Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 45-minute session, Ven Jampa Ignyen walks through the Wheel of Life as a visual map of how rebirth perpetuates itself. He decodes each layer: the three poisons (ignorance, hatred, attachment) locked at the wheel’s center; the paths of virtue and non-virtue leading to different realms; the six realms from divine to hell; and the twelve links of dependent arising, each represented by a specific image: the blind person (ignorance), potter (formation), monkey (consciousness), boat (mind-body), empty house (senses), embracing couple (contact), arrow-struck eye (feeling), drinker (craving), grasping monkey (grasping), pregnant woman (becoming), and birth, aging, and death. He shows how each link depends on the previous, perpetuating the cycle. For practitioners seeking to understand saṃsāra’s mechanics.
—
**Metadata Flags:**
“`json
[
{
“category”: “title”,
“severity”: “low”,
“description”: “Stray character at start of title: ‘y Dependant Arising’. Remove the leading ‘y’.”,
“evidence”: “Title field reads: ‘y Dependant Arising — 2001-06-09′”
},
{
“category”: “title”,
“severity”: “low”,
“description”: “Spelling: use ‘Dependent Arising’ (standard spelling for this Buddhist term), not ‘Dependant’.”,
“evidence”: “Title uses ‘Dependant Arising'”
}
]
“`
File metadata (for organising)
File: 04 DA 2001 06 09.mp3
UUID: 0724388d-2cc8-497e-9e10-40f2883eed8a
Teacher: Ven Jampa Ignyen
Collection: y Dependant Arising (Ven Jampa Ignyen)
Date: 2001-06-09
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 44.9 minutes
Words: ~4,497
With his hands and feet. So this indicates that the wheel is within the clutches of the Lord of Death. Whatever occurs in that wheel is still within the clutches of the Lord of Death. Now above that, on the far on the top right hand corner, we can see a Buddha holding an alms bowl and pointing. And on the other side, we see a deity.
I think here it’s Avalokiteśvara. Avalokiteśvara. If it is Avalokiteśvara, I think it is. Avalokiteśvara is the bodhisattva of compassion who’s holding a lotus in the left hand. Also, there’s a moon there.
Can everyone see the moon? There’s a sun on the other side, but on the distant side, there’s a moon. In some of these pictures, there’s only a moon. A moon exists there. What about on the one up there?
Does that have has both. This one here has a monastery with a Buddha in it. But certainly on the right hand side, we have a a Buddha pointing the way. Now this indicates actually, the main work of a Buddha is teaching to indicate the way. So what the Buddha is pointing at there, which is outside of the wheel, is where our practice should be headed.
Our practice should not be focused within a wheel as such, but outside of the wheel. Say, we can take it as the moon. We we can interpret this in different ways. The moon there represents the moon of emancipation or liberation. The cool glow of the moonlight represents the the cool state of liberation, which is no longer agitated by the various conditions of existence.
That’s represented by the moonlight, which is cool instead of a type of cool light, whereas the sunlight is hot and and so forth. Also, is a bodhisattva, which also that bodhisattva can represent the path that should that the Buddha is indicating for us to take. We should take the path of attva to achieve a realization that’s outside the wheel of life. Right. So then we notice also that what the lord of death is clutching there is this wheel.
And there are really four layers, four wheels in a sense, or sections to the wheel. So there’s the outer, one, two, three, four. Everyone see those four? If we count from the inside, we see there’s a hub there. That’s one.
Then outside that, there’s a further wheel, two. Outside that, a further one, three. And outside that, a further one, four. So there’s four stages. Right.
Now if we take the inner stage, then there are three can everyone see that? There’s three animals. Right. There’s a little it’s a little liberal in the way they’ve been drawn here, but now there’s three animals. What are they?
Can anyone Snake. Snake is clear? Peacock? Not really a peacock. It’s said sorry?
Amy might be okay. It’s said to be a pigeon. A pukkahen. Pukkahen. Now, anyway, some say it’s also a rooster.
Doesn’t really matter. Okay. So there’s a bird there. And what’s the other one? Well, they’re saying to me.
It’s The third one there is said to be a pig, but it looks more like a deer. Okay. So there’s three. Well, here’s another here’s another version also. A pig?
No. Not the but they’re they’re not big owners of pigs in Tibet because they don’t kill in general, they don’t kill, what, stock. But in Nepal and places like that, you see many of them. Anyone stayed in some of the hotels in Tibet oh, not in Tibet, in Nepal. Often the pigs are there cleaning up the yes.
