What is the real meaning of the Buddhist religious symbol known as the Swastika?
The swastika symbol can be found in archaeological sites all over the world including ancient Europe, Asia, America (among the indigenous Indians), and so on. These relics show that the swastika has a long history. In modern times, the swastika is most famous as the corporate logo for the Nazi party of Hitler's Germany. Before that, it had an exalted Indian history and played a role in many religions, not least of which was Buddhism and esoteric Hinduism.
The origin of the swastika is unknown -- representing the sun or a wheel even to the most ancient of cultures. But it is a famous and revered mark on the Buddha's body.
Generally, the swastika is a symbol meaning "good fortune." Most people seem to have forgotten that. The origin of swastika may be otherworldly. As a mark on the Buddha's body, it represents the Buddha's level and status in heaven. A Tathagata ("Perfected One") is represented with one swastika on the body, usually the chest. Other Buddhas imagined to be greater have more. Arhats and Bodhisattvas do not have any.
Pre-Buddhist symbol
Swastikas (facing in either direction) have been found in ancient Greece. While it is a Buddhist religious symbol, and Buddhism reached ancient Greece, not all swastikas are Buddhist. Ancient Vedic cultures (extending through modern day Pakistan, Afghanistan, and all the way through the ancient Greek world, came in contact with the West before then.
It is believed by some that in earlier times, before the Big Flood, people in Europe believed in the Buddha. And during the Big Flood, some ancient Greek people who lived to the south-west of Himalayas survived. They are the current light-skin Indians (Arya) called Brahmins, who seem to be descended from Persians and other pre-Indus Valley civilization conquerors. Originally, Brahmanism experienced many converts to the Buddha's teachings, which were inherited by the ancient Greeks.
They also inherited the sculpture methods. Therefore, many ancient Indian Buddha statues are distinctly Western (such as the Gandharan period pieces in many Western museums) in appearance. These sculptural techniques, along with various swastikas, spread from India to China with Buddhism. Thus, some Asian Buddha statues have deep eyes and straight noses (along with blue eyes, togas, jawlines, other facial features, and the physiques of Greek gods).
One of the main Buddha statues in Yun-gang Grotto, Shan-xi Province in China has an obviously Western face.
Shakyamuni Buddha began his dispensation about 500 B.C.E. Buddhism, in a narrow sense, only refers to the specific religion that grew up around this historical Buddha's teachings. But the Buddhism that spread to China in the 1st century to become one of the world's major religions and the dominant faith of most Chinese people was an amalgamation of Hinduism and Buddhism called Mahayana, a philosophical refinement of Shakyamuni's conventional teachings.
In a broader sense, Buddhism is not limited to referring only to Shakyamuni and his teachings. For example, Tibetan Tantra also believes in a Buddha but not Shakyamuni. In China, people regard Tibetan Tantra as a part of Buddhism. But Tantra (being a Hindu invention) was not created by Shakyamuni, and in some divisions of Tantra the followers did not know Shakyamuni at all.
Even within Chinese Buddhism, there are several Tathagatas and Bodhisattvas being worshiped. ("Tathagata" is the title of a Buddha like a job title). Shakyamuni is believed to have said that Tathagatas in the universe are as plentiful as the grains of sand in the Ganges river. Therefore, "Buddha" is a general word referring to a type of divine being in heaven. They assume an outward appearance blue hair [blue represents black in Hindu art] with curls, wrapped with long yellow cloth, with a swastika mark on the body.
The Nazi symbol
Hitler stole the swastika and used it for his own ends. Not only this ancient "Aryan" symbols, but the very mythology of Aryans comes from Buddhist teachings on the "noble" origins of Indian culture as having originated in the pre-Indus Valley civilization from the north (Persian, Iraqi, Middle Eastern, or otherworldly, it is not know. Not only this symbol and story but other esoteric ideas stemming largely from Theosophical teachings introduced to Western Europe by Madame Blavatsky were appropriated by Hitler and his advisers, who were very interested in astrology, mythology, and the occult. It has a much longer human history than the Nazi symbol. In Buddhism, the swastika is generally level and not painted black, whereas the Nazi symbol is tilted pointing upwards and is almost always black with a distinctive red and white background.
