One of the most important teaching tools in Tibetan Buddhism is the Wheel of Life, also known as the Wheel of Existence, which demonstrates the cyclical nature of life, death, and rebirth. The scenes within the wheel portray the laws of karmic cause and effect, illustrating how a person’s actions bring about positive or negative outcomes in their current and future lives. The fierce lord of death Yama grips the wheel in his mouth, ready to swallow it at any moment, showing how everything is impermanent and in the grip of death. Beyond traditional religious teachings, the Wheel of Life also provides lessons for Buddhists and non-Buddhist alike, as it reflects the reality of our interdependent world.

Wheel of Life, attributed to Lhadripa Rinzing Chungyalpa (b.1912, Sikkim – d.1977); Sikkim; c. 1930; Pigments on cloth; Rubin Museum of Himalayan Art; C2004.21.1

Those reborn into the realm of hungry ghosts have malformed bodies with huge, ravenous bellies but necks too narrow to accept food or water, leaving them forever hungry and thirsty. Their agony of unsatiated thirst and hunger is the consequence of greed and selfishness. The bodhisattva of compassion Avalokiteshvara presides at the top of this realm, suggesting that with the Buddha’s teachings it is possible to escape from the suffering.

The most frightening scene in the Wheel of Life is the hell realm, which depicts tortures such as cutting, boiling, and freezing. This realm is a frightening place filled with fire, red-hot pokers, and monsters eating faces. The wrathful deity surrounded by flames near the top is Yama, who presides over the hell realm, while the presence of the standing blue buddha figure indicates that even in hell, there may be some interventions from awakened beings. Along with the hungry ghost realm, the hell realm seems fantastical in its awfulness, but the suffering is echoed in real-world problems, such as war, climate change, disease, and poverty.

While this vignette depicts the animals living a seemingly delightful existence, Buddhist philosophers and teachers explain that the animal realm is one of considerable suffering. Animals are often tortured and harmed, killed and eaten, and made into slaves by human beings who are extremely cruel to them. Being reborn as an animal is especially frightening in a world dominated by humans. Animals have little power to influence the larger world around them and are often the first to feel the effects of human development and environmental destruction. In Buddhist philosophy, animals have feelings and empathy, but unlike humans, they do not have the intellectual capacity to do anything to alleviate their suffering.

The heavenly realm comprises gods seemingly living the good life, eating ambrosia, enjoying eternal youth, and having every wish fulfilled. But this carefree existence is also extremely dangerous to the spirit—the gods have little incentive to help others or enlighten themselves because they live in ultimate comfort and luxury. The gods are isolated from real life and can struggle to understand the suffering of others. So when the gods die they risk a truly terrible series of rebirths as karma for all of the time they wasted. The demigods, shown attacking the gods, are striving to obtain what the gods have. This realm serves as a reminder to not grow complacent or remain ignorant of the suffering of others, and instead work toward changing the world for the better.

Despite the difficulties and imperfections of being human, Buddhists believe it is the most auspicious birth, as well as one of the rarest, because humans have the time and intelligence to seek enlightenment. Human life is not the pleasure trap of godhood, the daily struggle of animal life, or the tortured existence of the hell and hungry ghost realms. Humans have the capacity for change and are uniquely situated to transform their situations. This depiction of the human realm is a beautifully idealized and culturally specific portrait of a community in the Himalayan world, as well as a representation the human world writ large.

One of the simplest yet most compelling ideas the Wheel of Life offers to present-day challenges like global climate change is the concept of rebirth. In this life, we still have the power to make good choices and influence the outcome of this life and the next. It’s a fundamental fact of the universe that we exist within an overlapping, global web of infinite causes and conditions. The Wheel of Life illustrates this interdependence and serves as a wake up call to act with this truth in mind.