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Ariel Sharon (help·info) (Hebrew: אֲרִיאֵל שָׁרוֹן, also known by his diminutive Arik) (born February 26, 1928) is a former Israeli politician and a retired general. He served as Prime Minister of Israel, from March 2001 until April 2006, although the powers of his office were exercised by acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert following Sharon's massive stroke in January 2006. He fell into a coma and has not regained consciousness since then.

During his lengthy career, Sharon was a highly controversial figure among many factions both inside and outside Israel. His supporters view him as a leader who strove to establish peace without sacrificing Israel's security. Many Israelis likewise consider him a war hero who helped defend the country during some of its greatest struggles. On the other hand some of his critics have sought to prosecute him as a war criminal for alleged crimes related to the Sabra and Shatila massacre during the 1982 Lebanon War, for which the Kahan Commission held him indirectly responsible. While Sharon had no personal involvement and no Israelis participated, the investigation found that Sharon was personally responsible due to negligence and complacency. Sharon was dismissed as Defense Minister as a result. Nevertheless, Sharon remained a leading figure in the Likud Party and held various senior cabinet and party posts, ultimately becoming party leader in 1999 and Prime Minister in 2001.

During his tenure as Prime Minister, Sharon's policies caused a rift within the Likud Party, and Sharon ultimately left Likud to form a new party called Kadima. He became the first Prime Minister of Israel who did not belong to either Labor or Likud - the two parties that have traditionally dominated Israeli politics. The new party created by Sharon, with Olmert having stepped in as its leader, won the most Knesset seats in the 2006 elections, and is now the senior coalition partner in the Israeli government.

Early life

Sharon was born Ariel Scheinermann to Shmuel and Dvora (formerly Vera), who immigrated to Palestine from Russia. They arrived in the Second Aliyah and settled in a socialist and secular community, where they, despite being Mapai supporters, were known to be contrarians against the prevailing community consensus:

The Scheinermans' eventual ostracism... followed the 1933 Arlozorov murder when Dvora and Shmuel refused to endorse the Labor movement's anti-Revisionist calumny and participate in Bolshevi(k)-style public revilement rallies, then the order of the day. Retribution was quick to come. They were expelled from the local health-fund clinic and village synagogue. The cooperative's truck wouldn't make deliveries to their farm nor collect produce.^[1]

In 1942 at the age of 14, he joined the Gadna, a paramilitary youth battalion, and later the Haganah, the underground paramilitary force and the Jewish military precursor to the Israel Defense Forces. At the creation of Israel (and Haganah's transformation into the Israel Defense Forces), Sharon was a platoon commander in the Alexandroni Brigade. Sharon was severely wounded in the groin by the Jordanian Arab Legion in the Second Battle of Latrun, an unsuccessful attempt to relieve the besieged Jewish community of Jerusalem. His injuries eventually healed.

In September 1949, he was promoted to company commander (of the Golani Brigade's reconnaissance unit) and in 1950 to intelligence officer for Central Command. He then took leave to begin studies of history and Middle Eastern culture at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. A year and a half later, he was asked to return to active service in the rank of major and as the leader of the new Unit 101, Israel's first special forces unit.

Unit 101 undertook a series of military raids against Palestinians and neighboring Arab states that helped bolster Israeli morale and fortify its deterrent image. The unit was known for targeting civilians as well as Arab soldiers, notably in the widely condemned Qibya operation in the fall of 1953, in which 69 Palestinian civilians, some of which were children, were killed by Sharon's troops in a reprisal attack on their West Bank village. In the documentary "Israel and the Arabs: 50 Year War" Ariel Sharon recalls what happened after the raid, which was heavily condemned by many countries in the West, including the U.S.:

I was summoned to see Ben-Gurion. It was the first time I met him, and right from the start Ben-Gurion said to me: "Let me first tell you one thing: it doesn't matter what the world says about Israel, it doesn't matter what they say about us anywhere else. The only thing that matters is that we can exist here on the land of our forefathers. And unless we show the Arabs that there is a high price to pay for murdering Jews, we won't survive."

Shortly afterwards, just a few months after its founding, Unit 101 was merged into the 202nd Paratroopers Brigade (Sharon eventually became the latter's commander), which continued to attack military and civilian targets, culminating with the attack on Qalqilyah police station in autumn 1956.

As reflected in the above-mentioned episode, Sharon - while formally no more than a middle-ranking officer at the rank of Rav Seren (Major) - had direct access to the Prime Minister as well as to then Army Chief-of-Staff Moshe Dayan, bypassing the normal chain of command.

Ben Gurion and Dayan, as well as Sharon himself, were well aware that the actions of his commando unit had a significant role in shaping Israel's relations with its neighbors, and that such raids could become the subject of headlines in the international press and debates in the UN.

Perforce, Sharon was already at this stage of his career involved in strategic considerations which are normally the province of senior officers and of the political echelon. Moreover, historians often point to this period as shaping Sharon's habit of acting on his own judgment and ignoring or circumventing the instructions of his direct superiors.

Sharon has been widowed twice. Shortly after becoming a military instructor, he married his first wife, Margalit, with whom he had a son, Gur. Margalit died in a car accident in 1962. Their son, Gur, died in October 1967 after a friend accidentally shot him while they were playing with the elder Sharon's rifle.^[2][3][4] After Margalit's death, Sharon married her younger sister, Lily. They had two sons, Omri and Gil'ad. Lily Sharon died in 2000.

Mitla incident

In the 1956 Suez War (the British "Operation Musketeer"), Sharon commanded the 202nd Brigade and was responsible for taking ground east of the Sinai's Mitla Pass and eventually taking the pass itself. Having successfully carried out the first part of his mission (joining a battalion parachuted near Mitla with the rest of the brigade moving on ground), Sharon's unit was deployed near the pass. Neither reconnaissance aircraft nor scouts reported enemy forces inside the Mitla Pass. Sharon, whose forces were initially heading east, away from the pass, reported to his superiors that he was increasingly concerned with the possibility of an enemy thrust through the pass, which could attack his brigade from the flank or the rear.

Sharon asked for permission to attack the pass several times but his requests were denied although he was allowed to check its status so that if the pass was empty, he could receive permission to take it later. Sharon sent a small scout force which was met with heavy fire and became bogged down due to vehicle malfunction in the middle of the pass. Sharon ordered the rest of his troops to attack in order to aid their comrades. In the ensuing successful battle to capture the pass thirty-eight Israeli soldiers were killed. Sharon was not only criticized by his superiors, he was damaged by revelations several years later by several former subordinates (one of IDF's first major revelations to the press), who claimed that Sharon tried to provoke the Egyptians and sent out the scouts in bad faith, ensuring that a battle would ensue. Deliberate or not, the attack was considered strategically reckless because the Egyptian forces were expected to withdraw from the pass in the following one or two days.

