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Someone gave me this old tea table because it had what the owner called swastika carved into it. It is in pretty rough shape but repairable. What is the meaning of the equilateral cross in Asian arts?

Patrick, the proper term in this case is in fact "swastika." That word has Sanskrit roots, and China adopted the swastika from India along with Buddhism, wherein it is an icon for all good fortune and virtue.

In China and Japan, the swastika has become part of the language as "wan" in Chinese and "man" in Japanese. It is used interchangeably with their common character for "ten thousand" and consequently has come to connote "eternity," as expressed in the longevity blessings "wan sui" in China and "banzai" in Japan.

This symbol often is expressed in Chinese and Japanese graphic design as the "swastika fret," wherein the form is reduplicated nonstop. Appropriately, the Chinese call this pattern "Wan Zi Bu Dao Tou" (the endless swastika).

Nowadays many people consider the swastika to represent evil, because a backward (clockwise) form of it was adopted as a national symbol in Nazi Germany. However, in addition to historical use by Buddhists in Asia, the swastika has been found in Native American art since prehistoric times.

Regards,

Bill H.

The discovery of Swastika in almost all parts of the globe has given rise to so many interpretations. An endlessly, recurring cycle, with the idea of endless life; sure doesn't fit with the Hitler's symbol of hate they taught me in U.S. high schools. Kind of like those savage Indian stories and why we had to put them all on reservations. Such a splendid illustration of the inbred Sandbox mentality of our religious and political leaders. What a wounderful gift.

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