Wednesday, July 4, 2007

Wasai---the "Swastika"


In the West the swastika is associated with war and unimaginable inhumanity. Usually the only places we see it now are in history books or used by hate groups. The swastika is so closely associated with evil that the emotional revulsion many Westerners have when seeing it is
difficult to overcome.


So for Westerners, who are not familiar with Buddhism, seeing this "backwards swastika" comes as a shock. Even after we learn that the figure we see at Buddhist temples is a religious symbol that has been used for a thousand years it can still be hard to disassociate it from the negative feelings.


Submitted to Wasai Taiwan by: Peggie Scott (Hsinchu)















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