So, anyway, there’s three animals here, and they represent the three poisons. The three poisonous states. So the three poisonous states are attachment, hatred, and delusion or ignorance. So these three poisons are what keeps us within the wheel because we have hatred, hatred or anger, attachment, greed, and delusion and ignorance. We’re locked into the very center of the wheel.
So which is which? We could also say that it’s a chicken, maybe. But doesn’t help. Okay. It’s not meant to be personal, this.
They just we’ve got haven’t got anything against snakes or pigs or chickens or pigeons. Sorry? Yes. The represents ignorance or delusion. Snake hatred or anger.
And the other one, the bird there, represents attachment. So whatever these are just we could put three other things there. What else would be appropriate? Sorry? But here, we’re just trying to represent those three poisons.
So we also noticed that they’re in some of the diagrams, they’ve got the tail of the animal in front of them in their mouth. They’re linked. Yeah. So in a sense, there’s a sort of dependence between these three poisons. But delusion ignorance leads to attachment.
Attachment leads to hatred. Is that true? Ignorance leads to attachment. Does attachment lead to hatred? It does, doesn’t it?
Whatever we’re attached to, we tend later to hate. Who’ve got more wit on them. Certainly it works out. That’s right. But even on a level of attachment, what we initially become attached to if it’s attachment to it, later we’ll dislike it.
We tend to develop hatred towards that object. So then, yes. Because, yeah, this well, we should investigate this. It said that that that is the case. Does that mean the way I’m thinking about it?
No. We have if love itself goes beyond those two, but the attachment itself would tend to lead to hatred. No. No. That wouldn’t be a wise thing to do.
Don’t think. But Are you talking about love? No. Love is separate. We can have love and attachment together, and that, in fact, is what we do have.
We have love directed towards a certain person, and then along with that, we have a certain amount of attachment. But that attachment remains attachment for a period, and then it becomes hatred. It doesn’t mean to say that we necessarily lose our love for that being, but that attachment that we initially have is always potentially going to yeah. So what happens in long term relationships? Why does some survive?
Oh, there’s probably more love there than attachment. Because the love will survive even when the faults of the other person are evident. Sorry? Tolerance, rather? And intolerance, yeah.
Well then, through love also tolerance, Yeah. Patience with the other. Yep. Patience is absolutely necessary. Especially others, patience for ourselves.
So we have this inner wheel, which is the three poisons, and those three poisons tend to cycle around and around. And so there are three animals with the tail of the other animal in its mouth. Now outside of that, we have the next wheel. So this is the wheel of the two paths. On the left, have the white path.
On the right, we have the black path. So the left, the black path, it might not be colored in that way, but it’s generally referred to as on the left, we have the white path. So that’s the path of virtue, And that’s the path that’s progressing upwards through positive actions. On the left hand side, we see people moving upwards. That’s the white path.
The path of white action, positive action, virtuous action. And there we can see a person looking upwards. That’s actually the looking upwards is a sign of looking to the heavens, looking to virtue. On the other hand, we have on the other side, on the right hand side, have the black path, which is the path of non virtue, which then tends to lead to negative migrations. So rebirth in the hells rebirth and so forth.
So really from those in the center we have those three poisons. But even so, practicing the path of white actions, one progresses to positive migrations, positive rebirth. But through practicing negative actions, negative revert. Oh, that’s in the next wheel around. That second one?
Oh, that would be like a divine being. But that would be more like a hell guardian, I think. Yeah. Welcoming hell guardian welcoming beings into the hells. On the other hand, that divine being is well welcoming beings into heaven.
Yeah. Although yeah. That’s probably a held guardian more than The devil. The devil. The devil really is more like the lord of death.
This one on the outside there. And there’s four there’s four types of Mara. Does that mean that actually people have seen the asking the question. Yes. Yeah.
Because religions, all religions have some version of this. Yes. Absolutely. And that’s an indication that it is a universal or realization. It’s a realization that occurs in many different cultures.
So then we have the next wheel. And the next wheel has five segments. Or here it has six. I’ve got one that’s got five. Doesn’t matter.
Okay. So we got six here. So of the six, we got three above and three below. So that’s the three higher we can say the three higher realms, the three lower realms. The three positive migrations, the three negative migrations.
