Three Wheels, One Universe: Cosmic Charts in Himalayan Art
This mid-19th-century work from the Rubin Museum collection, titled "Cosmic Calculations Chart: The Three Realms of the Universe and the Gods of Heaven, Earth, and Man," survives in partial form, showing three wheel symbols alongside the central wind horse emblem. Within the inscription appears བདག་ཅག་འཁོར་དང་བཅས་པ་ལ། མི་མཐུན་པ་ཡི་ཕྱོགས་རྣམས་ནི། བསྐལ་པ་མེ་ཡིས་སྲེག་པ་ལྟར། ཐམས་ཅད་དེ་ཡི་མོད་ལ་འབྱོར། འདོད་དོན་ཟླ་བ་རྒྱས་བཞིན་འཕེལ།, its English rendering stating: "The troubles near me are not in harmony Disasters seem to burn out everything is auspicious wishes like a full moon." The chart also includes a section discussing disaster-appeasement methods used in Han territory, marked by the title རྒྱ་ནག་པོའི་སྐག་ཟློག་ཅེས་བྱ་བ་བཞུགས་སོ། In the Himalayan region, calendrical computation as practiced draws heavily upon numerous concepts originating from Han Chinese systems.
There is a saying: 'Guanyin resides in the Tibetan land while Wenshu resides in the Han land of Mount Wutai.' In Tibetan calendrical practices, Wenshu Bodhisattva is regarded as a primary wisdom deity. Numerous scriptural accounts describe Wenshu teaching calendar calculations in the Han Chinese region. Locally, the venerable Bodhisattva Manjusri and master Gongzicujujie are linked to calendar calculations.
Traditional Tibetan beliefs hold that Gongzi Chuje (ཀོར་རྩེ་འཕྲུལ་རྒྱལ་) was born on the western side of Mount Kailash, was an expert in Tibetan astrology, and is the source of the custom of honoring elders and scholars. In Chinese history, certain Buddhist scholars regard him as a follower of Manjushri, the bodhisattva of wisdom, with figures such as Emperor Tang Taizong or Confucius cited as examples. While surrounded by nature and gazing upward at the stars, people look for their own unique link to this blue planet.
Time weaves together the inner and outer cosmos, and human beings are tasked with facing the seemingly intricate yet fundamentally unified nature of reality. In this framework, Tibetan astrology regards the relationship between celestial bodies and the human body as embodying a similar wisdom structure. Though Tibetan astrology draws from varied theoretical backgrounds, its main branches are broadly classified as elemental astrology (འབྱུང་རྩིས་) and astrological horoscopy (སྐར་རྩིས་).
The concept of “body” here, it should be noted, encompasses not just the physical form but also an individual’s prosperity and fortune. Meanwhile, the former stresses the unity of body and universe in their elemental makeup, whereas the latter stresses their unity in the dimensions of time and space.
In classical times, divination was viewed as a kind of "healing art," partly because ancient Tibetan scholars' traditional classification linked its outcomes to fate (སྲོག་), body (ལུས་), fate's power (དབང་ཐང་) — covering wealth, harvest, descendants' blessings, and other things extending from oneself — and fortune (ཀླུང་རྟ་/རླུང་རྟ་), which is frequently misrendered as "wind horse" in visual form.
To obtain blessings derived from the wisdom of ancient computations, people decide to render both the seen and unseen cosmos on canvas. Whether we behold it, reveal it to others, or keep it in our possession, the unstable future is granted appropriate direction, and all that unfolds is likewise revealed in its authentic condition. "Prediction" has never been regarded as certain, and that voice is laden with caution.
From the images, a kind of natural law declaration repeatedly reaches the viewers’ ears: you may choose to ignore it, but you remain within the three wheels. The various historical calculation charts stored in the Rubin Museum fully reveal the three wheels of the universe, and this is what Sangye Gyatso Tenzin (1912–1978), a prominent figure in 20th-century Ben religion, once acknowledged: “There is nothing beyond the three wheels.”
In the Rubin Museum of Art, a piece from the late 19th century bears the titles “Calendrical Chart: Cosmic Cycles and Various Deities of Heaven, Earth, and Humanity” and “Chart of History: The Three Realms of the Universe and the Various Gods of Heaven, Earth, and Humanity.” Its detail reveals the power of destiny flourishing in agricultural and business sectors.
Within the Rubin Museum Collection, a late 19th-century work titled "Diagram of Destiny: The Celestial Triad and Various Deities of Heaven, Earth, and Humanity" depicts the so-called "three wheels of the universe": the "wheel of the sky god," the "wheel of the airborne spirits," and the "wheel of the earth turtle." These wheels extend from the sky through the air down to the earth, and though people dwell within them, they remain unaware of the protection these wheels provide—a detail that highlights the flourishing of power and authority in pastoral endeavors.
Within the framework of the law, the three wheels—comprising gods of diverse origins, spirits of our world, and the many earth deities encircling the golden turtle—cause subtle transformations in people's physical and mental states. Moreover, it is important to note that 'Nian' in 'Air Nien Wheel' can refer not only to a specific supernatural creature, but often embodies the role of creators and maintainers of the earthly power hierarchy and the ethics by which we live.
We often misperceive the spiritual beings that roam between earth and sky as enemies, without realizing that they have always followed rules and reconciled different fundamental forces. In this purely local belief system, the well-known mountain god Nianqing Tanggula occupies the center of the local cosmology. Similarly, the term 'Nian' can apply to all such wandering spirits. Violating them brings terrible consequences, and all of this remains discernible in the calculations.
Beyond conveying the significance of Tibetan astrology, the 'Cosmic Triad' possesses a unique arrangement that provides an interesting visual interpretation of the tradition's developmental history. This arrangement belongs to a Buddhist-style indigenous cosmology, which some scholars associate with the 'Mount Meru Universe' or the 'Three Realms'.
The "Cosmic Triad" stands for South Asian astrology, indigenous astrology, and East Asian astrology, using the deities of South Asia, the spirits of the indigenous people, and the golden turtle of East Asia to represent their mathematical concepts. In certain astrological imagery, this triad appears as a palace shaped like a mountain, with each of its three levels possessing a distinct character.
Following its formal introduction into Tibet in the eleventh century, the Wheel of Time calendar gradually became the core of Tibetan calendrical calculations. In the "Three Wheels of the Universe," the image of "Ten Paramitas" (རྣམ་བཅུ་དབང་ལྡན་) marks the boundary between the sky and the earth, embodying the body, speech, and mind of the Wheel of Time Vajra. So immense is the power of this "Three Wheels of the Universe" that people must resort to complex calculations and strategies.
Within the human realm's narrow confines, a horse—an emblem of harmony and good fortune, and a quintessential example of conceptual imagery in Tibetan culture—can still be witnessed. Through its revolving motions, our reputation (སྙན་གྲགས་), power (མཐུ་སྟོབས་), skills (དཔའ་རྩལ་), and influence (ཟིལ་གནོན་) receive everlasting blessings. Mid-18th-century artwork "Oracular Diagram: The Earth Wheel and Wind Horses," sourced from "Tibetan Art at Spink," features a detail of wind horses as a symbolic image of fortune, shown in three joyful laps: upward, middle, and downward.