Thais Upset By Buddha Image On Bikinis

[george]

Thais upset by Buddha image on bikinis

BANGKOK: -- A multi-coloured Victoria's Secret swimsuit with an image of the Buddha on the bikini top is upsetting many deeply traditional Thais who want its U.S. makers to take it off the shelves.

The mass-circulation Thai Rath newspaper splashed a picture of a buxom blonde beauty wearing the offending bikini on its front page on Wednesday, provoking outcries from politicians in the predominantly Buddhist country.

"We are offended and we will have to tell them we are offended," said Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-Ngam, who is also in charge of Buddhist affairs.

The paper, which said it was alerted to the racy poolside outfit by a Thai woman who spotted it in an American summer clothing catalogue, said the swimsuit was "too much" and "hurt the hearts of Buddhists".

No representative of Victoria's Secret was immediately available for comment.

--Reuters 2004-04-22

[PvtDick]

They should take a walk around the streets of Bangkok and see how many young Thai kids are wearing clothing with Christian symbolism on them...then lighten up.

[dr_Pat_Pong]

They should take a walk around the streets of Bangkok and see how many young Thai kids are wearing clothing with Christian symbolism on them...then lighten up.

I can't recall seeing much of that sort of clothing at all.

[Pink Mist]

They should take a walk around the streets of Bangkok and see how many young Thai kids are wearing clothing with Christian symbolism on them...then lighten up.

I can't recall seeing much of that sort of clothing at all.

memory going Doc, alchohol induced alzheimers

[francois]

hi'

you're right doc, not many but a few though ...

anyone offended?

it's only a picture and anyway Buddha Gautama said : don't revere any image of me ...

am I wrong here?

francois

[PvtDick]

They should take a walk around the streets of Bangkok and see how many young Thai kids are wearing clothing with Christian symbolism on them...then lighten up.

I can't recall seeing much of that sort of clothing at all.

Aw, c'mon! Just take a walk around the Siam Square area. You'll see plenty of Jesus t-shirts, not to mention teenagers wearing crucifixes as a fashion item. Madonna started the whole thing years ago.

[Opl]

Go to Souvenir shops in Rome ( Vaticano).

Take a look at the ashtrays delicately decorated with the Pope's portrait right in the middle.

I also feel uncomfortable with the Bouddha lamps and every item of this kind.

And it is not a matter of taste.

[dr_Pat_Pong]

They should take a walk around the streets of Bangkok and see how many young Thai kids are wearing clothing with Christian symbolism on them...then lighten up.

I can't recall seeing much of that sort of clothing at all.

memory going Doc, alchohol induced alzheimers

Jeez Bronco ... it gets thirsty being in these tropics mate. A man doesn't want to dehydrate.

[megashox]

They should take a walk around the streets of Bangkok and see how many young Thai kids are wearing clothing with Christian symbolism on them...then lighten up.

I can't recall seeing much of that sort of clothing at all.

Not much clothing in Pat Pong I think!

[Moving]

I am deeply offended by the fact that my being deeply offended is not offensive to anyone but myself...no offense meant, I think??

[Phil Conners]

I am deeply offended by the Nazi and Bin Laden signs on helmets, bikes and t-shirts. Are they going to do somthing about that? (rhetoric questions)

[megashox]

That floosie in Nana with the Red & White swastika tattooed where the sun doesn't shine really puts me off!

[NedKelly]

What a joke. Do Thais have a momopoloy on Buddhism....nope.

Madsere........you are correct....within days of the 9/11 incident we were face to face with t-shirts showing the buildings in flames and collapsing. Also t-shirts emblazened with Ossima's stupid noggin...........this along with nazi symbols all over the place tells me a lot about the depth of thought, awareness of others and compassion of Thai people. Except for when it comes to their own backyard and they start to complain bitterly. Theres some growing up to be done.

[Pink Mist]

Let's have a poll to see who's offended

[Kringle]

only thing that offends me is that she wore a top at all.

[polecat]

At a condo I used to live in here in CM, I used to take great drunken joy at ripping the swastika flags (yup, flags) off 2 students mopeds in the car park. As for Bin Laden shirts...nah, can't be arsed

[Rhys]

Is true that the swatsika was / is a religious symbol at one time? Valid question here...

Oh..please the culture police need only look at the waste of money and tasteless fashion a few months back on the main drag.

I have seen Buddha boobing head on the dashboards.. so

Needless to say it was one of the Khun Ying types..you know the type.. the hair thing..and penciled in eyebrows.. that saw the add..

Pray for hot weather

[NedKelly]

Actually now that someone mentioned it....the nazi symbol may be the reverse of a symbol I have seen used in Buddhist/Hindu Bali. It was evident in a pattern design around the wall of a 'losmen' I satyed in one time and when I asked about it, was told it was not nazi as it was backards.....they said it was buddhist.

[mbkudu]

That floosie in Nana with the Red & White swastika tattooed where the sun doesn't shine really puts me off!

I've never seen this fine lass, but did you notice which way it points. Surely you are aware that a swastika that has points to the left (counterclockwise) is an ancient buddhist and Native American sybol; around way, way before the Nazis.

The Nazis of course had theirs pointing right (clockwise). They ripped off something very sacred and exploited it to the maximum. What a shame!

[Phil Conners]

When said symbol is in black within a white circel on a red background I think everybody might as well give up trying to find justifying reasons for it's display.

I think the original sign also was rotate 45 degrees, i.e. + instead of x if you get what I mean.