So, Right. At the very apex there, we have the divine realms, the god realms. And there in the divine realms, we can see the Buddha actually playing a a lute. And then we got a house there, a divine house, where a divine being is situated. Then down to the right, at about three o’clock, we’ve got the demigod realms.
And there, these are beings who are all also regarded as divine, but they have less power or capacity than the gods. And they tend to be jealous of the gods and they make war on the gods in order to win the nectar of the gods. And then on the other side, at about ten o’clock, we have the human realm. And there we can see stupas and people plowing and horses well, we can see humans anyway engaged in human activities. So that’s an indication of the human realm there.
Then at about four o’clock, we have the hungry ghost realm. So there is an image of the Buddha visiting the ghost realm, and there you can see oh no, wait a minute, this is another way around. So that’s the animal realm there, isn’t it? At four o’clock. Yeah, that’s the animal realm.
There’s various animals depicted. On the other side, is that about eight o’clock, seven o’clock? That’s the hungry ghost realm. And then at the very base, there is the hell realm. And there, one can see pictures of hell guardians, with say like animal heads and so forth.
And then hell beings who are being boiled and burnt and so forth. So that indicates the six types of being that exist. Divine beings, demi, semi divine beings, humans, animals, hungry ghosts, hell beings. And in general, that includes all beings in the universe. So they’re the six possible ways that we can reincarnate.
Then on the outer, on the very outer wheel, we have the twelve links themselves. And the twelve links give the method by which one takes rebirth in these six possible destinies. So the twelve links. Firstly, we start at the top, but a little to the right, we have a person there. Now that that’s a blind person walking along with a a stick, a white stick.
So that represents ignorance. That person the blind person with a stick represents ignorance itself. And then after that, we have the second link. And the second link is a potter. Someone who’s making creating pots.
And we see a few pots down below, and he’s got a wheel there, and he’s fashioning a pot. So the the potter represents the second link, the link of composition or karmic formation. Then next to that, the third one going down clockwise is what do we have there? Monkey. Dog.
Monkey. That’s right. We’ve got a monkey. That represents consciousness. So the monkey there is swinging swinging around in the trees above the houses or maybe swinging around the houses themselves.
So that represents our consciousness. The third link, link of consciousness. Then we have the fourth link. And the fourth link there is what? A boat.
It’s a boat. Exactly. So the fourth link is name and form. The link of name and form. The boat represents name and form.
What’s name and form? Name and form represents our mind body continuum. Our mind body is like a boat. It’s like us seated in the boat there paddling along the stream. Name and form means the mind body continuum because form here represents the body.
Name is the term given to our mind and all the mental states. So that’s given the name name, name and form. Partially because that’s our awareness that’s naming everything. Imputing. And the fifth one, what’s the fifth houses.
So the fifth link represents an empty house. The empty house represents the link of the six sense bases. The six sense bases are the six sense fields. The eye sense space, the ear sense space, nose sense space, tongue sense space, body sense space, mental sense space. So the six sense bases.
Right. Then what do we have? What’s that? Number number six. Right.
So then we have an image of a couple embracing. Sorry? So that’s what are the twelve links is that one? No? Sensing.
Contact. Yes. That’s the link of contact. So the link of contact is a couple embracing. Is this how it’s been to get your sex education?
Very cute. That’s right. The more explicit the drawing, the better the education one gets. Right. So that’s contact.
Then after contact, we have the seventh link. And what’s the seventh link? Craving. Craving? Yes.
And what’s the image here? That’s it. It’s a person with an arrow piercing his eye. That’s the link of feeling is an arrow piercing our eye. It’s talking about the danger of feelings.
Well, you said it was like sex education for the Tibetans. So, really, it’s That’s right. Right. Then we have the the next one is eight. And what’s happening in that in that diagram that picture?
No. Not fishing. He’s sitting. Sorry? He’s drinking something.
What’s he drinking? Alcohol. Yes. Someone drinking alcohol.
No. He was again. After the arrow. Yes. Right.
So someone who’s drinking alcohol. So what’s the what link is that? Craving. The link of craving. Oh, okay.
Yeah. Sure. Yes. Yeah. That’s right.
Three different types of craving are represented there. Right, and then we have the next one. What’s that image of? Right. It’s a monkey actually picking fruit, it’s said.
So that’s the link of grasping. Grasping at an object. Both craving and grasping are types of attachment. Craving is the initial stage, And then when it becomes really strong, it becomes grasping like the monkey grasping at a piece of fruit. Right.
