Bhavacakra / Wheel of Life Thangka

Handpainted wheel of life Thangka, universe controlled by the demon (god of time in red & gold color), In the middle it has three animals (peak, snake & bird) symbolizing ignorance, anger and love respectively. The belief is that once you conquer those three you reach the center and achieve Nirvana.

Bhavacakra or Wheel of Becoming/Wheel of Life is a form of a mandala or thangka (painted wall hanging), used primarily in Tibetan Buddhism. The painting of a thangka is itself a form of mediation. Its meaning is very complex, and can be read to represent at least three different realms of manifested effects of karmic actions. It can be read as a diagram for the six different kinds of existence into which one may be born into during the middle rounds of samsara. It can be read as symbolizing each of the different realms of human existence, lived out by certain kinds of people according to their karmic fortunes of personality type and socioeconomic status. Or it can be read as a description of situations or states of consciousness that everybody passes through again and again in the course of a single day.