Six-Day War and Yom Kippur War

Main articles: Six-Day War and Yom Kippur War

The Mitla incident hindered Sharon's military career for several years. In the meantime, he occupied the position of an infantry brigade commander and received a law degree from Tel Aviv University. When Yitzhak Rabin (who within a few years became associated with the Labor Party) became Chief of Staff in 1964, however, Sharon began again to rise rapidly in the ranks, occupying the positions of Infantry School Commander and Head of Army Training Branch, eventually achieving the rank of Major General (Aluf). In the 1967 Six-Day War, Sharon commanded the most powerful armored division on the Sinai front which made a breakthrough in the Kusseima-Abu-Ageila fortified area. In 1969, he was appointed the Head of IDF's Southern Command. He had no further promotions before retiring in August 1973. Soon after, he joined the right-wing Likud political party.^[5]

Sharon (in bandage) with Moshe Dayan (right) in 1973

Sharon' s military career was not over, however. At the start of the Yom Kippur War on October 6, 1973, Sharon was called back to duty and assigned to command a reserve armored division. His forces did not engage the Egyptian Army immediately but it was Sharon who helped locate a breach between the Egyptian forces, which he then exploited by capturing a bridgehead on October 16 and throwing a bridge across the Suez Canal the following day. He violated his orders from the head of Southern Command by exploiting this success to cut the supply lines of the Egyptian Third Army, located to the south of the canal crossing, isolating it from other Egyptian units.

The divisions of Sharon and Abraham Adan (Bren) passed over this bridge into Africa advancing to within 101 kilometers of Cairo. They wreaked havoc on the supply lines of the Third Army stretching to the south of them, cutting off and encircling the Third Army, but could not force its surrender before the ceasefire*. Tensions between the two generals followed his decision, but a military tribunal later found his action was militarily effective. This move was regarded by many Israelis as the turning point of the war in the Sinai front. Thus, Sharon is viewed by some as a war hero who saved Israel from defeat in Sinai. A photo of Sharon wearing a head bandage on the Suez Canal became a famous symbol of Israeli military prowess.

Sharon's aggressive political positions were controversial and he was relieved of duty in February 1974.

Beginnings of political career

In the 1940s and 1950s he seemed to be personally devoted to the ideals of Mapai (Workers Party of the Land of Israel), the predecessor of the modern Labor Party. However, after retiring from military service, Sharon was instrumental in establishing the Likud in July 1973. The Likud was comprised of Herut (Freedom), the Liberal Party and independent elements. Sharon became chairman of the campaign staff for the elections which were scheduled for November 1973. But two and a half weeks after the start of the election campaign, the Yom Kippur War erupted and Sharon was called back to reserve service (see above). In December 1973 Sharon was elected to the Knesset, but a year later he was tired of political life and resigned.

From June 1975 to March 1976, Sharon was a special aide to Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. With the 1977 elections near, Sharon tried to return to the Likud and replace Menachem Begin at the head of the party. He suggested to Simkha Erlikh, who headed the Liberal Party bloc in the Likud, that he was more fitting than Begin to win an election victory; but he was rejected. Following this he tried to join the Labor Party and the centrist Dash, but was rejected in those parties too. Only then did he form his own list, Shlomtzion, which won only two Knesset seats in the subsequent elections. Immediately after the elections he merged Shlomtzion with the Likud and became Minister of Agriculture.

When Sharon joined Begin's government he had relatively little political experience. During this period, Sharon supported the Gush Emunim settlements movement and was viewed as the patron of the messianic settlers' movement. He used his position to encourage the establishment of a network of Israeli settlements in the occupied territories to prevent the possibility of the return of these territories to Palestinian Arabs. Sharon doubled the number of Jewish settlements on the West Bank and Gaza Strip during his tenure.

On his settlement policy, Sharon said while addressing a meeting of the Tsomet Party: "Everybody has to move, run and grab as many (Palestinian) hilltops as they can to enlarge the (Jewish) settlements because everything we take now will stay ours... Everything we don't grab will go to them." (Agence France Presse, 15 November 1998.)

After the 1981 elections, Begin rewarded Sharon for his important contribution to Likud's narrow win, by appointing him Minister of Defense.

Sabra and Shatila massacre

Main article: Sabra and Shatila massacre

During the 1982 Lebanon War, while Ariel Sharon was Defense minister, the Sabra and Shatila massacre took place, in which between 460 and 3,500 Palestinian civilians in the refugee camps were killed by the Phalanges- Lebanese Maronite militias. The Security Chief of the Phalange militia, Elie Hobeika, was the ground commander of the militiamen who entered the Palestinian camps and killed the Palestinians. The Phalange had been sent into the camps to clear out PLO fighters, and Israeli forces had been sent to the camps at Sharon's command to provide them with logistical support and to guard camp exits. The incident led some of Sharon's critics to refer to him as "the Butcher of Beirut".^[6]

The Kahan Commission claimed that "absolutely no direct responsibility devolves upon Israel or upon those who acted in its behalf." Yet it did charge Sharon with "personal responsibility." It recommended in early 1983 the removal of Sharon from his post as Defense minister. In their recommendations and closing remarks, the commission stated:

We have found, as has been detailed in this report, that the Minister of Defense [Ariel Sharon] bears personal responsibility. In our opinion, it is fitting that the Minister of Defense draw the appropriate personal conclusions arising out of the defects revealed with regard to the manner in which he discharged the duties of his office - and if necessary, that the Prime Minister consider whether he should exercise his authority under Section 21-A(a) of the Basic Law: the Government, according to which "the Prime Minister may, after informing the Cabinet of his intention to do so, remove a minister from office."^[7]

An AP report on 15 September 1982 stated :

Defense Minister Ariel Sharon, in a statement, tied the killing [of the Phalangist leader Gemayel] to the PLO, saying: "It symbolises the terrorist murderousness of the PLO terrorist organisations and their supporters." Habib Chartouni, a Lebanese Christian from the Syrian Socialist National Party confessed to the murder of Gemayel, and no Palestinians were involved. Sharon had used this to instigate the entrance of the Lebanese militias into the camps.

Sharon was dismissed by Prime Minister Menachem Begin but he remained in successive governments as a Minister.

