Six Realms of Rebirth Mandala

The Mandala ("Wheel of Life") represents the "Realms of Desire" in the Buddhist Universe.  The "Realms of Desire" includes realms of heavens, asuras, humans, Beasts, Hungry Ghosts, and Hell.  The "Wheel of Life" is held by Yama, the Lord of Death.  Yama is shown to be biting its teeth into the wheel symbolizing the "Realms of Form" may be destroyed at anytime.  Not shown in this painting, a buddha (located to the upper right coroner of the Mandala) with the index finger of his right hand pointing upward indicating the practices of Buddhism can liberate sentient beings from the endless cycle of life and death.

Mandala of Wheel of Life	Explanation of the Mandala

In the innermost circle, a ring is formed by three animals: a pig representing greed; a snake representing hatred; and a rooster representing delusion.  These three natures (poisons) are what drive sentient beings to remain in the "Realms of Desire" and undergo the endless cycle of life and death.

The middle ring representing the "Realms of Desires" has six divisions.

• Heaven, the divine realm and residence of vedic gods.  It is formed by the good karmas of austere, meritous and charitable deeds.  Being borned into this realm is the reward for living meritous lives and practiced charitable deeds (but did not achieve enlightenment).  Although happiness transcend suffering in heavens, the gods' great blessings lure them into a false sense of security.  They are no longer motivated to seek enlightenment and regress.  A white buddha is depicted playing a flute reminding the gods that their stay in heaven is temporary.  When their good karma are exhausted, they will leave this realm.
• Human, the realm of trial.  This realm is formed by both karma of merits and sins of sentient beings.  Consequently, there are both good and evil influences in this realm.  Every being born into this realm has the opportunity to choose the path of enlightenment or corruption.  This is the only realm which one can become enlighten because of the balance of good/evil forces:  Man can study the teaching of the Buddha (good influence) and the suffering (evil influences) serve as a motivation driving man to seek enlightenment.  A yellow buddha is depicted preaching the benefit of will power and four noble truth through which people can find the path to enlightenment.
• Asuras, the realm of powerful spirits who are constantly at war and motivated by envy.  Asuras are beings with power like that of gods, but they are full of hate and envy.  This realm is formed by the karma of the devoted (priests, monks, nuns, laymen, etc.) who harbored hate and jealousy. Their envy and anger deny them entrance into heaven. and their merits prevent them from falling into hell.   Instead, they are reborned into realm of constant battle and jealousy formed by their own karma. The great wars and turmoil in this realm prevents beings from seeking enlightenment.  A green buddha in warrior garment and holding a flaming sword is depicted.  He declares virtue of moral restraint and order asuras to stop their mighty struggles.
• Beast, the realm ruled by ignorance and instinct.  This realm is formed by the ill-karma of ignorance of sinners and criminals' animal-like instincts.  The sinners who enter into this realm had ignorant beliefs such as atheism, no existence of cosmic laws, etc.   The criminals who enter this realm are those who had acted like animals in their lives:  engaged in immoral sex, slaughter the innocent, etc.  Being in this realm cannot become enlighten because they are completely engulfed in their ignorance and instincts.  A blue buddha is depicted holding out a book of wisdom in order to teach beasts the benefit of perfect wisdom and ethical conducts.
• Hungry Ghost, its inhabitants are consumed by greed and suffer from permanent hunger and thirst.  This realm is formed by the ill-karma of extreme selfishness.  Beings born in this realm had in their pervious incarnation refuse to share their blessings with the less fortunate.  The overwhelming sufferings of hunger and thirst prevent beings in this realm to become enlighten.  A red buddha is depicted carrying a container of celestial nourishment as a gift to the hungry ghost.  The buddha preaches to them the virtue of generosity and sacrifice.
• Hell, the darkest of all realms.  It is formed by the ill-karma of hatred.  Beings in this realm had cold-hearts and harbored burning hatred in their previous incarnation.  They suffer many torture, fiery heat and icy cold to punish them for their past evil actions.  The suffering in this realm also prevent them from achieving enlightenment.  An indigo Buddha appears with water (symbolizing patience) and fire (symbolizing light of hope) is depicted.  He preaches the virtue of patience and reveal the way to the light.

The outer-most ring is divided into 12 divisions, and it symbolizes the 12 Karma Formations (the links of dependent origination).  The Buddha taught that everything arises and exists in dependence on other things.  Enlightenment can be attained only by freeing oneself from all of the 12 karma formations.

• Craving -- two young people are depicted falling in love and represents emotions of craving.
• Feeling -- The arrow piercing figure's eye showing way in which emotion strike us.
• Contact -- the operation of the six sense results in contact with things of this world & in turn leads to the arising of feeling and desire.
• Six senses -- Sight, smell, taste, hearing , touch and thought
• Name & Form -- Activity of consciousness condition, the arising of name and form symbolize by two figures
• Consciousness -- the monkey swing randomly from branch to branch represents the absence of control over consciousness
• Act of Volition -- the potter molds their own fate (karma) in the pots they production, each one represents a deed, such as acting, thinking, or speaking.
• Ignorance -- represent here by a blind man is the first of traditional 12 factors
• Old age & death -- the inevitable consequence of birth is illness, anxiety, old age & death.
• Rebirth -- natural consequence of sensual contact & marriage is birth
• Becoming -- the man & woman are prisoners of sensory simulation of touch.
• Clinging -- the man plucking fruits from a tree represents the sensual entanglement of desire and possession.

A Japanese wood printing showing the six realms of rebirth and the four realms of attainments.  This makes up the ten realms.  The caption explains that all the different realms are only the manifestation of one's mind/heart.  Hence, a person's mind/heart/actions determine his/her path and the realms which he/she ultimately reaches.