At the International Buddhist Temple in Richmond, there’s a small sign next to a traditional s
At the International Buddhist Temple in Richmond, there’s a small sign next to a traditional sculpture of the reclining Buddha in Mahasamadhi, explaining the swastika on the Buddha’s chest:Up until the 20th Century, the swastika signified good fortune, prosperity and longevity in many Far East countries. The word, swastika, comes from the Sanskrit word, svasti, which means good fortune, luck and well-being. In Buddhism, the swastika is a symbol of turning the “Dharma wheel” and thereby promotes goodwill, compassion and generosity to all sentient beings.Regrettably, Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist German Workers Party borrowed the emblem in the early 1900’s, flipped it and used it as a symbol of their own during World War II. The main difference between the Nazi swastika and the ancient swastika used in Buddhism and many other Eastern civilizations is that the Nazi swastika is on a slant and has right angles bent in a clockwise direction. The ancient swastika, however, is rested flat and is counterclockwise.The Nazi swastika is a good example of cultural appropriation of an Asian religious symbol by a Western colonizer culture. It also underscores why some people are sensitive about such appropriation.Both Asians and Native Americans used swastikas before the Nazis, so one could make a case that Buddhists and Navajos have every right to go on displaying swastikas the same as ever before; but there is such a thing as “not being an insensitive asshole”. Swastikas have become a painful symbol for millions of Jews, Roma, and countless others who suffered the horrors of the Nazis. The symbol can never be fully recovered. If it’s used at all, it’s with great care – as with the sign above – to explain its history and distinguish its original meaning from its defiled appropriation. -- source link
#buddhism#swastika#cultural appropriation