[megashox]

That floosie in Nana with the Red & White swastika tattooed where the sun doesn't shine really puts me off! 

I've never seen this fine lass, but did you notice which way it points. Surely you are aware that a swastika that has points to the left (counterclockwise) is an ancient buddhist and Native American sybol; around way, way before the Nazis.

The Nazis of course had theirs pointing right (clockwise). They ripped off something very sacred and exploited it to the maximum. What a shame!

I didn't look up close but I'm pretty sure it was the Nazi version. Her beaver cropped like Hitler's moustache was anyway a dead give-way!

[mbkudu]

When said symbol is in black within a white circel on a red background I think everybody might as well give up trying to find justifying reasons for it's display.

I think the original sign also was rotate 45 degrees, i.e. + instead of x if you get what I mean.

Agreed. I think many Thais don't understand the pain that that symbol represents to many people, especially western people.

[PvtDick]

Just goes to show that everyone has their own sacred cows. Mine are not necessarily yours, and yours not necessarily mine. Kinda tough to go through life without offending anyone.

[JemJem]

As an anti-racist, I was also very shocked when I first saw a swastika symbol on a motorbike in Bangkok some years ago. Later, I saw more of them unfortunately.

But the thing is, most of these people having these symbols actually don't know what it refers to. I think the best thing is to talk to those people and let them know what the swastika symbol is. Even if we make a single person understand what it is, I consider it a gain. Of course, there is a high chance that many of these people wouldn't be able to understand your lecture on Nazis and racism, in English, so, it would be handy to be able speak at least an intermediate level of Thai

Regards,

Jem

[Darknight]

went to a restaurant in isaan once where they put up western symbols to attract farangs in tube lights.

The katholic cross was sitting next to a swastika which was sitting next to a Jewish star...

Look quite amusing tried to explain the owner it was not a really good thing to do but gave up.

First i would have tought them history,geography,filosophy,racism, and that was just to much to ask. They didn't even know what world war 2 was anymore.

[PvtDick]

A big thing now in the West is young guys having Chinese or Japanese characters tattooed on their body. I'm sure few know what they really mean in depth.

[Phil Conners]

"Licensed Prostitute # 45"

[lungbing]

The swastika is a lot older than Buddhism and iirc was an Assyrian or Babalonian symbol, but with the hands pointing the other way to the way the nazis used it. As to American Indians, I don't recall ever seeing it, but who knows. But it predates them by thousands of years.

Derek

Khon Kaen

[Nat]

the racy poolside outfit

It’s actually a halterneck bikini top, not a triangle and not very racy.....unlike the appearance of the buxom blonde modeling it

[meadish_sweetball]

But the thing is, most of these people having these symbols actually don't know what it refers to. I think the best thing is to talk to those people and let them know what the swastika symbol is. Even if we make a single person understand what it is, I consider it a gain. Of course, there is a high chance that many of these people wouldn't be able to understand your lecture on Nazis and racism, in English, so, it would be handy to be able speak at least an intermediate level of Thai

JemJem, very balanced and knowledgable answer as opposed to some of the others.

I have the same experience. The swastikas here are ancient symbols representing something positive. They have been spotted in different cultures over the world, and yes, it is also true that the Brahman/Hindu swastika is reversed.

I actually read a very interesting essay in Thai on the subject of Swastikas when I went to a cave temple in the inner regions of Hua Hin province, written by the Abbot of the local wat which was "running" the cave.

His point was that the swastika was a divine symbol with lots of power, and that the Nazis, realizing this and wanting to harness that power, stole the symbol and used it for evil purposes. He also called for Thais to explain this to foreigners who became upset by the use of the symbol.

Even Thais with university degrees have very fragmentary knowledge of WW2 in the Western version. They will know about the Japanese being in Thailand, and some more, and have probably heard Hitler's name - but he won't mean more to them than Jit Phumisak, Pridi Phanomyong or Sarit Thammarat means to most of those of you who read this post.

Quoting from Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swastika about swastikas:

"The swastika (Sanskrit "good luck" or "well-being", literally "it is good"). The name and first use of the swastika was first mentioned in the Vedas, the holy texts of Hinduism. However, while its name is Vedic, it appears in art and design throughout human history, symbolising many different things; such as luck, Brahma, the Hindu concept of samsara, or Surya (the sun).

The swastika is used primarily as a symbol by Hindus, but transferred to followers of other Indic religions like Buddhists Jainists.

In the West, the Swastika is most easily identified as the symbol of the Nazis, who believed that the early Aryans of India, from whose Vedic tradition the swastika sprang, were the prototypical white invaders, and thus saw fit to co-opt the sign as a symbol of white unity. It has come to signify fascism outside of India due to its history in World War II."

Hermann Göring was apparently the Nazi who was the most obsessed with mysticism and the mumbo jumbo surrounding their "Master Race" hotchpotch of very little factual basis, and a great deal of speculation and propaganda myth.

I don't think religious symbols should be toyed with for the sake of fashion, and only rarely for art. The person doing should consider the feelings of the people revering the symbol as well. This goes for all religious symbols.

While the general school system here doesn't seem to promote a great deal of understanding of others based on facts and learning, I find that most Thai people still have an admirable amount of tolerance for all the weird things they meet in their lives coming from outside, especially because of this widespread ignorance of different cultures and beliefs.

The risk of getting ganged up on by some redneck fanatics in the West seems a lot greater in my opinion, than any Thais doing the same to differing people here in the Kingdom. At least that is my own observation so far.