The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (2494 page)

tantric
imagery remains subject to stringent restrictions (this has been likened to a ban on representing Mary in Catholicism), and it is outside Tibet that Tibetan religions currently flourish, with a particular growing appeal for Tibetan Buddhism in the West.

 
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(
Srid.pa’i.’khor.lo
). Pictorial representation of the cycle of
sa
s
ra
and the single most common example of Tibetan art, valued for its clear embodiment of much Buddhist teaching. The wheel itself is held by Shinje
(Skt.,
Y
ma
), Lord of Death, to whom all life is subject, and is made to turn by the
three poisons
at the centre—ignorance, desire, and hatred in the form of a pig, cockerel, and snake, usually shown chasing each other's tails. Clockwise on the outer rim are symbolized the twelve causes of existence of the pat
cca-samupp
da, and between the centre and the outer rim is the main body of the picture—the six realms of existence depicting all possibilities of birth: gods (
lha
), semi-gods (
lha.ma.yin
), animals (
byal.sang
), hell (
dmyal.ba
), hungry ghosts (
yi.dvags
), and humans (
mi
). These are to be understood as psychological as much as physical states. For the additional representations in Buddhism, see
BHAVACAKRA
.

 
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T’ien
.

Chinese supreme source of power and order, usually translated as Heaven. Initially associated with
Shang-ti
(see
HEAVEN AND EARTH, SACRIFICES TO
), T’ien achieved independent importance during the Chou dynasty. T’ien was early associated with a moral life. To live according to the way of Heaven (and for an emperor according to
T’ien-ming
, the Mandate of Heaven) becomes a summary of the goal of the appropriate life, however defined. The arrival of Buddhism led to T’ien being divided into different realms (along Buddhist lines), and led also to T’ien becoming the impersonal power of nature which brings things into appearance. This was congenial to Taoists, who could relate T’ien to
Tao
. It follows that T’ien bears many different meanings: it is a place where gods, spirits, and immortal beings live; it is a supreme order, or a personal Lord, governing the cosmos in all its manifestations; or it is the unity of that cosmos as a single system.

 
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see
T’UNG CHUNG-SHU
.

 
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