The Swastika in Tibet

In Germany we associate the swastika (as a character 卐 or 卍)  with the atrocities of the Nazis and therefore showing the swastika has lots of (useful and necessary) restrictions here. But the swastika has been in use for about 15,000 years and is a symbol of auspiciousness, good luck, divinity and spirituality in other cultures. In Hinduism the swastika (Sanskrit word! स्वस्तिक) is a symbol for the sun. In Buddhism the swastika symbolizes the footprints of the Buddha and also eternal cycling of births (samsara); and so we find it in Tibet. You can find the swastika also Tibetan Bon tradition and there it’s called yungdrung. In China it stands for the character 万, which means 10,000, but also myriad, all, or eternity. Please look up the Wikipedia for extensive information.

In Tibet you can see the swastika quite often -: at doorsteps, on doors, also on streetlights, on temples. The four dots are supposed to be on Indian origin.

 

In front of a small temple in Lhasa

 

 

A streetlight in Lhasa

 

 

Sera monastery, Lhasa

 

Door at a rural home

Links:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swastika (very extensive)

http://rheumatologe.blogspot.com/2013/04/small-shrines-along-road.html

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