miko <
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wrote in message http://members.tripod.com/rptd/winspector/index.html I remember the show was banned in France because of a character wearing SS badges on his uniform ... I do know the swastika is a Buddhist religious symbol (and which has been usurped by the Nazis) but does anybody have a rational explanation for that stuff (other than the Japanese being a bit weird ...) How 'bout that it also has a culture significance in Japanese culture, waayyy before Hitler's great, great, great, great, great, great, great-grandfather, never mind his party, was even born. The swastika(or Sun Disk) was first introduced to China thousands of years ago by India, who China then introduced it into other Asian countries including Japan. It originally represented the revolving sun, fire, or life. It is perhaps one of the most ancient symbols associated with the sun, and the swastika is looked upon as a Sun Disk religious symbol in Japan. Japan also being known around the world as the land of the Rising Sun with our most famous Goddess being Amaterasu-O-Mi-Kami the Sun Goddess(according to Shinto tradition and legend she created the world, Japan, and the first emperor of Japan, from whom all Japanese people are descended. The Japanese emperor is a divine descendant of Amaterasü)..... The most ancient Swastikas have been discovered in Susa in Persia, Mohenjodaro and Harappa in Pakistan and Sammarra in Mesopotamia. The Swastika as we all known did not originate as a Nazi symbol of hatred. SWASTIKA is derived from the Sanskrit word: SVASTIKAH, which means 'being fortunate' or 'conducive to well- being'. Hitler had a convenient/sneaky but spurious[false] reason for choosing the Hakenkreuz or hooked cross. It had been used by the Aryan nomads of India in the Second Millennium B.C. In Nazi theory, the Aryans were the Germans ancestors, and Hitler concluded that the swastika had been eternally anti-Semitic. The swastika is an ancient symbol of good luck, prosperity, and long life, used in ancient cultures such as India, Japan, and China, where it is the central symbol of the FALUN(which means LAW of Wheel). Many Buddhist texts begin and end with the symbol, as an auspicious tool signifying the value of the writing. In Chinese and Japanese Buddhism the symbol itself also represents the number 10,000 and in a more symbolic sense, that number stands for timelessness or eternal existence. For this reason, depictions of the Buddha in these cultures often show him with a swastika on his chest. Perhaps because of this, some tales of the Buddha suggest that he was actually born with the symbol on his chest. The English and German word SWASTIKA is derived from the Sanskrit word: SVASTIKAH, which means 'being fortunate'. The first part of the word, SVASTI-, can be divided into two parts: SU- 'good; well', and -ASTI- 'is'. The -ASTIKAH part just means 'being'. The word is associated with auspicious things in India - - because it means 'auspicious'. There are many other historically documented uses of the swastika as a totem, a decoration, or a good luck charm in ancient civilizations including the Mesopotamians, Hindu, Native Americans (both North and South) and Scandinavians. As I mentioned above, the Sanskrit words which comprise the term swastika are su or sv, meaning good or well and asti, meaning being or state . Thus, swastika, the term means a state of well being, or letting good things occur. It bears the name of Swastika when the limbs are bent towards the right, and Suavastika when they are turned to the left. In India, both clockwise and counterclockwise swastikas were used, with different meanings. Since the swastika is a simple symbol, it has been used, perhaps independently, by many human societies. One of the oldest known swastikas was painted on a paleolithic cave at least 10,000 years ago. About 2000 years ago, when Buddhism was brought to China from India, the Chinese also borrowed the swastika and its sense of auspiciousness. In China, the swastika is considered to be a Chinese character with the reading of WAN (in Mandarin). It is also thought to be equivalent to another Chinese character with the same pronunciation, which means 'ten thousand; a large number; all'. As mentioned the swastika symbol has been used for thousands of years among practically every group of humans on the planet. It was known to Germanic tribes as the Cross of Thor , and it is interesting that the Nazis did not use that term, which is consistent with German history, but instead preferred to steal the Indian term swastika . As the Cross of Thor , the symbol was even brought to England by Scandinavian settlers in Lincolnshire and Yorkshire, long before Hitler. Even more interesting, the sign has been found on Jewish temples from 2000 years ago in Palestine, so Hitler was (inadvertently?) stealing a Jewish symbol as well as an Indian one. The most ancient Swastikas have been discovered in Susa in Persia, Mohenjodaro and Harappa in Pakistan and Sammarra in Mesopotamia. It has been seen on terracotta articles as well as ancient vases of Greece, Cyprus, Crete and Rhodes. On an Athenian vase it appears thrice. On a vase now at Vienna it is depicted as an ornament on the breast of Apollo. It was a favourite symbol on the coins of ancient Greece and India. It is considered to be a representation of the sun and is associated with the worship of Aryan sun gods. I find it ironic that a symbol known for its good & non evilness for centuries, used by thousands of different people and cultures, a symbol used at one time or another by American Indians, Hindus, Buddhists, Vikings, Greeks, Romans, Asians, Celts, Anglo-Saxons, Mayans, Aztecs, Persians, Christians, and neolithic tribes, appearing in early Christian and Byzantium art where it was known as the gammadion cross, and it is still a sacred symbol to many Hindus & Buddhists all over the world, has come to be known and remember only by the evil and hatred done by one man and his followers. Centuries of history and identity of a symbol used by millions around the world, erased by the evil acts done by a mad man in not even a decades time. When the Nazis took the ancient symbol, they erased the good meaning of the swastika, the symbol of purity and of life. The racist people of today further degrade the meaning of the ancient symbol by spray painting the swastika on people houses, cars, and even schools. The swastika existed as a symbol of good fortune thousands of years before the Nazis even existed. The symbol is to many cultures an important one, representing their history and beliefs. The Nazis, by taking the swastika, annihilated the significance of the ancient symbol. Today, the swastika is to most people a symbol of evil, a symbol of demise, and a symbol of ruination. It is extremely depressing to find that although the swastika is a symbol of life, and symbol of joy, it has been made a symbol of evil, something the people of the ancient world and of today never intended it to be.
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