Would it be stupid to..

[daxia]

..to tattoo 忍 on the forearm. I was thinking of 忍 or 滴水穿石.

Which one would be better, if any ?

Also, I have seen allot of guys in China with the Nazi symbol tattooed at their hands or forearms. I know that this also is a F a l u n G o n g symbol. Which ever it is, it would put the person who wears it in great trouble if the wrong person sees it. Like if a foreigner saw a Hitler mark, he would believe the guy is a Nazi and beat the shit out of him, and if the police would see it, they would think that he is a F a l u n G o n g practitioner and put him in jail. Can anyone explain why they have this tattoo ?

[liuzhou]

Duh!

[daxia]

Duh!

--------------------------------

please explain....

[imron]

Before being adopted by the Nazi party, the swastika was orginally a symbol meaning good fortune, luck and well being, and was used a lot in hinduism and buddhism.

[charlescpp]

i would choose "滴水穿石"

[ange9s]

A couple weeks ago, while flying from Nanning to Beijing, I sat next to a Japanese guy wearing a swastika headband. It didn't really have any spiritual or idealogical meaning to him, though. He just thought it was some kind of rock and roll symbol.

[ange9s]

Don't get the swastika tattoo, though! I hope that helps.

[mr.stinky]

you may be interested in these photos taken at kunming area temples......

[liuzhou]

My local Buddhist temple

http://tinyurl.com/qe8qn

when Hitler wasn't even a glint in his grandmother's eye and the barking cult were still binding women's feet.

[watergrass]

both "忍" and "滴水穿石" are good.

I would prefer "忍" because there're fewer cuts and it's less painful.

btw, In chinese we usually say "水滴石穿" instead of "滴水穿石".

Enha, after you finish your tattoo, how about take a photo and post it here?

[daxia]

Cool, thanks for all the info about the "swastika" symbol. I knew that It had other meanings before Hitler started to use it, but I didn't know that it was so popular.

Although, I wonder what would happen if a group of Jew's came here visiting and saw a guy with a swastika tattoo....

[horas]

*

Origins of the swastika

The EU has been urged to ban the swastika because of its Nazi associations with hate and racism. But the symbol was around long before Adolf Hitler.

The swastika is a cross with its arms bent at right angles to either the right or left. In geometric terms, it is known as an irregular icosagon or 20-sided polygon.

The word is derived from the Sanskrit "svastika" and means "good to be". In Indo-European culture it was a mark made on people or objects to give them good luck.

It has been around for thousands of years, particularly as a Hindu symbol in the holy texts, to mean luck, Brahma or samsara (rebirth). It can be clockwise or anti-clockwise and the way it points in all four directions suggests stability. Sometimes it features a dot between each arm.

Nowadays it is commonly seen in Indian artwork and current and ancient Hindu architecture, and in the ruins of the ancient city of Troy. It has also been used in Buddhism and Jainism, plus other Asian, European and Native American cultures.

The British author Rudyard Kipling, who was strongly influenced by Indian culture, had a swastika on the dust jackets of all his books until the rise of Nazism made this inappropriate. It was also a symbol used by the scouts in Britain, although it was taken off Robert Baden-Powell's 1922 Medal of Merit after complaints in the 1930s.

The Finnish Air Force also used it as its official symbol in World War II, and it still appears on medals, but it had no connection with the Nazi use.

It is rarely seen on its own in Western architecture, but a design of interlocking swastikas is part of the design of the floor of the cathedral of Amiens, France.

Nazi's hooked cross

Swastika is also a small mining town in northern Ontario, Canada, about 580 kilometres north of Toronto. Attempts by the government of Ontario to change the town's name during World War II were rejected by residents.

But it is its association with the National Socialist German Workers Party in the 1930s which is etched on the minds of Western society. Before Hitler, it was used in about 1870 by the Austrian Pan-German followers of Schoenerer, an Austrian anti-Semitic politician.

Its Nazi use was linked to the belief in the Aryan cultural descent of the German people. They considered the early Aryans of India to be the prototypical white invaders and hijacked the sign as a symbol of the Aryan master race.

The Nazi party formally adopted the swastika - what they called the Hakenkreuz, the hooked cross - in 1920. This was used on the party's flag (above), badge, and armband.

In Mein Kampf, Adolf Hitler wrote: "I myself, meanwhile, after innumerable attempts, had laid down a final form; a flag with a red background, a white disk, and a black swastika in the middle. After long trials I also found a definite proportion between the size of the flag and the size of the white disk, as well as the shape and thickness of the swastika."

Story from BBC NEWS:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/4183467.stm

Published: 2005/01/18 10:44:42 GMT

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[roddy]

Couple of queries.

1) Has anyone ever seen a Chinese person with a Chinese character tattoo? Or for that matter with the English 'Fear is the mind-killer' stamped permanently just above their arse?

2) Should I have a specific 'tattoo / calligraphy / Chinese name translation' forum - we get a fair number of them, and while they sometimes lead to interesting discussion, they aren't really learning Chinese questions.

[dalaowai]

I'd been toying with the idea of getting a tattoo to add to my collection and my Chinese friends suggested that I get it done in Traditional Chinese. They said it would give it a nice look to it.

I decided against getting it done after seeing how many NBA players have Chinese tattoos and my girlfriend's insistence that if I get a Chinese tattoo, it should be her name. Talk about commitment!

That being said, I have a few tattoos in different languages and I've seen great tattoos in Chinese. Good luck!

[roddy]

Like if a foreigner saw a Hitler mark, he would believe the guy is a Nazi and beat the shit out of him, and if the police would see it, they would think that he is a F a l u n G o n g practitioner and put him in jail. Can anyone explain why they have this tattoo ?

They have a higher opinion of people than you do, and thus believe that a) many are aware of the symbol's actual significane (actually, it's entirely possible to meet people who have never heard of the Nazis) and that B) even if they're not, they'll ask first and swing fists later.

[daxia]

They have a higher opinion of people than you do, and thus believe that a) many are aware of the symbol's actual significane (actually, it's entirely possible to meet people who have never heard of the Nazis) and that B) even if they're not, they'll ask first and swing fists later.

Not where I am from. In sweden, if you wear a nazi mark and go out for a walk in the city where allot of other people will see you, then you probably wont come back alive (if your not walking together with 10 other people who can defend you).

[mr.stinky]

swastika was also used by the navaho tribes in new mexico. currently there are

symbols in the architecture of the kimo theatre in albuquerquerque.

[transman]

It would.

[chenpv]

*no content*

PS: 卐 and 卍 are both Chinese characters, which read 'wan4'.

[dearbox]

In fact, not many Chinese people will use the word "忍" and it's more popular in Japan.