Cross in Buddhism. Swastika in Buddhism - getting to know the original meaning of this symbol

It so happened that we arrived in the small, relatively secluded town of Rewalsar in the Himalayas quite late, so late that the small, sleepy and lazy provincial hotels had a hard time bothering with our check-in. The hotel owners shrugged their shoulders, shook their heads and waved their hands somewhere towards the night and slammed the doors in our faces. But we were willingly, although not free of charge, accepted to live in a guest house on the territory of a Tibetan Buddhist monastery on the shore of the lake.

As is often the case in Tibetan places, our meeting and accommodation were handled by a Hindu, since it is not appropriate for Tibetan monks to deal with monetary and worldly matters. In addition, the monastery had been immersed in the darkness of night for several hours, and the monks needed to get enough sleep so that tomorrow early in the morning they would have to go to meditation with a cheerful and pious face. The Indian who gave us the keys to the hotel room told us about this and other sorrows of the world, and in order to somehow console himself, he insistently recommended that we attend this event at seven in the morning.

The main topics are below: buses and trains, air tickets and visas, health and hygiene, safety, choosing a route, hotels, food, required budget. The relevance of this text is spring 2017.

Hotels

“Where will I live there?” - for some reason this question is very, simply terribly annoying for those who have not yet traveled to India. There is no such problem. There are a dime a dozen hotels there. The main thing is to choose. Next we are talking about inexpensive, budget hotels.

In my experience, there are three main ways to find a hotel.

Spiral

Typically you will arrive in a new city by bus or train. So there is almost always a great mass of hotels around them. Therefore, it is enough to move a little away from the place of arrival and start walking in a circle with an ever-increasing radius in order to come across many hotels. Inscriptions "Hotel" throughout large parts of India, it indicates a place where you can eat, so the main landmarks are signs "Guest house" And "Lounge".

In areas of mass idleness (Goa, the resorts of Kerala, the Himalayas), the private sector is developed, well, like we have on the Black Sea coast. There you can inquire about housing from the local population and follow the signs " Rent"In Buddhist places you can live in monasteries, in Hindu places in ashrams.

The further you move from the bus or railway station, the lower the prices, but hotels are becoming less and less common. So you look at several hotels that are acceptable in price and quality and return to the chosen one.

If you are traveling in a group, then you can send one or two people lightly to find a hotel while the rest wait at the station with their things.

If the hotel refuses and says that the hotel is only for Indians, then insisting on check-in is practically useless.

Ask a taxi driver

For those who have a lot of luggage or are simply too lazy to look. Or you want to settle near a landmark, for example, the Taj Mahal, and not near the train station. Even in large cities there are places where tourists traditionally gather: in Delhi it is Main Bazaar, in Calcutta it is Sader Street, in Bombay it is also called something, but I forgot, that is, you have to go there in any case.

In this case, find an auto-rickshaw or taxi driver and set the task of where you want to live, in what conditions and for what approximately money. In this case, they can sometimes take you to the desired hotel for free, and even show you several places to choose from. It is clear that the price immediately increases; there is no point in haggling, since the taxi driver’s commission is already included in the price. But sometimes, when you are lazy or in the middle of the night, using this method can be very convenient.

Book online

This is for those who like certainty and guarantees, more comfort and less adventure.

Well, if you book in advance, then book hotels of higher quality and not too cheap (at least $30-40 per room), because otherwise there is no guarantee that in reality everything will be as wonderful as in the photographs. They also complained to me that sometimes they arrived at a booked hotel, and the rooms, despite the reservation, were already occupied. The hotel owners were not embarrassed, they said that a client came with money, and the client with cash did not have the willpower to refuse. The money was returned, of course, but it’s still a shame.

Finding, checking into and staying in budget Indian hotels can be an adventure in itself, a source of fun and sometimes not so fun memories. But there will be something to tell you at home later.

Settlement technology

• Free yourself from the presence of “Hindu assistants” and barkers, their presence automatically increases the cost of accommodation.
• Go to a hotel that seems worthy of you and ask how much it costs and decide whether it’s worth living there, at the same time you have time to evaluate the interior and helpfulness.
• Be sure to ask to see the room before checking in, show your dissatisfaction and indignation with all your appearance, ask to see another room, most likely it will be better. This can be done several times, achieving ever better placement conditions.

