Posted By:
JimBJoann,
I appreciate your sensitivity. Regardless of the svastika's ancient roots, it was also the primary symbol of the Nazis and therefore should be treated carefully.
As to the ancient Buddhist symbolism, Buddhism adopted the symbol more than 2000 years ago from a pre-Buddhist Indian myth/cult of the Chakravartin or Universal Monarch. The Chakravartin was a mythical benevolent king of the world who ethically ruled his kingdom and created a world of great peace and prosperity for his subjects. According to traditional life-stories of the Buddha, who was born a prince, it was prophesized that he would have one of two possible destinies: to be either a great king and rule over vast areas of land (like a Chakravartin), or become a great spiritual teacher, the greatest in fact, and essentially be a religious Chakravartin. Siddhartha Gautama (the Buddha) ultimately renounced his kingdom and went on a sprititual quest leading to his enlightenment experience and ultimate Buddhahood. But the symbolism of the Chakravartin remained with him.
In the Chakravartin cult, the svastika was the king's symbol. The crossed lines and four darting lines symbolized his unification of the universe and that fact that his kingdom spread in the four directions. In Buddhism, the symbolism morphed. On the one hand, the crossed lines symbolize the unity of perfect wisdom and perfect compassion embodied by a Buddha. The four "arms" symbolize The Four Noble Truths, the simplified centerpiece of the Buddha's teachings. The almost circular motion indicates the turning of the wheel of the dharma or the setting in motion of the Buddha's teachings. This traces itself back to the first recorded discourse of the Buddha to his first five disciples recorded in the Dharmachakra Sutra (The Discourse Which Turned the Wheel of the Teachings/Dharma).
This is more information than anybody probably wanted, but there it is. Disregard at will.
JimB