The Buddhist Swastika and Hitler's Cross: Rescuing a Symbol of Peace from the Forces of Hate

This is a big “little” book. Packed into its 150 pages is a veritable treasure of philosophy, religion, history, sociology and expedited cultural literacy. Because it is written so deeply and beautifully, it can be considered an authentically enlightening read by those who engage it as Abraham Joshua Heschel abjured by keeping in mind “the principle…to know what we see rather than to see what we know”. P.140 of the book, a quote from The Prophet. One can profitably encounter this work by suspending not one’s disbelief, as in a work of fiction, but one’s knee-jerk, deep-seated prejudices, and this in order to transcend the hideous nature of Hitler’s cultural misappropriation of symbols and concepts that have a vital history in Asia and elsewhere of thousands of years of holiness and beauty in the exact anthesis of meaning to Hitler’s perversions and hate-fueled genocidal ends. This work makes a scholarly and decisive foray into holocaust and comparative religious studies in more than one important way, but of particular note is the differentiation completely of Hitler’s hakenkreuz or “hook cross” from the ancient svastika, more commonly in English referred to as the swastika. When I visited Germany and saw the prominence of Christian cathedrals and churches in every single town, I wondered how it had been possible that each was not a central sanctuary for the Jews. The description of how the hooked cross or hakenkreuz supplanted the crucifixes is also a history of how the Nazis were corrupted from Christian values to Nazi hatred and it is chilling. Sadly, it is also the story of a good Christian gone amok, for in all my classes in religious studies over the years (and my Fordham degree) I had never read the doctrines of Martin Luther in his 60s, when he became a confirmed anti-Semite, and his last years’ writing fed the Nazi Beast in Germany. It is certainly beyond time to redirect the blame from a powerful ancient symbol of achieved virtue that was hijacked by a demagogue who murdered millions to he himself and the virulent fascist mob he intentionally misled and incited. As the holocaust survivors and hibakusha, or nuclear bomb survivors encourage us from The Buddhist Swastika and Hitler’s Cross , it becomes incumbent upon us to proactively wrest Hitler’s last victory from him, and restore to our hearts, minds and the knowledge of our lives and souls, the respectful and profoundly positive and sacred meaning of the svastika symbol, by , as so many other cultures have done all along, differentiating it from Hitler’s horribly disfigured hooked cross. I personally found the spiritual maturity, generosity and insightful scholarship of this book to be in complete harmony with the nature of its author, T.K. Nakagaki , whom I have known for many years from interfaith work in greater New York.

This book has been greatly needed in the world. As a person who travels often between eastern & western countries, I've seen how polarization over this symbol has created a lot of unnecessary misunderstanding & negativity. The swastika is often maligned in the West as a "universal symbol of hatred," which is not only untrue, but denies the perspective of millions of people who regard it as wholly positive. As the author asserts, it's only through the sharing of perspectives we can hope to ever bridge the cultural divide. This book was well written (and edited) with a lot of great photos.

Many Western readers will be surprised to learn that the swastika has long been a revered symbol of peace and harmony in the Eastern world. In a brave gesture of cross-cultural significance, Rev. Dr. Nakagaki offers us a detailed explanation of the positive history and meaning that this symbol has had for millions of people over the millennia.

I’d recently come across a use of this symbol that did not match the use by the national Socialist party. While researching the history of the symbol, I discovered this book which breaks down how Hitler misappropriated the symbol and how the Western world allowed his definition to continue.This is a good and informative book. Sometimes, it rambles, sometimes the same story is retold. It could have used a better editor. But I enjoyed it nonetheless.

This Book will wake up those who still believe that this symbol only links to Hitler and nazism.

very good，especially the customer service. Thank you so much!

Excellent. Fascinating explanation.

Well written and informative

The author covered all angles in detail. This book demolishes many lies that are being spread about eastern symbols. Great work!