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Upon arriving in Taiwan, I was in awe of the beauty of Buddhist temples, pagodas, and the statues of their Gods. I have dozens of questions about the symbolism of these places of worship that nobody seems to know how to answer. Did you know that Buddhist temples are covered in Swastikas? Swastikas are taboo in America because of the stigma connected to Nazi Germany. My question to you this week:
What do left-facing versus right-facing swastikas symbolize in the Buddhist religion? What is the origin of this world-known symbol?
The big, gold, jolly buddha of Taichung, Taiwan. Check out his back..
1 comment:
ha. first to comment! sweet! dan left to go to a pearl jam concert with some co-workers and since we couldn't find a sitter last minute, i opted to stay with the boy. so, i'm bored waiting for him to come home and had run reading about this stuff. does looking it up count as legit? heaven knows i wouldn't know the answer to this stuff.
the sign has been around for centuries...dating back to the times of the slavs, celts, greeks. it was a symbol signifying good luck, having well-being. it wasn't until hitler turned the symbol around to make it people hate it. in the buddhism faith, the symbol is a representation of "eternity." (probably why they have it on the temples.) very cool info.
When facing left, it is the omote (front) manji, representing love and mercy. Facing right, it represents strength and intelligence, and is called the ura (rear) manji.
fun facts! thanks for sharing. d is home. i'm off to bed......
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