In 1987, Time published a story implying Sharon was directly responsible for the massacres. Sharon sued Time for libel in American and Israeli courts. Although the jury concluded that the Time story included false allegations, they found that Time had not acted with "actual malice" and did not award any damages.^[8]

On June 18, 2001, relatives of the victims of the Sabra massacre began proceedings in Belgium to have Ariel Sharon indicted on war crimes charges.^[9] In June 2002, a Brussels Appeals Court rejected the lawsuit because the law was subsequently changed under heavy U.S. pressure to disallow such lawsuits unless a Belgian citizen is involved.^[10]

Political downturn and recovery

After being dismissed from the Defense Minister post because the Kahan Commission found him "personally responsible" for his "disregard of the danger of a massacre," Sharon remained in successive governments as a Minister without portfolio (1983—1984), Minister for Trade and Industry (1984—1990), and Minister for Housing Construction (1990—1992). During this period he was a rival to then prime minister Yitzhak Shamir, but failed in various bids to replace him as chairman of the ruling Likud party. Their rivalry reached a head on the "Night of Microphones" in February 1990, when Sharon snapped the microphone from Shamir, who was addressing the Likud central committee, and famously exclaimed: "Who's for wiping out terrorism?". The implication was that only Sharon knew how to destroy the scourge and whoever deemed this as important should support him. The incident was widely viewed as an apparent putsch attempt against Shamir's leadership of the party.

In Benjamin Netanyahu's 1996–1999 government, he was Minister of National Infrastructure (1996—1998), and Foreign Minister (1998—1999). Upon the election of the Barak Labor government, Sharon became leader of the Likud party. After the collapse of Barak's government, Ariel Sharon was elected Prime Minister in February 2001.

Prime Minister

Ariel Sharon was allegedly involved in The Greek island affair related to attempts by David Appel to purchase an island near the coast of Athens for the purpose of building a multimillion-dollar resort complex. The charge against Sharon was dropped in 2004.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, United States President George W. Bush, and Ariel Sharon after reading statement to the press during the closing moments of the Red Sea Summit in Aqaba, Jordan, June 4, 2003.

According to the Palestinians, Ariel Sharon has followed an aggressive policy of non-negotiation. Palestinians allege that the al-Aqsa Intifada (September 2000-February 2005) was sparked by a visit by Sharon and an escort of several hundred policemen to the Temple Mount complex, site of the Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa Mosque. Sharon's visit, prior to his election as Prime Minister, came after archeologists claimed that extensive building operations at the site were destroying priceless antiquities and a few months before the election. While visiting the site, Sharon declared that the complex would remain under perpetual Israeli control. Palestinian commentators accused Sharon of purposely inflaming emotions with the event to provoke a violent response and obstruct success of delicate ongoing peace talks.

Sharon's supporters claim that Yasser Arafat and the Palestinian National Authority planned the intifada months prior to Sharon's visit.^[11][12][13] They state that Palestinian security chief Jabril Rajoub provided assurances that if Sharon did not enter the mosques, no problems would arise. They also often quote statements by Palestinian Authority officials, particularly Imad Falouji, the P.A. Communications Minister, who admitted months after Sharon's visit that the violence had been planned in July, far in advance of Sharon's visit, stating the intifada "was carefully planned since the return of (Palestinian President) Yasser Arafat from Camp David negotiations rejecting the U.S. conditions".^[14] According to the Mitchell Report, the government of Israel asserted that

President George W. Bush, center, discusses the Middle East peace process with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of Israel, left, and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Aqaba, Jordan, June 4, 2003.

the immediate catalyst for the violence was the breakdown of the Camp David negotiations on 25 July 2000 and the “widespread appreciation in the international community of Palestinian responsibility for the impasse.” In this view, Palestinian violence was planned by the PA leadership, and was aimed at “provoking and incurring Palestinian casualties as a means of regaining the diplomatic initiative.”

The Mitchell Report, based on a subsequent investigation, also found that the Sharon visit did not cause the Al-Aqsa Intifada, though it was poorly timed and would clearly have a provocative effect.^[15]

Palestinians doubt the existence of popular support for Sharon's actions. Polls published in the media, as well as the 140% call-up of reservists (as opposed to the 60% in regular periods) seem to indicate that the Israeli public is quite supportive of Sharon's policies. A survey conducted by Tel Aviv University's Jaffe Center in May 2004 found that 80% of Jewish Israelis believe that the Israel Defense Forces have succeeded in militarily countering the Al-Aqsa Intifada,^[16] indicating widespread faith in Sharon's hard-line policy.

President Bush and Prime Minister Sharon meet in the White House on 14 April 2004.

On July 20, 2004, Sharon called on French Jews to emigrate from France to Israel immediately, in light of an increase in French anti-Semitism (94 anti-Semitic assaults reported in the first six months of 2004 compared to 47 in 2003). France has the third largest Jewish population (about 600,000 people), after the United States and Israel. Sharon claimed that an "unfettered anti-Semitism" reigned in France. The French government responded by describing his comments as "unacceptable", as did the French representative Jewish organization CRIF, which denied Sharon's claim of intense anti-Semitism in French society. An Israeli spokesperson later claimed that Sharon had been misunderstood. France then postponed a visit by Sharon. Upon his visit, both Sharon and Chirac were described as showing a willingness to put the issue behind them.

On July 26, 2005, Israeli attorney general Menachem Mazuz announced that he would indict Sharon's son, Omri, on charges of corruption. Omri had parliamentary immunity at the time, but indicated willingness to stand trial. The Knesset passed a law limiting members' immunity in order to allow the indictment and Omri was formally indicted on August 28.

Unilateral disengagement

Main article: Israel's unilateral disengagement plan of 2004

While some believe that his recent efforts have been damaging to the peace process, he has embarked on a bold course of unilateral withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, while maintaining control of its coastline and airspace. It has been welcomed by both the Palestinian Authority and the left-wing in Israel, as well as by many abroad, including the United States and the European Union, as a step towards a final peace settlement. However, it has been greeted with opposition from within his own Likud party and from other right-wing Israelis, on security, military, and religious grounds. Other detractors have publicly distrusted Sharon's motives for this plan, and their suspicions were further roused after publication of an interview with top Sharon aide Dov Weisglass in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz on October 8, 2004, in which he explained Israel's motivation for withdrawing from Gaza. He told the newspaper that both Israel and the US felt Palestinian terrorism must end before a political process leading to a Palestinian state begins. Otherwise, Weisglass said, "the result would be a Palestinian state with terrorism..." The Gaza withdrawal would allow Israel to delay negotiations, and a Palestinian state, until such time that their leadership abandons violence. Critics interpreted Weisglass' comments as saying the purpose of disengagement was to destroy Palestinian aspirations for a state for years to come. This incident has bolstered the position of critics that Sharon is intentionally trying to destroy the peace process, an accusation denied by the Prime Minister's camp.