And then we have the next one, the tenth link. And what that’s right. It’s a pregnant woman. Might not be so clear there. Yeah.
Right. So that’s the link of existence. So the link of existence there is represented by a pregnant woman. Then we have the link of the eleventh link. And what’s that?
A woman giving birth. So that what link is that? Link of birth, exactly. And then the twelfth link is what? Aging Aging and death.
So what’s represented there? It’s an old man who’s aging, and what’s he got in his back? A corpse. A wrapped up corpse. So it’s aging and death.
Because in Tibet, they would wrap up the corpses like this, tie them up, wrap them in cloth, and then carry them off to be fed to the birds, chopped up, because the ground was very hard in Tibet. And often, timber or trees were nonexistent in a high altitude, they would feed the corpses to vultures. So I’d wrap them up like that and take them to a rocky outcrop and then proceed to, with a sharp knife, to cut up the flesh, cut the flesh off the bones and strip the skeleton of all the flesh and organs and so forth, and usually mash them up and then feed it to the to the vultures who would circle around. Take the brain and mash it up with some barley flour. And then crush those.
Mix it with, yeah, butter and barley. And then feed it all to the yeah. Yeah. So this is very good because it’s a way of generating merit even through our corpse, helping we offer it or have our friends offer it to animals on our behalf. That’s similar.
Absolutely. If we donate our organs, it’s very positive. Oh, well, after the three days. Once the what’s that there? All the organs.
You’ve got a lot of chance for me to be gone. It depends. If one is actually in meditation, then it would be a pity to have the doctor start removing organs. It may disturb one’s meditation. Clinically we’d be dead, the heart stopped, you know, the brain stopped functioning, the awareness is contracted to the heart.
But a person in that state can still abide within the corpse and meditate on emptiness, for instance, or just be absorbed in a clear light. That we’d need to investigate that because It is positive. Absolutely. But if it were to disturb our meditation, then or maybe they could put us in a fridge for that period until we finish our meditation and then Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. That’s yeah. I think in a violent death, then there’s no no problem really because we would have died. And what remains is, you know, can be used, cut up and so forth, the consciousness would have departed from the body.
But if we die slowly, it’s possible that consciousness does remain for some time. Sometimes for up to a year or longer, it can remain. Isn’t that a form of attachment? A form of attachment? Well, I thought it’d be the other way around.
A detachment. We’re not so attached to our organs, we’re giving them away. But yeah. But still, it may help those beings who are attached. Not necessarily, no.
I mean, fate could be just about anything because we all have potential for so many different results to occur. And it really depends on what conditions we put in place as to what does happen. It’s not as if things are fixed in the future at all. It really depends on what we’re doing at present. Things in a sense only are fixed once we attain a certain level in our practice.
Then we achieve the level of irreversibility. Then the fact of attaining enlightenment is definite for us. Then at that stage, Buddhas will say, oh, you will attain enlightenment, you know, in a future eon, and your name will be such and such and give certain details. Up to that point, it’s you know, for ourselves, it’s you know, our future is still not determined. But we have potential for many, many things to to occur.
Which one? Well, might be a case of consulting one’s teacher. Or in fact, if there were a pervasion, you could say that if I died in an accident, then use the organs. But if I’m in meditation somewhere, then wait three days or wait until I’m finished. Because it really depends.
It’s hard to understand the karma that exists in these situations. Sometimes it’s perhaps better that one would simply allow one’s organs to be used by others. In other circumstances it may be better not to disturb one’s body. There’s more benefit in not disturbing it. That, for instance, one attains a One is not disturbed in that state, one attains a specific re birth that would be of more benefit to sentient beings than, you know, if one didn’t follow that course and just gave up one’s organs and didn’t attain that type of re birth.
It really would have to depend on specific circumstances. Is there some way that the Tibetans use their way of putting hope to see if the consciousness is still there? There are various signs that occur. For instance, like, if a drop of blood appears from the nose, or a drop of liquid appears from the sexual organ, or if the body moves, sort of starts or the body starts to smell, of course, is Consciousness is gone. Yeah.
The conscious once the body starts to smell and decay, then definitely the consciousness is gone. But prior to that, there may be some doubt and external signs appear like a drop of white fluid from the nose. Once that appears, then it’s an indication that consciousness has departed. But also and some when some Tibetan lamas have died in the past, they really although they’re meditating and they’re actually physically dead well, they’re physically dead, but you can see that there’s something still there. And there’s a presence that’s still there.
