Literally means 'wandering on' and is an endless cycle of death and rebirth
Buddha understood samsara through meditation
On the night of Englightment, Buddha remembered up to 91 kalpas back
In the centre is the 3 mental poisons, biting each others tail to show they feed off each other
Yama, the lord of death, spins the wheel and shows the inevitability of death
There are 6 realms for example the hell realm, hungry ghost realm, animal realm and the human realm.
Every realm has a bodhisattva in to help Buddhists gain enlightenment and the human realm is known as the 'most marvellous opportunity for spiritual development' (Harvey)
There are 12 niddanas (links) around the outside that are the cycle of existence and are a chain of cause and effect in which samsara is recreated. The 12 niddanas make up the paticca samupadda (dependent origination/arising)
Hinduism taught reincarnation- rejected by the Buddha due to anatta (no fixed self)
Happiness is futile in samsara as we don't understand why we suffer
The ultimate goal is to escape samsara and become enlightened
It is dependent on karma (affects rebirths) and the escape link is the 8th link between craving and suffering. Understanding craving causes suffering breaks the link = escape from samsara
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Karma
Actions in this life have consequences in this life or the next
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