Heil buddha?!

Spotting a Buddha statue in China with a swastika (卍) on his chest seems to send some Western tourists into a quiet panic, as if they’ve just uncovered an ancient conspiracy. Let’s clear the air: in Chinese Buddhism, this symbol is about as controversial as a lotus flower. The swastika has been gracing the chests of Buddhas, the doors of temples, and the pages of scriptures for millennia, long before a certain moustachioed dictator hijacked it for his own twisted purposes.

Now, there’s a persistent rumour that the “direction” of the swastika is the secret code—clockwise for good, counterclockwise for evil, as if the universe runs on a sort of cosmic lefty-loosey, righty-tighty rule. In reality, Buddhist art is refreshingly egalitarian about direction; both versions appear in ancient carvings, paintings, and statues, and neither is plotting world domination. The only thing the swastika on a Buddha’s chest is trying to conquer is your ignorance about its true meaning: auspiciousness, the eternal cycle of life, and the Buddha’s infinite wisdom.