But there are various tests that can be done. It’s said that one has to be careful when one touches a corpse too, because some say that if you touch the corpse on the lower part, then the consciousness will tend to leave at the point that it’s being contacted. And if you touch the lower half of the body, that can be a condition for taking a lower rebirth. Therefore some say it’s better to touch the corpse in the top part. But this is debated, mainly because there is no physical contact.
The sensory tactile awareness doesn’t exist for the corpse any longer. So therefore, if that could act as a condition for that, it is debated to some degree. Yes. Yeah. But generally, corpse starts to smell Like, I think in nineteen eighty three, Ling Rinpoche, whose photo is up here, this particular lama here is the senior, was the senior tutor to the Dalai Lama.
He passed away on Christmas Day, I think. And he remained in what’s called tukdam meditation for about thirteen days. And then he passed away. When he stopped breathing, his consciousness was residing, say, in the indestructible drop at the center of his heart chakra. And he remained in that way for about thirteen days.
And during that period, you could go and visit, but there was something about him. I wasn’t able to go. I was there when he died, I had to leave pretty shortly afterwards. I wasn’t able to go and visit. But I was talking with other people that went and they were saying that you could really feel his presence still there.
But this is somewhat subjective as well. But after thirteen days, there was a physical change and then they determined that he had actually died. So who determined that? The Dalai Lama. And then the Dalai Lama also determined that he shouldn’t be cremated.
And that then his body was placed in a box full of salt. And it was kept there for about six months to dry the body out. And then after that period, the body was taken out and was put in his residence. It was placed on his throne and put in robes again. And you could go and see the body.
And then later, it was put inside a statue. So if you go to Dharmasala, you can go to his residence, and the statue containing his previous corpse is there. Oh, that’s right. And in fact yeah, because of his attainments, he was a very special, very special teacher. Even his even the Dalai Lama had great awe for him, Ling Rinpoche.
Ling Rinpoche was a very powerful individual. A very and when the Dalai Lama talked about him, he would bow towards his residence, which was you know where his holiness lives in Dharmasala? And Ling Rinpoche used to live up know, used to look there with suitable reverence because he was his teacher from a young age. His reincarnation is now about seventeen, sixteen, seventeen. Probably would be he’s quite amazing.
He looked very much like the previous Ling Rinpoche. In fact, when you saw him when he was very young, was almost like you know, he just looked exactly the same. Yeah. There’s a photo of him here in his previous life, Ling Rinpoche. And he was the head of the Gelugpa tradition for nineteen years.
What sort of heights? Oh, well, those high realisations. Are they possible? Oh, absolutely! Taking robes is a great advantage in a sense that one is able to accumulate a lot of merit through taking ordination.
But still, the practice needs to be done whether one’s ordained or not ordained. The same the mind is the same. Even when one takes ordination, the mind doesn’t, you know, suddenly become purified through taking ordination. It’s still the same mind. Well, it’s a continuum of the same mind that’s there.
One still has to deal with all the issues. But there are certain advantages with ordination. There’s a blessing blessing that comes with ordination. So but even without taking ordination, we still need to practice. It doesn’t mean to say that by not taking ordination, we can just sit back and take it easy and we don’t have to practice, of course.
We may have to practice harder, in fact. But definitely, many many laypeople do practice very well and and achieve realization, like Milarepa. Everyone’s heard the story of. But there are many practitioners What about the king of Thailand? He’s a practitioner.
He’s a layperson. What about Jetsün Pema, the sister of the Dalai Lama? She’s a woman. She’s a practitioner and so forth. There’s many.
Six Dalai Lama was a layperson. This did prove difficult for the Tibetan people as well. But that the sixth Dalai Lama did he took ordination as a a novice, but at the age, I think, of twenty or twenty one, he returned his vows. But the main thing is one’s practice. Whether one’s ordained or not ordained, one needs to practice.
One needs to change the mind as it is in the present. In fact, we can guarantee whatever the mind is at present, we need to improve it. Right. So that’s very briefly what the wheel of life represents. So in fact, from now on, all we’ll do is go into more detail about the nature of these links and just discuss in a bit more detail what they are and how they exist within us.
Because pretty much, they all we experience them at one time or another. How are we doing? We still got any energy? Then it continues. Then the work begins.
Sorry? The work helping others. Yes. Right. Okay.
We’re going to have a period for any questions or general questions.