Six Teachers of Discipline & The Bon Wheel of Existence
The Six Teachers of Discipline (Dulwa Shen Drug) are the special forms of Tonpa Shenrab, founder of the Bon Religion (Outline Page), that lead beings out of the six realms of existence: God, Demi-god, Human, Animal, Ghost and Hell realm. Depictions of the Six Teachers are found as individual compositions created as a set of six paintings, or as murals on temple walls, or as accompanying figures in large paintings that depict the pantheon of the most important and commonly represented deities of the Bon Religion. Depictions of a Bon version of the Wheel of Life/Existence appears to be a recent borrowing from the Buddhist models of the six realm version. The earliest known painting of the Wheel of Life (Samsara Chakra) is found in the Ajanta Caves in India.