THE WHEEL OF LIFE, 269 



The six forms of re-birth — gro-bai rigs (Skt. Gaii) — are shown in 

 the inner circle. In the order of their superiority they are — 



1. The gods or Ihd (=Skt. Stira or Deva) — the highest form of 



existence. 



2. The Titans, literally '* ungodly spirits " or Iha-ma-yin ( = Skt. 



Asnra), 



3. Mankind or ml (Skt. Nara). 



4. The Beasts or du-cU (Skt. Tirjijah). 



5. The Tantalized ghosts — y'l-dag (Skt. Preta). 



6. The inhabitants of hell, mjal-wa (Skt. Naraka), the lowest of 



all. 



The first three forms of existence are classed as good and the last 

 three are bad; and all are under the immediate care of a Buddha, 

 who stands in the centre of each compartment, and is a foiTa of the 

 Bodhisatwa Ch(i-rd-si {AvaloJcita), who is incarnate in the Dalai Grand 

 Lama at Lhasa. 



The place of one's re-birth is determined solely by one's own 

 deeds — although the lamas now make faith and charms and ritual take 

 the place of the good works of the earlier Buddhists. If the virtues 

 are in excess of the sins, then the soul is re-born in one or other of 

 the first three forms : as a god if the virtue be of the first degree, as 

 an ungodly spirit if the virtue be of the second degree, and as a human 

 being if the virtue is of the lowest order. While those whose sins 

 preponderate are re-born in one or other of the last three forms, the 

 most wicked going to hell, and the least wicked to the beasts. 



The judgment is in every case meted out by the impartial 

 '■^ Shinje chho gyaV OY "Religious King of the Dead," a form of 

 Yama, the Hindu god of the dead, who holds a mirror in which the 

 naked soul is reflected, while his servant Shinje weigh out in scales 

 the good as opposed to the bad deeds ; the former being represented by 

 white pebbles, and the latter by black. — This incident usually occupies 

 the upper portion of the hell-compartment of the Sl-pa-i khor-lo picture. 



The details of these several regions are briefly as follow: — 



I. The Gods. — These are the gods of Indra's heaven of Hindu 

 mythology rendered finite. Their life is the longest of all beings; 

 but they, too, are within the operation of the law of continuous meta- 

 morphosis, and may be re-born in hell or in any other of the six 

 regions. Their abode is the Mt. Meru (Tib. Ri-rab) of the Hindus, 

 a mythical and invisible mountain-heaven^ in the centre of the 

 universe according to Hindu cosmogony. 



The picture of the region of the gods shows a three-storied 

 palace in the heavens of Indra, Desire occupying the lower, Brahma 

 the middle, and the indigenous Da-lha, the Tibetan war god, the 



' " heaved up." 



