Samsara: the wheel of birth and death in the traditions

What does the word samsara mean?

The word "samsara" comes from the Sanskrit saṃsāra, built on the root sṛ, "to flow". Literally it means "flowing on together", an endless stream, a wandering in circles. In the Indian traditions it names the wheel of birth, death and rebirth that a soul or a stream of consciousness travels until it reaches liberation. People also speak of "the wheel of samsara", and in everyday speech the word sometimes simply means worldly life with all its cares.

What turns samsara is karma. As long as a person acts out of greed, anger and ignorance, those actions sow new seeds, and the seeds lead to a new birth. The traditions say samsara has no beginning that can be found: the Buddha called it a round whose start cannot be seen. But it does have an exit, and every great Indian spiritual school grew out of the search for it.

It matters that in the traditions samsara is not a place. It is a state: consciousness spinning between desire and fear, repeating life after life and even day after day. That is why teachers say you can notice samsara right now, in a mind that keeps running from one wish to the next.

Where does the idea of samsara come from?

The earliest Vedic hymns have no wheel of rebirth yet. The idea appears clearly in the Upanishads, around the eighth to sixth centuries BCE. The Chandogya Upanishad (5.10) says that people whose conduct has been pleasant will quickly enter a pleasant womb, and those whose conduct has been foul will enter a foul one. Here, for the first time, three things are clearly linked: deeds, a new birth and the idea of a cycle.

The Katha Upanishad tells of a young man, Nachiketa, who goes to Yama, the god of death, and asks what happens after we die. Yama first offers him wealth, power and long life if only he will stop asking. Nachiketa refuses, and Yama reveals that the true Self (ātman) is neither born nor dies, and whoever knows it leaves the round of death.

Three great traditions grew from this root, and each understands samsara differently:

• Hinduism. The eternal soul (ātman) changes bodies the way a person changes clothes (Bhagavad Gita 2.22) until it realises its oneness with Brahman. Liberation is called moksha.
• Buddhism. The Buddha did not teach an unchanging soul. What is reborn is not an "I" but a stream of causes and effects, like a flame passed from one candle to another. The way out is nirvana, literally "blowing out".
• Jainism. The soul (jīva) wanders through 8.4 million forms of life, weighed down by particles of karma, until strict asceticism wipes it clean.

Sikhism calls the cycle āvāgavan, "coming and going", and sees liberation through remembering God's name and through grace.

The wheel of life: what samsara looks like

The best-known image of samsara is the Tibetan bhavachakra, the wheel of life or of becoming. According to the monastic discipline texts (Vinaya), the Buddha himself asked for it to be painted at the gate of a monastery, so that everyone entering would grasp the heart of the teaching. The oldest surviving example is in Cave 17 at Ajanta in India, and in Tibet the wheel is still painted at the entrance of every temple.

The wheel is read from the centre outwards. Each layer is a lesson of its own:

The six realms of samsara

Tibetan Buddhism describes six realms in which consciousness can be born, each linked by the tradition to one dominant emotion. Teachers add that these realms can be recognised within a single day of a human life: sometimes we live in the realm of the gods, sometimes in that of the hungry ghosts.

In the Tibetan tradition the popular mantra Om mani padme hum is linked to these six realms: each of its six syllables, it is believed, closes the way to one of them. That is why it is recited on behalf of all living beings, so that they may escape the wheel.

How samsara turns: the twelve links

Buddhism explains why the wheel never stops through the twelve links of dependent origination (pratītyasamutpāda). Each link arises because of the one before it, and the last sets the first going again. Teachers often condense them into five steps:

What mystics and teachers taught about samsara

Can you escape samsara?

Every tradition answers yes, and there is a path. What differs is what the path is called and where it leads.

• Hinduism offers four paths of yoga: jnana (knowledge), bhakti (devotion to God), karma (selfless action) and raja (meditation). All lead to moksha, when the soul realises its true nature.
• Buddhism offers the Noble Eightfold Path: right view, intention, speech, action, livelihood, effort, mindfulness and concentration. It leads to nirvana, when the three poisons are extinguished.
• Jainism teaches the three jewels – right faith, right knowledge and right conduct – together with strict non-violence.

The ocean of samsara and the other shore

The traditions often picture samsara not only as a wheel but as water. Sanskrit speaks of bhavasāgara, "the ocean of becoming": restless, bottomless and without a visible shore, its waves being births and deaths. Hindu hymns call God the one who carries us across this ocean, and the Jain teachers are called tīrthaṅkara, "ford-makers": they found the place where the river can be crossed.

In Buddhism the image is even stronger. The perfections a bodhisattva cultivates are called pāramitā, literally "gone to the other shore". The best-known Buddhist mantra, which closes the Heart Sutra, runs gate gate pāragate pārasaṃgate bodhi svāhā: "gone, gone, gone beyond, gone completely beyond, awakening". It is the mantra of crossing samsara.

The Buddha himself compared his teaching to a raft (MN 22). A man separated from a safe shore by dangerous water binds a raft out of branches and crosses. But once across, he does not carry the raft on his head; he leaves it on the bank. In the same way the teaching is a means of crossing samsara, not one more thing to cling to.

Signs that a person is waking from samsara

The traditions have precise words for the moment when a person first sees the wheel and wants to leave it. Teachers describe these as natural stages of the path, not as an illness or a crisis.

• Samvega (saṃvega). A spiritual shock: suddenly seeing how fast life runs and how emptily it can pass. Tradition says the young prince Siddhartha first felt it when he saw an old man, a sick man and a corpse.
• Nibbida (nibbidā). A quiet disenchantment with what once attracted you: not hatred of the world, but the understanding that it cannot give lasting satisfaction.
• Renunciation (nekkhamma). The wish to let go of what binds and to choose simplicity. For monks it means leaving home; for lay people, freedom from needless desires.
• Confidence in the path (saddhā). An inner sense that a way out of the wheel exists and that it can be walked.

Tibetan teachers say these signs are not sad. They resemble waking from a long dream: strange at first, but with a new lightness, because you no longer have to run in circles.

Samsara after death: the in-between state

Tibetan Buddhism pays close attention to the time between death and a new birth, called the bardo. According to the Tibetan Book of the Dead (Bardo Thödol), after death consciousness first meets the clear light. If it recognises it, it is liberated at once. If not, it travels through ever denser visions that arise from its own karma until a new womb draws it in.

Traditionally this passage lasts up to 49 days. That is why in Tibet and other Buddhist countries texts are read and rites performed for 49 days after a death, to help the deceased recognise the light and avoid birth in a lower realm.

How the traditions practise understanding samsara

In the traditions samsara is not just a theory about other lives. You are invited to notice it now. These are the practices teachers mention most often.

Reflecting on the four thoughts

Each morning, spend a few minutes reflecting on four thoughts in turn: that this life is rare and precious; that it will end, and no one knows when; that every action has consequences; and that running from one desire to the next does not bring happiness. Tibetan teachers say these thoughts turn the mind from the wheel towards the path.

Meditation and mindfulness

Sitting quietly and watching the breath, you soon see how thoughts go round in circles: a wish, a worry, a memory, a plan, and a wish again. The traditions call this the small samsara. Whoever notices it stands outside the wheel for the first time.