On December 1, 2004, Sharon dismissed five ministers from the Shinui party for voting against the government's 2005 budget. In January 2005 Sharon formed a national unity government that included representatives of Likud, Labor, and Meimad and Degel HaTorah as "out-of-government" supporters without any seats in the government (Haredi parties usually reject having ministerial offices as a policy). Between August 16 and August 30, 2005, Sharon controversially expelled 8,500 Jewish settlers from 21 settlements in Gaza. Once it became clear that the evictions were definitely going ahead a group of extreme right-wing Rabbis, led by Rabbi Yosef Dayan placed an ancient curse on him known as the Pulsa diNura, calling on the Angel of Death to intervene and kill him. After Israeli soldiers bulldozed every settlement structure except for several former synagogue buildings, Israeli soldiers formally left Gaza on Sunday, September 11, 2005 and closed the border fence at Kissufim. The synagogues were later looted and burned to the ground by Palestinians. While his decision to withdraw from Gaza sparked bitter protests from members of the Likud party and the settler movement, opinion polls showed that it was a popular move among most of the Israeli electorate. On September 27, 2005, Sharon narrowly defeated a leadership challenge by a 52-48% vote. The move was initiated within the central committee of the governing Likud party by his main rival, Binyamin Netanyahu, who had left the cabinet to protest Sharon's withdrawal from Gaza. The measure was an attempt by Netanyahu to call an early primary in November 2005 to choose the party's leader.

Founding of Kadima

Main article: Kadima

On November 21, 2005, Sharon resigned as head of Likud, and dissolved parliament to form a new center-right party called Kadima ("Forward"). November polls indicated that Sharon was likely to be returned to the prime ministership. On December 20, 2005, Sharon's longtime rival Benjamin Netanyahu was elected his successor as leader of Likud.^[17] Following Sharon's incapacitation, Ehud Olmert replaced Sharon as Kadima's leader. Netanyahu, along with Labor's Amir Peretz, were Kadima's chief rivals in the March 2006 elections.

In the elections, which saw Israel's lowest-ever voter turnout, Kadima received the most Knesset seats, followed by Labor. The new governing coalition installed in May 2006 includes Kadima, with Olmert as Prime Minster, Labor (including Peretz as Defense Minster), the Gil (Pensioner's) Party and the Shas religious party.

Incapacitation

Main article: Illnesses of Ariel Sharon

Sharon was hospitalized on December 18, 2005 after reportedly suffering a minor ischemic stroke. Sharon spent several days in the hospital before being released. During his hospital stay, he was also diagnosed with a minor hole in his atrial septum and was scheduled to undergo a cardiac catheterization on January 5, 2006.

On January 4, however, Sharon suffered a massive hemorrhagic stroke at his ranch Havat Hashikmim, in the Negev region. He was transported by ambulance to Hadassah hospital in Jerusalem to undergo brain surgery. Although Sharon was reportedly in stable condition, his doctors called the stroke "significant", adding that he "suffered a cerebral hemorrhage", or bleeding in the brain. Sharon underwent seven hours of surgery to stop the bleeding and drain the accumulated blood. Hadassah Director Shlomo Mor-Yosef reported after the surgery that the bleeding had stopped, saying that "all the parameters are according to expectations after an operation of this type." However, now comatose, Sharon's chances for recovery are estimated as "very low".

While the hospital was preparing announcements of his death, members of the media incorrectly reported that Sharon had already died. Nevertheless, Sharon's family and advisors urged his physicians to try once again to save his life.

On the night of Sharon's stroke, in the wake of his serious illness and following consultations between Government Secretary Israel Maimon and Attorney General Meni Mazouz, Sharon was declared "temporarily incapable of discharging his powers". As a result, Ehud Olmert, the Deputy Prime Minister, was officially confirmed as the Acting Prime Minister of Israel. Olmert and the Cabinet announced that the elections would take place on March 28 as scheduled.

During the rest of January, Sharon's condition remained essentially unchanged. On February 11, he underwent an operation to investigate damage to his digestive tract. It was found that he was suffering from intestinal bleeding and life-threatening necrosis, and about 50 cm of his intestines were consequently removed. On February 22, he underwent an additional procedure to drain excess fluid from his stomach, discovered during a routine CT scan.

According to Israeli law, an Acting Prime Minister can remain in office 100 days after the Prime Minister has become incapacitated. After 100 days, the Israeli President must appoint a new Prime Minister.

At the time of his stroke, Sharon enjoyed considerable support from the general public in Israel.^[18] The new centrist political party that he founded, Kadima, won the largest number of seats in the Knesset elections held on March 28, 2006. (Since Sharon was unable to sign a nomination form, he was not a candidate and therefore ceased to be a Knesset member.)

On April 6, President of Israel Moshe Katsav formally asked Olmert to form a government, making him Prime Minister-Designate. Olmert had an initial period of 28 days to form a governing coalition, with a possible two-week extension.^[19]

On April 11, 2006, the Israeli Cabinet deemed that Sharon was incapacitated. Although Sharon's replacement was to be named within 100 days of his becoming incapacitated, the replacement deadline was extended due to the Jewish festival of Passover.^[20] A provision was made that, should Sharon's condition improve between April 11 and April 14, the declaration would not take effect. Therefore, the official declaration took effect on April 14, formally ending Sharon's term as Prime Minister and making Ehud Olmert the country's new Prime Minister.

Medical experts reported that Sharon's cognitive abilities were destroyed by the massive stroke, and that he is in a persistent vegetative state (PVS) with extremely slim chances of regaining consciousness. Although the Israeli press (Yediot) reported that Sharon had opened his eyes several times, doctors were quick to note that that was not unusual with comatose patients.