Those who are interested in the energy of Osho and Buddha, meditation and India, we invite you all on a journey to the places where the greatest mystic of the 20th century Osho was born, lived the first years of his life and gained enlightenment! In one trip we will combine the exoticism of India, meditation, and absorb the energy of Osho’s places!
The tour plan also includes visits to Varanasi, Bodhgaya and possibly Khajuraho (subject to availability of tickets)

Key travel destinations

Kuchvada

A small village in central India, where Osho was born and lived for the first seven years, surrounded and cared for by his loving grandparents. There is still a house in Kuchwad that remains exactly as it was during Osho’s lifetime. Also next to the house there is a pond, on the banks of which Osho loved to sit for hours and watch the endless movement of reeds in the wind, funny games and flights of herons over the surface of the water. You will be able to visit Osho's house, spend time on the banks of the pond, stroll through the village, and absorb that serene spirit of rural India, which undoubtedly had an initial influence on the formation of Osho.

In Kuchvad there is a fairly large and comfortable ashram under the patronage of sannyasins from Japan, where we will live and meditate.

A short video of the “emotional impression” of visiting Kuchvada and Osho’s house.

Gadarwara

At the age of 7, Osho and his grandmother moved to his parents in the small town of Gadarwara, where he spent his school years. By the way, the school class where Osho studied still exists, and there is even a desk where Osho sat. You can go into this class and sit at the desk where our beloved master spent so much time in his childhood. Unfortunately, getting into this class is a matter of chance and luck, depending on which teacher teaches in the class. But in any case, you can walk along the streets of Gadarvara, visit the primary and secondary schools, the house where Osho lived, Osho’s beloved river...

And most importantly, on the outskirts of the city there is a quiet, small and cozy ashram, where there is a place where, at the age of 14, Osho experienced a deep experience of death.

Video from Osho Ashram in Gadarwara

Jabalpur

In Jabalpur we will live in a quiet and cozy ashram with a magnificent park.

Varanasi

Varanasi is famous for its cremation pyres, which burn day and night. But it also has a surprisingly pleasant promenade, the famous Kashi Vishwanath Temple, and boat rides on the Ganges. Near Varanasi there is a small village called Sarnath, famous for the fact that Buddha gave his first sermon there, and the first listeners were ordinary deer.

bodhgaya

Buddha's Enlightenment Place. In the main temple of the city, which is surrounded by a beautiful and vast park, a tree still grows in the shade of which Buddha gained enlightenment.

In addition, in Bodhgaya there are many different Buddhist temples erected by followers of Buddha from many countries: China, Japan, Tibet, Vietnam, Thailand, Burma... Each temple has its own unique architecture, decoration, and ceremonies.

Khajuraho

Khajuraho itself is not directly connected with Osho, except that Osho often mentioned the tantric temples of Khajuraho, and his grandmother was directly related to Khajuraho.

Today, when many people hear the word “swastika,” they immediately think of Adolf Hitler, concentration camps, and the horrors of World War II. But, in fact, this symbol appeared before the new era and has a very rich history. It also became widespread in Slavic culture, where many of its modifications existed. A synonym for the word “swastika” was the concept “solar”, that is, solar. Were there any differences in the swastika of the Slavs and the Nazis? And, if so, what were they expressed in?

First, let's remember what a swastika looks like. This is a cross, each of the four ends of which bends at right angles. Moreover, all angles are directed in one direction: to the right or to the left. Looking at such a sign, one gets the feeling of its rotation. There are opinions that the main difference between the Slavic and fascist swastikas lies in the direction of this very rotation. For the Germans, this is right-hand traffic (clockwise), and for our ancestors it is left-hand traffic (counterclockwise). But this is not all that distinguishes the swastika of Aryans and Aryans.

External differences

Another important distinguishing feature is the constancy of color and shape of the Fuhrer’s army badge. The lines of their swastika are quite wide, absolutely straight, and black. The underlying background is a white circle on a red canvas.

What about the Slavic swastika? Firstly, as already mentioned, there are many swastika signs that differ in shape. The basis of each symbol, of course, is a cross with right angles at the ends. But the cross may not have four ends, but six or even eight. Additional elements may appear on its lines, including smooth, rounded lines.

Secondly, the color of the swastika signs. There is also diversity here, but not so pronounced. The predominant symbol is red on a white background. The red color was not chosen by chance. After all, he was the personification of the sun among the Slavs. But there are both blue and yellow colors on some of the signs. Thirdly, the direction of movement. It was said earlier that among the Slavs it is the opposite of fascist. However, this is not quite true. We find both right-handed swastikas among the Slavs and left-handed ones.

