The Wheel of Life, or Bhavachakra, diagrams the Buddha's teaching on cyclic existence in a single round image. At the hub, a pig, rooster, and snake bite each other's tails for ignorance, greed, and hatred; around them, beings rise and fall through the six realms of gods, humans, animals, hungry ghosts, and hells.

The fierce figure gripping the wheel is Yama, lord of death, while the moon above shows liberation and the Buddha pointing toward it. Monks use this thangka to teach the twelve links of dependent origination, painted in order around the rim in mineral pigments.