On May 28, 2006, Sharon was transferred from the hospital in Jerusalem to a long-term care unit of Tel HaShomer, a large civilian and military hospital in Qiryat Ono, a suburb of Tel Aviv. Ha'aretz reported that this move was an indication that Sharon's doctors did not expect him to emerge from his coma in the foreseeable future. Dr. Yuli Krieger, a physician not involved in Sharon's case, told Israel Radio on Sunday that the chances of waking up after such a lengthy coma were small. "Every day that passes after this kind of event with the patient still unconscious the chances that he will gain consciousness get smaller," said Krieger, Deputy Head of Levinstein House, another long-term care facility.^[21]

On July 23, 2006 CNN reported that his condition is deteriorating and his kidney function is worsening^[22]. On July 26, 2006 doctors moved him to intensive care and began hemofiltration^[23].

7.28.2006

*7.25.2006 *(7.24.2006 nights dreams)

*DD4058
*

The Pale Horse

*This is at the opening of the 7 seals of God.
*
*Revelation 6: verse 7-8
*
*When the Lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth
living creature say, "Come!"
*

*I looked, and there before me was a pale horse!  Its rider was named
Death, and Hades was following close behind him.  They were given power
over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by
the wild beasts of the earth.
*

*I also note you have the Jewish Star of David drawn on the same page.
*
*I don't know if the numbers are a Date.....sometimes consecutive
numbers are written like that.
*

*I'm googling Aric - there are Arics as people - as well as
organisations.  Quite a few Aric's I've found on the I'net have Jewish
sounding last names
*

  Origin and Meaning of the Name Aric

The boy's name Aric is pronounced /AIR-ik/. It is of Scandinavian
</search/1/scandinavian> origin. Variant of *Eric* </meaning/1/Eric>.
Also an element of many other names, like *Alaric* </meaning/1/Alaric>
and *Frederick* </meaning/1/Frederick>. Aric actually contains the
elements of *Richard* </meaning/1/Richard> in reverse order
</search/1/order>.

Aric has 14 variant forms: Aaric </meaning/1/Aaric>, Arick
</meaning/1/Arick>, Arik </meaning/1/Arik>, Arric </meaning/1/Arric>,
Arrict </meaning/1/Arrict>, Arrick </meaning/1/Arrick>, *Eric*
</meaning/1/Eric>, Erik </meaning/1/Erik>, Erric </meaning/1/Erric>,
Errick </meaning/1/Errick>, Erik </meaning/1/Erik>, Ric
</meaning/1/Ric>, Rickie </meaning/1/Rickie> and *Ricky* </meaning/1/Ricky>.

Aric is a rare male first name as it was not ranked for males of all
ages in the 1990 U.S. Census. Aric is a rare surname as it was not
ranked for people of all ages in the 1990 U.S. Census.

http://www.thinkbabynames.com/meaning/1/Aric


Regards
Michelle

reply

Hi Michelle, you just answered my last question...thanks :)

Brian
 

7.28.2006

reply

Hi, yes I agree...I'm glad I'm not a believer in the bible.

Take Care,

Brian

7.28.2006

reply

Hi, thanks, yes...just leaned this.

Brian

7.30.2006

You had both Pale Horse and Aric dies on a dream a couple days ago.  Your Aric dies 2/26/28 ( I think)  I don't have a clue what it means, but I just started reading your dreams and am trying to get in better tune with you.  You have a wonderful gift.
 
 

Tracy Thomas

reply

Hi Tracy, and welcome...and thanks :)

click on DD # 4058, some readers have sent me a few things.

Brian

---

7.30.2006

Maybe you meant Ariel dies?  Ariel Sharon?  Given the star of David.  He's in bad shape.

Perhaps the pale horse represents some kind of death and the numbers the time it arrives?
 

reply

Hi, yes it could be this.

Brian

---

7.30.2006

Hi Brain,

Do you realize that in this first drawing you have a jewish star in the bottom corner and in the second you have a nazi swastika?

Wendy

reply

Hi Wendy, no, I did not.

Brian

---

7.30.2006

Hello Brian.  I'm pretty sure this is talking about Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.  The date matches his birthdate and the star of David was a clue as well.  His health is deteriorating.  Here's the Wikipedia article on him.

The recent updates are at the bottom of the page.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ariel_Sharon

Darren

reply

Hi Daren, yes, I think you are right.

Brian

---

7.30.2006

Brian,

the Swastika you drew isn't the Nazi one, the arms in the Nazi one run the
opposite way.  Read here about the history of the right and left running
swatiska before it was defiled by the Nazis.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swastika



reply


Thanks, link posted.

Brian

 

Overview

The motif seems to have first been used in Neolithic Eurasia. The swastika is used in religious and civil ceremonies in India. Most Indian temples, entrance of houses, weddings, festivals and celebrations are decorated with swastikas. The symbol was introduced to Southeast Asia by Hindu kings and remains an integral part of Balinese Hinduism to this day, and it is a common sight in Indonesia. The symbol has an ancient history in Europe, appearing on artifacts from pre-Christian European cultures. It was also adopted independently by several Native American cultures.

In the Western world, the symbol experienced a resurgence following the archaeological work in the late nineteenth century of Heinrich Schliemann, who discovered the symbol in the site of ancient Troy and associated it with the ancient migrations of Proto-Indo-Europeans ("Aryan" people). He connected it with similar shapes found on ancient pots in Germany, and theorised that the swastika was a "significant religious symbol of our remote ancestors," linking ancient German, Greek and Vedic culture.^[1][2] By the early 20th century it was widely used worldwide and was regarded as a symbol of good luck and auspiciousness.

The work of Schliemann soon became intertwined with the völkisch movements, for which the swastika was a symbol of "Aryan" identity, a concept that came to be equated by theorists like Alfred Rosenberg with a Nordic master race originating in northern Europe. Since its adoption by the Nazi Party of Adolf Hitler, the swastika has been associated with fascism, racism (white supremacy), World War II, and the Holocaust in much of the West. The swastika remains a core symbol of Neo-Nazi groups, and is also regularly used by activist groups to signify the supposed Nazi-like behaviour of organizations and individuals they oppose.

Etymology and alternative names

The word swastika is derived from the Sanskrit svastika (in Devanagari, स्वस्तिक), meaning any lucky or auspicious object, and in particular a mark made on persons and things to denote good luck. It is composed of su- (cognate with Greek ευ-, "eu-"), meaning "good, well" and asti a verbal abstract to the root as "to be"; svasti thus means "well-being". The suffix -ka forms a diminutive, and svastika might thus be translated literally as "little thing associated with well-being", corresponding roughly to "lucky charm", or "thing that is auspicious".^[3] The suffix -tika also literally means mark; therefore a sometimes alternate name for swastika in India is shubhtika (literally good mark). The word first appears in the Classical Sanskrit (in the Ramayana and Mahabharata epics).