We examined only the external distinctive attributes of the swastika of the Slavs and the swastika of the fascists. But much more important facts are the following:

• Approximate time of appearance of the sign.
• The meaning that was given to it.
• Where and under what conditions was this symbol used?

Let's start with the Slavic swastika

It is difficult to name the time when it appeared among the Slavs. But, for example, among the Scythians, it was recorded in the fourth millennium BC. And since a little later the Slavs began to separate from the Indo-European community, then, for sure, they were already used by them at that time (third-second millennium BC). Moreover, among the Proto-Slavs they were fundamental ornaments.

Swastika signs abounded in the everyday life of the Slavs. And therefore one cannot attribute the same meaning to all of them. In fact, each symbol was individual and carried its own meaning. By the way, the swastika could be either an independent sign or part of a more complex one (most often it was located in the center). Here are the main meanings of Slavic swastika (solar symbols):

• Sacred and Sacrificial fire.
• Ancient wisdom.
• Unity of the Family.
• Spiritual development, self-improvement.
• Patronage of the gods in wisdom and justice.
• In the sign of Valkikria, it is a talisman of wisdom, honor, nobility, and justice.

That is, in general, we can say that the meaning of the swastika was somehow sublime, spiritually high, noble.

Archaeological excavations have given us a lot of valuable information. It turned out that in ancient times the Slavs applied similar signs to their weapons, embroidered them on suits (clothing) and textile accessories (towels, towels), and carved them on elements of their homes and household items (dishes, spinning wheels and other wooden utensils). They did all this mainly for the purpose of protection, in order to protect themselves and their home from evil forces, from grief, from fire, from the evil eye. After all, the ancient Slavs were very superstitious in this regard. And with such protection we felt much more secure and confident. Even the mounds and settlements of the ancient Slavs could have a swastika shape. At the same time, the ends of the cross symbolized a certain direction of the world.

Fascist swastika

• Adolf Hitler himself adopted this sign as a symbol of the National Socialist movement. But we know that he was not the one who came up with it. In general, the swastika was used by other nationalist groups in Germany even before the emergence of the National Socialist German Workers' Party. Therefore, let’s take the time of appearance as the beginning of the twentieth century.

Interesting fact: the person who suggested that Hitler take the swastika as a symbol initially presented a left-handed cross. But the Fuhrer insisted on replacing it with a right-hand one.

• The meaning of the swastika among the Nazis is diametrically opposed to that of the Slavs. According to one version, it meant the purity of German blood. Hitler himself said that the black cross itself symbolizes the struggle for the victory of the Aryan race, creative work. In general, the Fuhrer considered the swastika an ancient anti-Semitic sign. In his book, he writes that the white circle is the national idea, the red rectangle is the social idea of ​​the Nazi movement.
• Where was the fascist swastika used? Firstly, on the legendary flag of the Third Reich. Secondly, the military had it on their belt buckles, as a patch on the sleeve. Thirdly, the swastika “decorated” official buildings and occupied territories. In general, it could be on any fascist attributes, but these were the most common.

Thus, the swastika of the Slavs and the swastika of the Nazis have enormous differences. This is expressed not only in external features, but also in semantic ones. If among the Slavs this sign personified something good, noble, and lofty, then among the Nazis it was a truly Nazi sign. Therefore, when you hear something about a swastika, you shouldn’t immediately think about fascism. After all, the Slavic swastika was lighter, more humane, more beautiful.

The swastika and six-pointed star are stolen Slavic symbols.

The version that it was Hitler who had the brilliant idea to make the swastika a symbol of the National Socialist movement belongs to the Fuhrer himself and was voiced in Mein Kampf. Probably, nine-year-old Adolf first saw a swastika on the wall of a Catholic monastery near the town of Lambach.

The swastika sign has been popular since ancient times. A cross with curved ends has appeared on coins, household items, and coats of arms since the eighth millennium BC. The swastika symbolized life, sun, and prosperity. Hitler could see the swastika again in Vienna on the emblem of Austrian anti-Semitic organizations.

By christening the archaic solar symbol the Hakenkreuz (Hakenkreuz is translated from German as hook cross), Hitler arrogated to himself the priority of the discoverer, although the idea of ​​the swastika as a political symbol had taken root in Germany before him. In 1920, Hitler, who was, albeit unprofessional and untalented, but still an artist, allegedly independently developed the design of the party logo, proposing a red flag with a white circle in the middle, in the center of which a hooked black swastika spread predatorily.

