The Twelve Links of Dependent Origination. The 12 Nidanas. The Wheel of Life.

Prepared by James Low in November 2022

In the centre of the wheel of life is a circle coloured blue-black or white. Within it, chasing each other in a never-ending round of aroused activity, are a black pig, a multicoloured poisonous snake and a red multihued rooster. Surrounding the central circle, are the six segments each with a letter representing the six realms. These six realms are surrounded by an outer circle containing the symbols of the twelve links of dependent origination. Each is described in the attached text.

Read and download the text here.

English

German. Wheel of Life. Prepared by Robert Jaroslawski for Todtmoos 2024

Spanish translated by Isabel de Fez

Spanish translated by María Lleó Castells (for the Spanish Simplemente Ser WhatsApp group)

Contents

Dependent Arising	2
The Mahayana Sutra on Dependent Arising. Aryapratityasamutpadanama Mahayana Sutra	3
Twelve Nidanas	4
The Heart of Dependent Origination. (Nagarjuna)	9
The Commentary (Nagarjuna)	12

Dependent arising or dependent origination points to the fact that there are no self-caused or self-existing entities. All phenomena, all experiences, all the possible patterns of occurrence that can ever happen, arise from causes in an interconnectivity which has no beginning or end. At each moment, on the basis of this pattern of illusion that pattern of illusion arises. The brief compilation presented here can help us to understand the Four Noble Truths: suffering, the causes of suffering, the ending of suffering, and the path that leads to the ending of suffering. Suffering arises from causes, from afflictions and actions.