Alternative historical English spellings of the Sanskrit word include suastika and svastica. Alternative names for the shape are:

• Black Spider, to various peoples in middle and western Europe
• crooked cross
• cross cramponned, ~nnée, or ~nny (in heraldry), as each arm resembles a crampon or angle-iron. (Compare Winkelmaßkreuz in German)
• cross gammadion, tetragammadion or just gammadion, as each arm resembles the Greek letter Γ (gamma). (Compare crux gammata in Latin, croiz gammée in Old French and croix gammée in French; cruz gamada or esvástica in Spanish)
• fylfot (meaning "four feet", chiefly in heraldry and architecture). (See Fylfot for a discussion of the etymology)
• hooked cross (Dutch: hakenkruis; Serbian: kukasti krst; Icelandic: hakakross; German: Hakenkreuz; Finnish: hakaristi; Estonian: haakrist; Greek: αγκυλωτός σταυρός (agylotos stavros); Norwegian: hakekors; Italian: croce uncinata; Romanian: Cruce încârligată; Swedish: hakkors; Danish: hagekors; Hungarian: horogkereszt; Czech: hákový kříž)
• sun wheel (German Sonnenrad), (Greek ηλιοτροχός (iliotrochos)), a name also used as a synonym for the sun cross
• tetraskelion, Greek "four legged", especially when composed of four conjoined legs (compare triskelion)
• Thor's hammer, from its supposed association with Thor, the Norse god of thunder, but this may be a misappropriation of a name that properly belongs to a Y-shaped or T-shaped symbol. (See Thomas Wilson, below.) The Swastika shape appears in Icelandic grimoires wherein it is named Þórshamar.
• thunder cross (Latvian: perkonkrusts)
• twisted cross
• unexpected cross (Polish krzyżyk niespodziany) or highlander cross (Polish góralski krzyż)

History

A mola (art form) showing a swastika, based on the Kuna flag.

In antiquity, the swastika was used extensively by the Indo-Aryans, Hittites Celts and Greeks, among others. In particular, the swastika is a sacred symbol in Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. It occurs in other Asian, European, African and Native American cultures – sometimes as a geometrical motif, sometimes as a religious symbol.

Origin hypotheses

part of the Han Dynasty silk comet atlas

The ubiquity of the swastika symbol is easily explained by it being a very simple symbol that will arise independently in any basketweaving society. The swastika is a repeating design, created by the edges of the reeds in a square basket-weave. Other theories attempt to establish a connection via cultural diffusion or an explanation along the lines of Carl Jung's collective unconscious.

While the existence of the swastika symbol in the Americas may be explained by the basket-weave theory, its American presence weakens the cultural diffusion theory. While some have proposed that the swastika was secretly transferred to North America by an early seafaring civilization on Eurasia, a separate but parallel development is considered the most likely explanation.

Yet another explanation is suggested by Carl Sagan in his book Comet. Sagan reproduces an ancient Chinese manuscript that shows comet tail varieties: most are variations on simple comet tails, but the last shows the comet nucleus with four bent arms extending from it, recalling a swastika. Sagan suggests that in antiquity a comet could have approached so close to Earth that the jets of gas streaming from it, bent by the comet's rotation, became visible, leading to the adoption of the swastika as a symbol across the world.

Two owl-like vases from Schliemann's book Ilios

Bob Kobres in Comets and the Bronze Age Collapse (1992) contends that the swastika-like comet on the Han Dynasty silk comet atlas was labeled a "long tailed pheasant star" due to its resemblance to a bird's foot., and further suggests that many swastika and swastika-like motifs may have been representations of bird tracks, including many of those found by Schliemann.

Barbara G. Walker, author of The Woman's Dictionary of Symbols and Sacred Objects, claims that the crux dissimulata, an early swastika, represented the four winds. Concerning the short-armed version of this symbol, known as the gammadion because it is made up of four Greek gammas, Walker says this symbol was an emblem of the ancient goddess and probably represented "the solstices and equinoxes, or the four directions, four elements, and four divine guardians of the world."

Archaeological record

The earliest swastika symbols of the archaeological record date to the Neolithic. The symbol was found on a number of shards in the Khuzestan province of Iran and as part of the "Vinca script" of Neolithic Europe of the 5th millennium BC.

Seals from Indus Valley Civilization

In the Early Bronze Age, it appears as part of the "Indus script" and on pottery found in Sintashta [1].

Swastika-like symbols also appear in Bronze and Iron Age designs of the northern Caucasus (Koban culture), and Azerbaijan, as well as of Scythians and Sarmatians [2]. In all these cultures the swastika symbol does not appear to occupy any marked position or significance, but appears as just one form of a series of similar symbols of varying complexity.

Historical use

In Zoroastrian Persia, the swastika symbolized the revolving sun (Garduneh-e Khorshid), Mithra's Wheel (Garduneh-e Mehr), fire, infinity, or continuing recreation. There is no reference to the swastika in the Vedas, the term svastika first appearing in Epic Sanskrit, but the symbol rose to importance in Hinduism and Buddhism in Maurya and Gupta India.

The use of the swastika by the indigenous Bön faith of Tibet, as well as syncretic religions, such as Cao Dai of Vietnam and Falun Gong of China, is thought to be borrowed from Buddhism as well. Similarly, the existence of the swastika as a solar symbol among the Akan civilization of southwest Africa may have been the result of cultural transfer along the African slave routes around AD 1500.

Adoption of the swastika in the West

This Iranian necklace was excavated from Kaluraz, Guilan, first millennium BC, National Museum of Iran.

The discovery of the Indo-European language group in the 1790s led to a great effort by archaeologists to link the pre-history of European peoples to the ancient "Aryans" (variously referring to the Indo-Iranians or the Proto-Indo-Europeans). Following his discovery of objects bearing the swastika in the ruins of Troy, Heinrich Schliemann consulted two leading Sanskrit scholars of the day, Emile Burnouf and Max Müller. Schliemann concluded that the Swastika was a specifically Indo-European symbol. Later discoveries of the motif among the remains of the Hittites and of ancient Iran seemed to confirm this theory. This idea was taken up by many other writers, and the swastika quickly became popular in the West, appearing in many designs from the 1880s to the 1920s.

These discoveries, and the new popularity of the swastika symbol, led to a widespread desire to ascribe symbolic significance to every example of the motif. In Scandinavian and Germanic countries examples of similar shapes in ancient European artifacts and in folk art were interpreted as emblems of good-luck linked to the Indo-Iranian meaning.

