emblems that the lāmas have preserved for us. And by its means I have been able to restore the fragment of a cycle in the verandah of Ajaṇṭā Cave No. XVII, hitherto uninterpreted, and merely known as “the Zodiac”. This picture portrays in symbolic and concrete form the three original sins and the recognized causes of rebirth (Nidānas), so as to ensure their being vividly perceived and avoided; while the evils of existence in its various forms and the tortures of the damned are intended to intimidate evil-doers.’ In it, the three original sins are depicted as a pig, a cock, and a snake, and their esoteric significance is given by Dr. Waddell thus: ‘The pig symbolizes the ignorance of stupidity; the cock, animal desire or lust; and the snake, anger.’[1] In the accompanying symbolic illustrations of the Twelve Nidānas, only the third is an animal symbol, the others being human and figurative symbols; and this is a monkey eating fruit, symbolizing entire knowledge (Tib. nam-she; Skt. Vijñāna) of good and evil fruits, through tasting every fruit or sensuous experience in the manner of a roving non-philosophically guided libertine, thus engendering consciousness.[2]
Accordingly, the animal forms and environments named in the Second Book of the Bardo Thödol (see pp. 178–9, 185) as possible forms and environments to be entered by the human consciousness-principle upon rebirth in this world may be interpreted as follows:
(1) The dog-form (like that of the cock in ‘The Wheel of Life’) symbolizes excessive sexuality or sensuality.[3] It also symbolizes, in popular Tibetan lore, jealousy. And the dog-kennel environment symbolizes abiding in, or living in, a state of sensuality.
(2) The pig symbolizes (as in ‘The Wheel of Life’) the ignorance of stupidity dominated by lust; and selfishness
