Wheel of Life: Interaction with Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche

Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche explains the Wheel of Life to a small audience, starting from the idea that the Buddhist question is “what is life?” rather than its purpose. He uses a hand that seems unchanging but ages as an example of ignorance, then reads the pig, rooster and snake as ignorance, desire and anger. He describes the six realms as states we pass through in a single day, outlines the twelve nidanas with a dream of spiders, and presents samsara as a continuum of habit. For getting out of habit he recommends contemplation, and describes renunciation as a standing sense of urgency.

From about 36 minutes he answers questions on science and Buddhism, how Buddhism defines good and bad, appreciating what we have through impermanence, success and fulfilment, why the wheel uses geometric forms, and whether a perfect world is depicted.