Western use of the motif, along with the religious and cultural meanings attached to it, was subverted in the early twentieth century after it was adopted as the emblem of the Nazi Party. This association occurred because Nazism stated that the historical Aryans were the forefathers of modern Germans and then proposed that, because of this, the subjugation of the world by Germany was desirable, and even predestined. The swastika was used as a conveniently geometrical and eye-catching symbol to emphasize this mythical Aryan-German correspondence and instil racial pride. Since World War II, most Westerners know the swastika as solely a Nazi symbol, leading to incorrect assumptions about its pre-Nazi use in the West and confusion about its sacred religious and historical status in other cultures.

Geometry and symbolism

Geometrically, the swastika can be regarded as an irregular icosagon or 20-sided polygon. The arms are of varying width and are often rectilinear (but need not be). However, the proportions of the Nazi swastika were fixed: they were based on a 5x5 grid.^[4]

Characteristic is the 90° rotational symmetry (that is, the symmetry of the cyclic group C4h) and chirality, hence the absence of reflectional symmetry, and the existence of two versions which are each other's mirror image.

The mirror-image forms are often described as:

• left-facing and, as depicted across, right-facing;
• left-hand and right-hand;
• clockwise and counterclockwise.

"Left-facing" and "right-facing" are used mostly consistently. Looking at an upright swastika, the upper arm clearly faces towards the viewer's left (卍) or right (卐). The other two descriptions are ambiguous as it is unclear if they refer to the direction of the bend in each arm or to the implied rotation of the symbol. If the latter, whether the arms lead or trail remains unclear. The terms are used inconsistently (sometimes even by the same writer) which is confusing and may obfuscate an important point, that the rotation of the swastika may have symbolic relevance.

Nazi ensigns had a through and through image, so each version was present on one side, but the Nazi flag on land was right-facing on both sides ([3], at the bottom).

The swastika is, after the simple equilateral cross (the "Greek cross"), the next most commonly found version of the cross.

Seen as a cross, the four lines emanating from the center point to the four cardinal directions. The most common association is with the Sun. Other proposed correspondences are to the visible rotation of the night sky in the Northern Hemisphere around Polaris.

As a mystical image, the swastika is often seen in a "vision" as a field of equal "perfect crosses" in rotation, the outer portion of the arms being seen as after images that are seen like the tips of rotating aircraft propellers or fan blades in videos. The direction of rotation seen by the person having the vision is considered to be indicative of the direction of their spiritual movement as either ascendant toward the Light or descendent toward the Darkness. The most auspicious such "vision" is when the person having the "vision" discovers that they can choose through "essential will" (as compared to mechanistic "ego will") and change the direction of rotation first one way, then reverse and then back again. This is considered to be an indication of spiritual maturation and self-responsibility.

Sauwastika

Main article: Sauwastika

The left-facing swastika can be found in both Hindu and Buddhist tradition.

The name sauwastika is sometimes given for the supposedly "evil", left-facing, form of the swastika (卍). A common myth is that the left-facing swastika is generally regarded as evil in Hindu tradition. This is because the much more common form in India is the right-facing swastika. Indians of all faiths sometimes use the symbol in both orientations - mostly for symmetry. Buddhists, outside of India, generally use the left-facing swastika over the right-facing swastika although, again, both can be used. Despite this, the misconception that the left-facing swastika is evil is widespread, even among some contemporary Indian communities.

Some contemporary writers — Servando González, for example — confuse matters even further by asserting that the right-facing swastika, used by the Nazis is in fact the "evil" sauwastika.^[5] (González "proves" that the left-facing swastika is the sunwise one with reference to a 1930s box of Standard fireworks from Sivakasi, India.) This inversion – whether intentional or not – might derive from a desire to prove that the Nazis' use of the right-handed swastika was expressive of their "evil" intent. (See also Taboo in Western countries.) But the notion that Adolf Hitler deliberately inverted the "good left-facing" swastika is wholly unsupported by any historical evidence.^[6]

Art and architecture

swastika on a Roman mosaic

Interlocking swastika design in pavement of Amiens Cathedral.

The swastika is common as a design motif in current Hindu architecture and Indian artwork as well as in ancient Western architecture, frequently appearing in mosaics, friezes, and other works across the ancient world. Ancient Greek architectural designs are replete with interlinking swastika motifs. Related symbols in classical Western architecture include the cross, the three-legged triskele or triskelion and the rounded lauburu. The swastika symbol is also known in these contexts by a number of names, especially gammadion.

In Chinese, Korean, and Japanese art, the swastika is often found as part of a repeating pattern. One common pattern, called sayagata in Japanese, comprises left and right facing swastikas joined by lines.^[7] As the negative space between the lines has a distinctive shape, the sayagata pattern is sometimes called the "key fret" motif in English.

The swastika symbol was found extensively in the ruins of the ancient city of Troy.

In Greco-Roman art and architecture, and in Romanesque and Gothic art in the West, isolated swastikas are relatively rare, and the swastika is more commonly found as a repeated element in a border or tessellation. The swastika often represented perpetual motion, reflecting the design of a rotating windmill or watermill. A design of interlocking swastikas is one of several tessellations on the floor of the cathedral of Amiens, France.^[8] A border of linked swastikas was a common Roman architectural motif,^[9] and can be seen in more recent buildings as a neoclassical element. A swastika border is one form of meander, and the individual swastikas in such border are sometimes called Greek keys.

The Laguna Bridge in Yuma, Arizona was built in 1905 by the U.S. Reclamation Department and is decorated with a row of swastikas.

The Canadian artist ManWoman has attempted to rehabilitate the "gentle swastika".

Religion and tradition

Hinduism

Children light lamps in the shape of Swastika, on the eve of Diwali (the eve of Hindu new year), a major Hindu festival.

The swastika is found all over Hindu temples, signs, altars, pictures and iconography where it is sacred. It is used in all Hindu weddings, festivals, ceremonies, houses and doorways, clothing and jewelry, motor transport and even decorations on food items like cakes and pastries.

It is one of the 108 symbols of Vishnu and represents the sun's rays without which there would be no life.

The Aum symbol is also sacred in Hinduism. Whereas Aum is representative of a single primordial tone of creation, the swastika is a pure geometrical mark and has no syllabic tone associated with it.