The color red, according to the leader of the National Socialists, was chosen in imitation of the Marxists who used it. Seeing a hundred and twenty thousand demonstration of leftist forces under scarlet banners, Hitler noted the active influence of the bloody color on the common man. In Mein Kampf, the Führer mentioned the "great psychological significance" of symbols and their ability to powerfully influence emotions. But it was precisely by controlling the emotions of the crowd that Hitler managed to introduce the ideology of his party to the masses in an unprecedented way.

By adding a swastika to the red color, Adolf gave a diametrically opposite meaning to the favorite color scheme of the socialists. By attracting the attention of the workers with the familiar color of the posters, Hitler carried out a “recruitment.”

In Hitler's interpretation, the red color personified the idea of ​​movement, white - the sky and nationalism, the hoe-shaped swastika - labor and the anti-Semitic struggle of the Aryans. Creative work was mysteriously interpreted as anti-Semitic.

In general, it is impossible to call Hitler the author of National Socialist symbols, contrary to his statements. He borrowed the color from the Marxists, the swastika and even the name of the party (slightly rearranging the letters) from the Viennese nationalists. The idea of ​​using symbolism is also plagiarism. It belongs to the oldest party member - a dentist named Friedrich Krohn, who submitted a memorandum to the party leadership back in 1919. However, the savvy dentist is not mentioned in the bible of National Socialism, Mein Kampf.

However, Kron put a different content into the decoding of symbols. The red color of the banner is love for the homeland, the white circle is a symbol of innocence for the outbreak of the First World War, the black color of the cross is grief over losing the war.

In Hitler’s interpretation, the swastika became a sign of the Aryan struggle against “subhumans.” The claws of the cross seem to be aimed at Jews, Slavs, and representatives of other peoples who do not belong to the race of “blond beasts.”

Unfortunately, the ancient positive sign was discredited by the National Socialists. The Nuremberg Tribunal in 1946 banned Nazi ideology and symbols. The swastika was also banned. Recently she has been somewhat rehabilitated. Roskomnadzor, for example, recognized in April 2015 that displaying this sign outside of a propaganda context is not an act of extremism. Although a “reprehensible past” cannot be erased from a biography, the swastika is used by some racist organizations.

Meaning of swastika

Today the swastika is symbol, which everyone associates only with evil and war. The swastika is falsely associated with fascism. This symbol has nothing to do with fascism, war, or Hitler, and this is a misconception for many people!

Origin of the swastika

The swastika symbol is tens of thousands of years old. Initially the swastika meant our galaxy, because If you look at the rotation of the galaxy, you can see a connection with the “swastika” sign. This association served as the beginning for the further use of the swastika sign. The Slavs used the swastika as amulets; they decorated houses and temples with this sign, and applied it as an ornament to clothes and weapons. For them, this sign was a symbolic image of the sun. And for our ancestors, he represented all the brightest and purest things in the world. And not only for the Slavs, for many cultures it meant peace, goodness and faith. So how did it happen that such a good sign, carrying a thousand-year history, suddenly became the personification of everything bad and terrible in the world?

In the Middle Ages, the symbol was forgotten, and only occasionally appeared in patterns.
And only in the 1920s the swastika “saw” the world again. Then the swastika began to be depicted on the helmets of militants, and the following year it was officially recognized as the emblem of the fascist party. And subsequently Hitler performed under banners with the image of a swastika.

What types of swastikas exist?

But here we need to clarify and dot all the i’s. The swastika is a two-valued symbol, because can be depicted as having curved clockwise both ends and against. And both of these images carry completely opposite meanings, balancing each other. The swastika, the rays of which are directed to the left (i.e. counterclockwise) means the rising sun, goodness and light. The swastika, which is depicted clockwise, has the opposite meaning and means evil, misfortune and troubles. Now let's remember which swastika was Hitler's emblem. Exactly the last one. And this swastika has nothing to do with the ancient symbols of goodness and light.

Therefore, there is no need to confuse these two symbols. The swastika can still serve as a talisman for you if you draw it correctly. And people who widen their eyes in fear at the sight of this symbol need to make an excursion into history and tell about the ancient symbol of our ancestors, which made the world kinder and brighter.

There is one graphic sign that has an ancient history and the deepest meaning, but which was very unlucky with fans, as a result of which it was discredited for many decades, if not forever. In this case we are talking about the swastika, which originated and separated from the image of the symbol of the cross in deep, deep antiquity, when it was interpreted as an exclusively solar, magical sign.

