Name:Tricia Lea
School: Pioneer Valley Performing Arts Charter Public School
Project Title: Karma and Vipaka
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The Wheel of Life Art Project

The Wheel of Life is a detailed illustration of the Tibetan belief in the transmigratory nature of existence.  Human beings are born into this life with karma from a past life (or lives) and leave the world with vipaka, or the results of our actions.   In Part I of this activity, students will learn how the Wheel of Life illustrates the beliefs of karma and in Part II, students will translate these images into their own contemporary interpretations.

Materials
large sheets of paper
markers
magazines to cut up
access to internet:  Buddhanet and Rubin Museum
scissors
glue or decoupage

 

Part I Basics about the Wheel of Life

Objective

Identify the the three main parts of the Wheel, its symbols and how it teach us about the properties of Karma.

Procedure

1. If possible, find a poster of the Wheel of Life or project an image of it from the internet (see link at the top of this page). Ask students-What is your first impression of this painting? What kind of feeling to you get (if any) when you look at this image?

2. Join students in to groups of 3 or 4. Distribute copies of the blank wheel of life to each student and steer them towards one of the internet links listed in the list of materials.  Both sites, Buddhanet and the Rubin Museum offer a visual illustation of the Wheel wheel lots of fun interactive tools. Along with descriptions of the various symbols, you can also retrieve useful geographical maps, and historical information of the Buddha.

3. Have students label the following parts of the Wheel:

Monster of Impermanence
Buddha Figure (appears many times in the painting)
Roots of Evil
The Symbolic Six Worlds (also refered to as Realms or Wedges)
Realm of the Gods
Realm of the Demi-Gods
Realm of the Humans
Realm of the Pretas or Tantalized Ghosts
Realm of the animals
Realm of Hell

2.  On a separate sheet of paper and using Buddhanet and the Explore Art once again, research these parts of the wheel of life.  For each area of the Wheel, instruct students to answer the following questions:

What does the monster of impermanence represent? Why is he (it) included in existence of mankind?

What to each of the six realms represent? Buddhist belief states that there is suffering in all stages of birth an rebirth. What kind of suffering is exhibited in each of the realms?

Why is Buddha included in each one of the realms? What purpose is he serving the inhabiters of each realm?

Part II  Building a Contemporary Wheel of Life

Objective

To use some of the images found in the original wheel of life and find contemporary images in print media.  Through the use of artistic expression, students will create their own Wheel of Life, while leaving the significance of reach realm unchanged.

This art project help internalize the ideas represented in the Wheel, and can be a great lead in to future discussion about the artwork, the Buddha's life, comparitive lessons in the artwork from other religions.

Procedure

1.  Place students into groups of four or five.

2.  Supply them with:

~a large sheet of paper
~ a pile of magazines
~ several pairs of scissors
~ a black marker
~a blank sketch of the wheel of life
~ glue or decoupage
~ and a completed copy of their work from Part I

3.  On the large sheets of paper, instruct students to draw an outline of the wheel of life. After they finish, review with them the parts of the wheel identified in Part I and the significance of the illustration in the Buddha's teachings about karma.

4. Using magazines and newspapers, have students search for modern images of suffering identified throughout the Wheel of Life. For example, in the inner circle, we find the roots of all evil symbolized by three animals: a pig, a rooster, and a snake. Each represent one evil- the pig=ignorance, the rooster=lust, and the snake= hatred. Tell students to replace the symbols of these three evils with other items seen in magazines or newspapers.

5. Glue the images on to the wheel in the appropriate area in a collage-like format.

Assessment

Students will close the activity with a presentation of their Wheel of Life to the class. In the presentation, ask each student to explain at least one section of the wheel in its new, contemporary form. This way, everyone with have a chance to improve their skills and comfortablility in public speaking, while the more gifted students can take on more than one realm to explain, if needed.

 

Background information on the Wheel of Life

The Wheel of Life is a detailed illustration of the Tibetan belief in the transmigratory nature of existence, explains the theory of rebirth.  Human beings are born into this life with karma, the cycle of birth and rebirth, and the manifestations of suffering and desire experienced by human beings.  In this activity, students will learn about the symbolism used in the painting to teach buddhist philosophy and then translate these images into own comtemporary  interpretations.

I. The Wheel is divided into three parts
-axle
-spoke
-rim

II.  Axle

A.  In is one of the noble truths that suffering exists
B.  The purpose of Buddha’s teaching is to relieve suffering
C.  The way to achieve this is to be aware to the 3 causes of suffering: Ignorance, lust and hatred
D The animals that symbolize these three great vices: Pig(ignorance), Rooster (lust) and snake (hatred)
E.  These vices rule the universe and keep it in continual revolution

 III. Spoke

A.  The universe in separated in to 6 realms
-gods
-semi-gods
-human beings
-animals
-ghosts
-hell

B. Meritous or unmeritous actions dictate the realm in which rebirth happens-wholesome karma~rebirth into the human, god or demi-god realm
unwholesome karma~rebirth into the lower realms (animal, ghosts, hell)

C. No matter, human beings can’t escape suffering b/c suffering exists in each realm

D.  Buddha is ever present and he is seen in every realm, trying to help people toward enlightenment, showing compassion

IV. Realm of the gods

A.  Enjoy life, lead a blissful life
B.  Eat from the Tree of Life
C.  Long life, get tired, tree no longer yiedls fruit from them to eat
D.  Start to sweat like mortals, noone wants to be around them
E.  Die miserably

V.  Realm of the Demi-Gods

A.  Leading trait: pride, jealousy, envy
B.  Rebirths into this realm occur when in a previous life, one boasted of being more pious
C. Live a long life
D.  Holds envy for the gods and their blissful lifesstyle
E.  Live better than humans

VI. Realm of the human beings

A.  Most important realm because humans have the opportunity to reach enlightenment
B. Through a combination  of reason and belief, can they earn the privelage to leave the transient life and enter Nirvana
C.  Experience 4 great sufferings: birth, illness, old age, and death

VI.  Realm of the animals

A.   Trait: inability to express themselves
B.  One of great misery
C.  suffer from slavery and bondage

VII.  Realm of the tantalized ghosts

Wheel Lecture Notes

 

 

 

 

 

 

   

This site was created by Tricia Lea at the NEH Summer Institute "Cultures and Religions of the Himalayan Region," held at the College of the Holy Cross, Summer 2006