Painting, religious; canvas, various colors of paint; used for contemplation, or religious meditation. Height: 65 cm, Width/breadth: 48 cm
Donor:
Mr. and Mrs. Thomas J. Ready, Jr. Fund
Collection place:
Tibet
Culture or time period:
Tibetan
Materials:
Paint (coating) and Textile
Object type:
ethnography
Object class:
Paintings (visual works)
Function:
5.1 Religion and Divination: Objects and garb associated with practices reflecting submission, devotion, obedience, and service to supernatural agencies
Accession date:
November 11, 1970
Department:
Asia (except western Russia)
Dimensions:
width 48 centimeters and height 65 centimeters
Comment:
The Wheel of Life is also called the “actions and their fruits”; in the center are the three urges to action: 1) the hog - ignorance and stupidity; 2) the cock - passion and desire; 3) the snake - hatred; By obeying or overcoming these drives, one descends or ascends (reading counterclockwise from top right) to the world of the gods, the world of men, the world of animals, the world of tortured spirits, and of those in hell. The wheel is held in the claws and fangs of Sin-rjo, the Tibetan god of death, whom even the gods must obey