dug sum - three poisons

In the middle of the Wheel of Life are three animals, a cock, a snake, and a pig. These represent the three poisons, or dug gsum. dug is poison, gsum is three.

We have met the three poisons before, see zhe sdang, gti mug, and 'dod chags. This term is very, very common in commentaries, so it's good to know what the three are.

As for how the animals are connected to each one, here's one presentation: snakes have poison, where hatred is like poison, cocks are just used in a farm as a pretty animal, nothing else, so they represent desire. Pigs are fed by the farmers, and little do they know that they will end up as food on the table, so that's why they represent ignorance.

Sometimes the three animals bite each other, representing the connection between these three poisons. Sometimes, the snake and cock comes out from the mouth of the pig, representing that ignorance is the root of the other two.