135 
1892.] L. A. Waddell —Buddhist Pictorial Wheel of Life . 
which lie had plucked while teaching his disciples in a rice-field. And 
Nagarjuna, the Fourteenth Patriarch who lived about the 2nd century, 
A. D. and the reputed founder of the Mahayana School, is credited with 
having introduced the pictorial and graphic details of what is called the 
‘ old ’ style. 
The ‘ new ’ style differs from the old only in the addition of a 
. , . figure of Buddha and Avalokita to the outside, 
The 4 new ? style. 7 . o 
and the introduction or a thub-pa or mum- iorm 
of Avalokita into each of the six worlds of re-birth ; and in one or two 
different pictorial symbols for the causes of re-birth, as will be detailed 
presently. Its origin is evidently later than the epoch of Nagarjuna. 
Buddha, it is reported, personally directed its preparation at the re¬ 
quest of the indigent king yZugs-clien-snying-po (Skt. Rupavatisdra) of 
* the middle country,’ as a return gift to the heretic ( mutek-pa ) king 
Utrayana* of the •mThah-khob sgra-sgrogs ( = the resounding barons) 
country. And this latter king by the mere inspection of the picture 
was converted to Buddhism. A copy of this famous picture fell into the 
hands of the great Tantric monk Phag-pa Thogs-med (Skt. A'rya Asahga ) 
about the Sixth Century A. D.; and later Atisa brought it to Tibet as 
aforesaid. Many of the pictorial details are Indian; but most of them 
are cast in Tibetan mould, as is to be expected where the artists for 
several centuries have been Tibetans. 
The picture consists of a large disc with two concentric circles, 
the circular form symbolizing the ceaseless 
round of worldly existence—the 4 whirling on 
the wheel ’ of Life. The disc is held in the 
clutches of a monster whose head is seen overtopping the whole. This 
ferocious demon,f who grips the disc with his claws and teeth, typifies 
the passionate clinging of worldly people to worldly matters. In the 
centre of the disc are symbolized the three original sins, and round the 
margin is the twelve-linked chain of Causes of Re-birth. While the 
remainder of the disc is divided by radii into six compartments re¬ 
presenting the six regions of re-birth. This latter portion, together 
with the central part of the disc, are supposed to be in a state of per¬ 
petual rotation. In the upper part of the region representing hell is 
the Bar do or state intermediate between death and the great judgment. 
Outside the disc, in the upper right corner is a figure of Buddha 
pointing to the disc typified by a moon,! and in the left hand corner a 
* (?) King Udayana of Kaushambi. f Named ma-ta-ru-ta | 
% The figure in the moon’s disc is represented and regarded by the Tibetans as 
a hare. One of the Jataka storios connects this with Buddha’s incarnation as a 
hare. * 
General 
tion. 
deserip- 
