alternatehistory.com

This idea came to me when I attended a Buddhist ceremony a few weeks ago and saw the prominence of the swastika. Thinking of how ludicrous it was for such a peaceful, holy and auspicious symbol to be manipulated by Nazis into a symbol of hatred and oppression. It got me to thinking of other symbols that could have undergone such drastic transformations in representation and use.

Post alternate explanations for the use of particular symbols and their connections to particular organisations, religions, political parties or just general society .

I'll start, I thought it was interesting to change up the meaning of the hammer and sickle. I even created a nifty picture.:p:D

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Shi Daiyang was born in 967 AD in a small village on Song Shan, Henan Province near the Shaolin Temple. He was the son of a local blacksmith (his father) and a rice farmer (his mother), he split his early childhood years assisting both his parents and learning their trades. When he was 10, Daiyang's parents realised that was a very diligent and gifted learner, but that they were far too poor to send him off for schooling. The institution that could provide for Daiyang a decent education, that remotely nearby was the Shaolin Temple.

The Shaolin Temple was also renowned for instilling pride, physical ability and toughness and above all, discipline and honour. Shi Daiyang was sent off to the temple, never seeing his parents again, only bringing with him a sickle and hammer as a reminder of them.

Shi Daiyang quickly became known as the most dedicated of all monks training at the temple. Daiyang supposedly remained awake and trained long after all the monks and the abbot had gone to sleep. Daiyang was recorded as having mastered all major forms of Shaolin Kungfu by his teens and even developed a reputation for being a most accomplished Buddhist scholar. When the abbot of the Shaolin Temple died in 1001, Daiyang was handed the role.

A most capable teacher and leader, under his period as Abbot, the Shaolin Temple produced some of the greatest Martial Artists in all of China and some were called to the Imperial Guard. Shi Daiyang is also the attributed creator of the martial arts style, Chuí Lián Dào 槌劆道 (The Way of the Hammer and Sickle)
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