorance, a snake for hatred and a bird for greed. A ring around them shows beings climbing on one side and falling on the other, according to their deeds.
The broad middle band is divided into the realms of rebirth: gods, jealous demigods, human beings, animals, hungry ghosts and the hells. Around the rim run twelve small scenes, the links of dependent origination, starting with a blind figure for ignorance and ending with a corpse. The whole wheel is held by a monster who stands for impermanence or for the lord of death. Outside it a buddha points away, usually toward the moon, to show that there is a way off the wheel.
On the tree of the hidden arts: Past lives and karma.
What sets Bhavachakra apart
The bhavachakra is a diagram with a logic of rings, read from the centre outward. The hub gives the cause, the second ring the mechanism of rising and falling, the main band the results and the rim the step-by-step process. Nothing in the wheel is permanent, the heavens included: gods fall when their merit runs out. Two details carry the hope. A buddha is drawn inside each realm, teaching in a form its beings can grasp, and the figure outside points to something that is not on the wheel at all.
- Sanskrit: bhava, becoming, and chakra, wheel
- Hub: pig, snake and bird: ignorance, hatred and greed
- Realms: six in the Tibetan form; five in the oldest versions
- Rim: the twelve links of dependent origination, in twelve scenes
- Holder of the wheel: a wrathful figure read as impermanence or as Yama, lord of death
- Oldest example: a mural in Cave 17 at Ajanta, about the fifth century CE
Often mistaken for something else: A mandala is a plan of an awakened being's palace, used for meditation and initiation; the bhavachakra is a picture of the unawakened round, used for teaching.
The story behind Bhavachakra
Buddhist tradition says the Buddha himself directed that the wheel be painted, as a gift from one king to another, and the story is told in the Sanskrit collection called the Divyavadana. The oldest surviving example is a damaged mural in Cave 17 at Ajanta in western India, of about the fifth century CE. Early versions show five realms; the sixth, that of the demigods, was divided off later. The design reached Tibet with Indian Buddhism and became a standard subject there.
Why Bhavachakra matters
Bhavachakra compresses the Buddhist teaching on karma and rebirth into a single diagram that could be explained to someone unable to read.
How to read Bhavachakra
Teachers read it two ways: as a map of where beings are reborn, and as a portrait of states of mind a person passes through in a single day.
Bhavachakra in practice: an example
A visitor at a monastery gate is shown the hungry ghosts, with thin necks and swollen bellies, and told that the realm also describes a craving nothing satisfies.
Where readings of Bhavachakra go wrong
The realms are taken literally by many Buddhists and as images of mental states by others. The painting itself does not settle it.
Sources and editorial method
This entry summarizes the tradition in the Almanac's own words; where no source is listed, it is an editorial summary rather than a primary text, and symbolic readings are named as the tradition's, not as fact.
- Source
- The Great Almanac Dictionary
- Category
- Mystical Systems
- Aliases
- wheel of life buddhism, bhavacakra, wheel of becoming, tibetan wheel of life, six realms of rebirth
- Last updated
- 2026-09-26
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Common questions
What is the bhavachakra?
It is the Buddhist wheel of life, a symbolic painting of samsara. It shows the causes of rebirth at the centre, the realms a being can be born into, and the chain of twelve links that keeps the wheel turning.
What do the three animals at the centre of the wheel of life mean?
The pig stands for ignorance, the snake for hatred or aversion and the bird, usually a cock, for greed or attachment. They are called the three poisons, and each is drawn biting the tail of the next.
What are the six realms of the wheel of life?
The realms of the gods, the demigods, human beings, animals, hungry ghosts and hell beings. The human realm is counted the most fortunate for practice, since it mixes enough pain with enough freedom.
