Legend has it that the Bhavacakra, also known as the Wheel of Life, was created by the Buddha himself. It depicts the journey of the human soul through the trappings of the Samsara (cyclic existence of life) until they are able to ascend to Nirvana. 

The Bhavacakra is painted on the outside walls of nearly every Tibetan Buddhist temple in Tibet and India, to instruct a non-monastic audience about the Buddhist teachings.

In our interpretation we have applied the teachings of Satoshi and shown how humans are trapped in the fiat samsara and how we may escape, evolve and ascend as a species through the adoption of a Bitcoin standard. 

Our Bitcoin Bahvacakra is hand drawn, laser cut then hand painted oak veneer with Cowrie Shell ornaments and Italian Smalti glass detailing. Within the Samsara Wheel there are 21 individual paintings that will be revealed in Part 2. This is a work in progress.

This work will be auctioned on Scarce.city on Friday 9th April 2021.

The Meanings of Elements

Starting with the obvious we’ll explain all of the elements, their meanings and our interpretations:

Yama

Yama The Lord of Death desperately grasps hold of the wheel of life.

Yama represents fear; fear that you do not have enough, fear that you are not as good as others, fear of the unknown if you don’t do what your oppressors tell you, fear to break outside of the fiat wheel of life.

Yama however is not a figure to be feared since it’s a reminder of impermanence.

Whilst the cyclic nature of life is impermanent, the only constant in life itself is fear created by Yama forcing the human to focus on ego.

Yama is the reminder that in order to ascend to Nirvana one should lose their ego thereby lose their fear.

Buddha / Satoshi

The word “Buddha” means “one who is awake to reality” or “enlightened”… the original Buddha did not claim to be a god or prophet but was actually born 2500 years ago into a royal family in a small kingdom on the Indian-Nepalese border… shocked into the reality of his protected and privileged life he sought to learn the meaning of human existence and gave everything up to follow the humble path as a seeker after the truth.

We have depicted Satoshi here as a humble person of the land… You will often see Buddha pointing the way across to Nirvana, the liberation from the cycles of rebirth. Similarly we have Satoshi pointing the way forward for those who are seeking to be free of the fiat samsara and wish to embrace the bitcoin standard.

The golden egg behind Satoshi is coloured using 24 karat gold powder to show respect to the birth of hard sound money. He also stands upon a cloud with a silver lining reminding us that there is always hope.

White Moon Rabbit / 3 Rabbits

On the opposing cloud you will often see a variety of symbols that represent Nirvana or the liberation from the 6 realms. Traditionally a white rabbit is often used in Buddhist recreations of the Bhavacakra.

The rabbit sits in front of a gold moon also on a cloud with a silver lining.

In bitcoin we think of the white rabbit as in Alice in Wonderland, however throughout history and in many cultures the white rabbit has made appearances:

• In the Buddhist Jataka tales, the rabbit is seen as Virtuous and Self Sacrificing

• On the first day of the month along with “pinch punch” some say “white rabbits white rabbits” to wish people good luck

• In some Shamanic practices a white rabbit signifies the start of a spiritual journey

• 3 Rabbits or Hares in a circle can be seen on many churches in Devon UK and relates to the Tin Miners but they can also be seen across the world from the far and middle east in ceramic carvings

Indeed the significance of Rabbits and Hares throughout history are a rabbit hole in themselves… it was therefore only apt that we include them throughout our piece.

The white rabbit, it seems, has always been a spiritual guide.

The 5 Poisons

Placed on the crown of Yama are the 5 Poisons, the skulls, it’s main weapon of fear, aka, Central Banking… we have selected 5 of the biggest;

The Euro, The Dollar, The Pound, The Yuan and the central bank of central banks, the Bank of International Settlements (BIS)

The Arms

The Arms are decorated with waves to represent continual change and impermanence.

The multiple rabbit holes to show the continuous learning curve of bitcoin, truth seeking and life.

The Legs

The Legs depict the transparency and inner workings of the blockchain, the classic hexagon pattern representing the interconnected nodes, and the cogs representing the clockwork heart beat of it’s industrial time-stamping mechanism.

The Rainbows

Throughout spirituality rainbows have a variety of meanings… here are some: Hope, Promise, Good Luck, New Beginnings, Transition, Equality, Communication and Peace.

The rainbow is also a symbol that represents the covenant between God and Noah or humanity after the flood which wiped out all the sinners.

So our interpretation here is the separation from the sins of the fiat world heading towards a bitcoin standard.

Rainbows are not always included in traditional Samsara’s and when they are there is usually just the one leading up to Nirvana in the top left. However since there is so much to rejoice about Satoshi, we simply had to connect him to our Fiat Samsara.

The Cowrie Shells

As a respectful nod back to the very first form of currency we included Cowrie Shells into the bases of the dark flames that fuel the fiat central banks.

The FAANGs

Facebook | Apple | Amazon | Netflix | Google

The simple comment here is the potential deadly bite that these organisations represent to humanity if they are left unchecked.

The repeated abuse of human rights, privacy, and manipulation of choice is well documented.

Gallery

Donkey approved work in progress.

Part 2

In the second half of this article we will take a tour around the centre of the Bhavachakra Wheel of Life. This is where Yonat has painted 21 individual paintings explaining our interpretation of the stages of human ascension from the Fiat Samsara to Bitcoin Nirvana.

I hope you enjoy it as much as we did making it.

Yonat Vaks, Mosaic.Rocks & Chiefmonkey