The caricature of the wheels of life was received from my friend jerjing.
Though its origin was not known, its copyright has to be reserved for its original creator. The picutre is vividly showing the whole life cycle of humankinds--no one will escape this. Here also have a glimpse at Wikipedia--free online encyclopedia's explanantion as to the wheel of life:
Technorati tags: Caricature, life, the wheel of lifeIn the dharmic religions (Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism), the wheel of life (also called by a variety of other names; see the Names section below) is a mandala or symbolic representation of samsara, the continuous cycle of birth, life, death. One is liberated from this endless cycle of rebirth when bodhi, enlightenment, nirvana, moksha, or samadhi is reached.
There are two primary forms of the wheel of life. The more elaborate form is usually six-spoked, though it is sometimes five-spoked. The simpler form, primarily used in Buddhism, is eight-spoked.
In computer software Unicode, the wheel of life is called the "wheel of dharma" and found in the eight-spoked form. It is represented as U+2638 (☸).
Names of the wheel of life
The most common name is the "wheel of life", but the wheel also has a variety of other names:
- wheel of dharma
- wheel of existence
- wheel of law
- wheel of rebirth
- wheel of samsara
- wheel of suffering
The symbol is also known as chakra from the Sanskrit word for wheel (not to be confused with the Hindu use of the same word to refer to energy nodes in the body— cf. chakra). The wheel of life is specifically known as bhavachakra or dharmachakra (the wheel of dharma).
