The 12 Interdependent causes and their effects

Beginning with ignorance, which is spiritual blindness, illustrated by an old and sightless man with a stick, unable to find his way.

The second picture shows a potter, his pots being symbolic of his own deeds (acting,speaking and thinking) with which he moulds his own karma, popularly called ~~ FATE.

The third picture depicts a tree and a monkey springing from branch to branch: this symbolises the major consciousness which in ignorant people springs uncontrolled from object to object. For this reason, by analysis leading to the understanding of inner and outer phenomena, Buddhist psychology aims at the full control of consciousness.

The fourth picture shows a boat with two people, symbolising name and form,spiritual and physical energy, inseparably floating on the stream of life.

The fifth picture is of a house with five windows and a door, symbolising the five senses and the faculty of thinking, those entrances (i.e.the sense organs) by which the outer world is perceived.

The sixth picture, a man and a woman embracing, demonstrates contact, the consequence of sensual perceptions.

The seventh picture is dedicated to the emotions by which one is stuck, as by an arrow in the eye.

The eighth picture, of a woman offering a drink to a man, illustrates desire, stimulated by perceptions and emotions and leading to the so-called thirst for life.

The ninth picture illustrates sensual entanglement: the longing to keep that which is desired, represented by a man plucking the fruits from a tree.

The tenth picture symbolises the procreation of a new life, here depicted by a beautiful bride.

The eleventh picture shows the consequence: procreation is followed by birth, a woman giving birth to a child, shown here in the natural crouching position.

The twelfth and the last picture shows old age and death, the inevitable end of all earthly existence, illustrated here by bearers with a bier, the corpse swathed and in the fetal posture ready for the next rebirth and further misery in one of the symbolic six worlds.