After American publishing houses were reluctant to print it, Nakagaki self-published on Amazon in 2017. Nakagaki’s book is a continuation of his 2012 dissertation at New York Theological Seminary and was first published in Japan in 2013. This branding effort was met with fierce criticism from the Israeli Jewish Congress and the Auschwitz Memorial Museum. In 2017, Salon reported that DA Designs, a European clothing company, tried to “reclaim” the swastika as a symbol of peace and love by putting it on t-shirts. In 2015, a Jewish student was suspended from George Washington University after posting a Sanskrit swastika - purchased in India - on a bulletin board. Other controversial uses of the Sanskrit swastika have popped up in recent years. Google told HuffPost that the icons were “Buddhist symbols of worship” and the company was working to fix the problem. In November, Google reignited controversy around the swastika when it accidentally used swastikas to identify certain hotels on maps. The word “swastika” comes from the Sanskrit for “good fortune” or “well-being.” During the Meiji Era (1868-1912), Nakagaki says the swastika was so commonly used, that it was standardized as a temple marker on maps. While the swastika is taboo in the West, it has been a part of Japanese culture since the introduction of Buddhism about 1,500 years ago. Buddhism’s version stands square with left-turning arms, while Hitler’s was right-turning on a 45-degree angle. The swastika comes in many iterations some have dots, swirls, or other marks.

It has been a part of Japanese culture since the introduction of Buddhism about 1,500 years ago. All these uses predate the Nazi’s appropriation of the symbol by centuries. He details the swastika’s Eastern roots and traces its use in Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Symbol 04: The Eternal Knot The eternal knot is a symbol of the Buddha's infinite wisdom and compassion. The two fish represent our ability to swim through the dangerous sea without fear. In Tibetan Buddhism, the sea is often seen as a place of danger. His new book, The Buddhist Swastika and Hitler’s Cross, is Nakagaki’s way of ending the decades-long prohibition against the symbol. Symbol 03: The Two Golden Fish The two golden fish are a symbol of fearlessness. Now, Nakagaki is trying to raise awareness about the swastika’s peaceful Sanskrit origins. “But this narrow and limited perspective is unacceptable for those of us who value and have grown up with the swastika in our religions and culture.” “After I got that lesson, I decided not to use that particular symbol - for the past 25 years,” Nakagaki, now based in New York City, recently told Japan Times. The symbol of Om formed naturally with the deposition of snow on the. When he used a swastika in a sacred ceremony, he was chastised by a temple member, who told him he “couldn’t do that in this country.” It was then that Nakagaki learned the swastika was universally associated with hate Hindus, Jains, Tibetan Buddhists, and folks of the Bon religion firmly believe in. Kenjitsu Nakagaki, a Japanese Buddhist priest, moved to Seattle from Osaka in 1985 he knew of swastikas only as manji - a Chinese character that means “good fortune” in Japanese.

Tibetan serenity symbol