Solar symbols.

Sun Sign

The word “swastika” itself is translated from Sanskrit as “welfare”, “well-being” (the Thai greeting “Sawatdiya” comes from the Sanskrit “su” and “asti”). This ancient solar sign is one of the most archaic, and therefore one of the most effective, since it is imprinted in the deep memory of humanity. The swastika is an indicator of the apparent movement of the Sun around the Earth and the division of the year into 4 seasons. In addition, it includes the idea of ​​the four cardinal directions.

This sign was associated with the cult of the Sun among many peoples and was found already in the Upper Paleolithic era and even more often in the Neolithic era, primarily in Asia. Already from the 7th - 6th centuries BC. e. it is included in Buddhist symbolism, where it means the secret doctrine of the Buddha.

Even before our era, the swastika was actively used in symbolism in India and Iran and found its way to China. This sign was also used in Central America by the Mayans, where it symbolized the circulation of the Sun. Around the time of the Bronze Age, the swastika came to Europe, where it became especially popular in Scandinavia. Here it is used as one of the attributes of the supreme god Odin. Almost everywhere, in all corners of the Earth, in all cultures and traditions swastika used as a solar sign and symbol of well-being. And only when it came to Ancient Greece from Asia Minor, it was changed in such a way that its meaning also changed. By turning the swastika, which was foreign to them, counterclockwise, the Greeks turned it into a sign of evil and death (in their opinion).

Swastika in the symbolism of Russia and other countries

In the Middle Ages, the swastika was somehow forgotten and remembered closer to the beginning of the twentieth century. And not only in Germany, as one might assume. This may be surprising to some, but the swastika was used in official symbols in Russia. In April 1917, new banknotes were issued in denominations of 250 and 1000 rubles, on which there was an image of a swastika. The swastika was also present on Soviet banknotes of 5 and 10 thousand rubles, which were in use until 1922. And in some parts of the Red Army, for example, among the Kalmyk formations, the swastika was an integral part of the design of the sleeve insignia.

During the First World War, swastikas were painted on the fuselages of aircraft of the famous American Lafayette squadron. Its images were also on the P-12 Briefings, which were in service with the US Air Force from 1929 to 1941. Additionally, this symbol was featured on the insignia of the US Army's 45th Infantry Division from 1923 to 1939.

It is especially worth talking about Finland. This country is currently the only one in the world in which the swastika is present in the official symbols. It is included in the presidential standard, and is also included in the military and naval flags of the country.

Modern flag of the Finnish Air Force Academy in Kuahava.

According to the explanation given on the website of the Finnish Defense Forces, the swastika, as an ancient symbol of happiness of the Finno-Ugric peoples, was adopted as a symbol of the Finnish Air Force back in 1918, that is, before it began to be used as a fascist sign. And although, under the terms of the peace treaty after the end of World War II, the Finns were supposed to abandon its use, this was not done. In addition, the explanation on the website of the Finnish Defense Forces emphasizes that, unlike the Nazi one, the Finnish swastika is strictly vertical.

In modern India, the swastika is found everywhere.

Let us note that there is one country in the modern world where images of swastikas can be seen at almost every step. This is India. In it, this symbol has been used in Hinduism for more than one millennium and no government can ban it.

Fascist swastika

It is worth mentioning the common myth that the Nazis used an inverted swastika. Where he came from is completely unclear, since German swastika the most common one is in the direction of the Sun. Another thing is that they depicted it at an angle of 45 degrees, and not vertically. As for the inverted swastika, it is used in the Bon religion, which many Tibetans still follow today. Note that the use of an inverted swastika is not such a rare occurrence: its image is found in ancient Greek culture, in pre-Christian Roman mosaics, medieval coats of arms and even in the logo of Rudyard Kipling.

An inverted swastika in the Bon monastery.

As for the Nazi swastika, it became the official emblem of Hitler’s fascist party in 1923, on the eve of the “Beer Hall Putsch” in Munich. Since September 1935, it has become the main state emblem of Hitler's Germany, included in its coat of arms and flag. And for ten years the swastika was directly associated with fascism, turning from a symbol of good and prosperity into a symbol of evil and inhumanity. It is not surprising that after 1945, all states, with the exception of Finland and Spain, where the swastika was in the symbolism until November 1975, refused to use this symbol as compromised by fascism.