David Nichtern is a senior teacher in the Shambhala Buddhist lineage of Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche and Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche. He previously served as co-director of both the Shambhala Meditation Center of Los Angeles and the Karme Choling Meditation Center. He also is a well-known composer and music producer.
In this helpful work, Nichtern clarifies the meaning and purpose of the ancient Buddhist allegory of life which has been painted on the entryways to Buddhist monasteries around the world. According to tradition, the Buddha directed the creation of the original Wheel of Life painting and bequeathed it to an Indian king who contemplated the image and was enlightened.
Nichtern circles around the idea of karma and then zeroes in on the six realms of existence: god, jealous god, human, animal, hungry ghost, and hell. He sees these realms as "six different styles of interacting with the world" and as "a set of moods, avenues and emotional landscapes." There is a transformational quality in the six realms which enables us to practice while in them and perhaps even to wake up.