In Hinduism, the two symbols represent the two forms of the creator god Brahma: facing right it represents the evolution of the universe (Pravritti), facing left it represents the involution of the universe (Nivritti). It is also seen as pointing in all four directions (North, East, South and West) and thus signifies stability and groundedness. Its use as a sun symbol can first be seen in its representation of Surya, the Hindu Sun God. The swastika is considered extremely holy and auspicious by all Hindus, and is regularly used to decorate all sorts of items to do with Hindu culture. It is used in all Hindu yantras and religious designs. Throughout the subcontinent of India it can be seen on the sides of temples, written on religious scriptures, on gift items, and on letterhead. The Hindu God Ganesh is often shown as sitting on a lotus flower on a bed of swastikas.

Amongst the Hindus of Bengal, it is common to see the name "swastika" applied to a slightly different symbol, which has the same significance as the common swastika, and both symbols are used as auspicious signs. This symbol looks something like a stick figure of a human being.^[10] "Swastika" is a common given name amongst Bengalis and a prominent literary magazine in Calcutta is called the Swastika. The stick figure, however, is not mainstream usage in India.

Buddhism

Swastika on a Buddhist temple in Korea.

Buddhism was founded by a Hindu Prince and has thus inherited the swastika. These two symbols are included, at least since the Liao Dynasty, as part of the Chinese language, the symbolic sign for the character 萬 or 万 (wàn in Chinese, man in Japanese, vạn in Vietnamese) meaning "all", and "eternality" (lit. myriad) and as 卐 which is seldom used. A swastika marks the beginning of many Buddhist scriptures. The swastikas (in either orientation) appear on the chest of some statues of Gautama Buddha and is often incised on the soles of the feet of the Buddha in statuary. Because of the association with the right facing swastika with Nazism, Buddhist swastikas (outside India only) after the mid-20th century are almost universally left-facing: 卍. This form of the swastika is often found on Chinese food packaging to signify that the product is vegetarian and can be consumed by strict Buddhists. It is often sewn into the collars of Chinese children's clothing to protect them from evil spirits.

In 1922, the Chinese syncretist movement Daoyuan founded the philanthropic association Red Swastika Society in imitation of the Red Cross. The association was very active in China during the 1920s and the 1930s.

On maps in the Taipei subway system a swastika symbol is employed to indicate a temple, parallel to a cross indicating a Christian church.

The swastika used in Buddhist art and scripture is known in Japanese as a manji (which literally just means "the Chinese character for eternality" 万字), and represents Dharma, universal harmony, and the balance of opposites. When facing left, it is the omote (front) manji, representing love and mercy. Facing right, it represents strength and intelligence, and is called the ura (rear) manji. Balanced manji are often found at the beginning and end of Buddhist scriptures (outside India).

Jainism

Jainism gives even more prominence to the swastika than Hinduism. It is a symbol of the seventh Jina (Saint), the Tirthankara Suparsva. It is considered to be one of the 24 auspicious marks and the emblem of the seventh arhat of the present age. All Jain temples and holy books must contain the swastika and ceremonies typically begin and end with creating a swastika mark several times with rice around the altar. Jains use rice to make a swastika (also known as "Sathiyo" in the state of Gujarat, India) in front of idols in a temple. Jains then put an offering on top of this swastika - this offering is usually a fruit, a sweet (mithai), a dried fruit or sometimes a coin or currency note.

Zoroastrianism

In Surakhany (15 km. from Baku - Azerbaijan)) there is an 'Ateshgah' or 'Fire temple' allegedly built after the 6th Century BC by Zoroastrian worshipers over a natural gas pocket (now exhausted) that fuelled an 'eternal flame' burning night and day. This temple was also a shrine for Parsees (Zoroastrian worshipers from India), Hindu and Sikh pilgrims. The quadrangular pavillon has Sanskrit inscriptions and is engraved with a swastika.

The Abrahamic religions

The swastika was not widely utilized by followers of the Abrahamic religions. Where it does exist, it is not portrayed as an explicitly religious symbol and is often purely decorative or, at most, a symbol of good luck. One example of scattered use is the floor of the synagogue at Ein Gedi, built during the Roman occupation of Judea, which was decorated with a swastika.^[11]

In Christianity, the swastika is a symbol representing the resurrection of Jesus Christ(the swastika is seen as a hooked crucifix, symbolizing Christ's victory over death.) Some Christian churches built in the Romanesque and Gothic eras are decorated with swastikas, carrying over earlier Roman designs. Swastikas are prominently displayed in a mosaic in the St. Sophia church of Kiev, Ukraine dating to the 12th century. They also appear as a repeating ornamental motif on a tomb in the Basilica of St. Ambrose in Milan. However, a proposed direct link between it and a swastika floor mosaic in the Cathedral of Our Lady of Amiens, which was built on top of a pagan site at Amiens, France in the 1200s, is considered unlikely.

The Muslim "Friday" mosque of Isfahan, Iran and the Taynal Mosque in Tripoli, Libya both have swastika motifs.

Other Asian traditions

Some sources indicate that the Chinese Empress Wu (武則天)(684-704) of the Tang Dynasty decreed that the swastika would be used as an alternative symbol of the sun. As part of the Chinese script, the swastika has Unicode encodings U+534D 卍 (pronunciation following the Chinese character "萬": Cantonese: "man"; Mandarin: wan); (left-facing) and U+5350 卐 (right-facing).^[12]

The Mandarin "Wan" is a homophone for "10,000" and is commonly used to represent the whole of creation, e.g. 'the myriad things' in the Dao De Jing.

In Japan, the swastika is called manji. Since the Middle Ages, it is used as a family coat of arms. On Japanese maps, a swastika (left-facing and horizontal) is used to mark the location of a Buddhist temple. The right-facing manji is often referred as the gyaku manji (逆卍, lit. "reverse manji"), and can also be called kagi jūji, literally "hook cross."

The left-facing Buddhist swastika also appears on the emblem of Falun Gong. This has generated considerable controversy, particularly in Germany, where the police have reportedly confiscated several banners featuring the emblem. A court ruling subsequently allowed Falun Gong followers in Germany to continue the use of the emblem.

Native American traditions

The swastika shape was used by some Native Americans. It has been found in excavations of Mississippian-era sites in the Ohio valley. It was widely used by many southwestern tribes, most notably the Navajo. Among different tribes the swastika carried various meanings. To the Hopi it represented the wandering Hopi clan; to the Navajo it was one symbol for a whirling log (tsil no'oli'), a sacred image representing a legend that was used in healing rituals.^[13]

The Flag of Kuna Yala.

A swastika shape is an ancient symbol in the culture of the Kuna people of Kuna Yala, Panama. In Kuna tradition it symbolises th