Unalome Racer Back

What is this symbol the Unalome mean?

In Buddhism, a person has to go through many struggles and suffering throughout their lives to get mature, wise and enlightened. Not only in just one lifetime, mind you, they believe in reincarnation, too.

Buddhists believe that to reach the ultimate state of enlightenment, which is called nirvana, one has to go through many cycles of death and rebirth (called samsara) during which they will experience immense suffering. Only after that, they can quench ‘the three fires’ that are greed, aversion and ignorance and become enlightened.

But how does it relate to the unalome symbol?

In parallel with this core tenet of the faith, in Buddhism, the unalome represents the path a person has to take in order to achieve clarity of mind and enlightenment.

The symbol starts with a spiral at the bottom. This spiral represents the start of one’s journey to enlightenment and fears, doubts and weaknesses one might have at this stage. There is a secondary meaning behind the spiral, however. It also represents how we, as human beings, struggle to let go of our earthly desires and belongings.

After the spiral comes the curves, loops, zigzags or endless knots before the line uncoils finally.

These loops, curves and zigzags represent the ups and downs, the twists and turns of a person’s life and the obstacles they will encounter during their lives before finally reaching enlightenment.

And then there are the dots at the end of the unalome. There are different interpretations regarding the meaning of the dots.

While some sources suggest that they mean the end of one’s journey to enlightenment, that is to say, finally reaching enlightenment and clarity, others believe the dots mean the actual death of a person which could also kind of be thought as ‘the end of one’s journey’, in quite the literal sense.

In the Hindu religion, the Unalome represents the third eye of Lord Shiva, whose duty is to oversee life and remove all obstacles. In this culture, the spiral at the bottom of the Unalome symbol represents the lack of direction in life. This spiral is followed by a line with knots which represents milestones we will have to overcome in order to reach enlightenment.

In the Buddhist religion, the meaning is more or less the same. However, the design differs slightly. The bottom of the Unalome in Buddhist culture represents the seated Buddha with a half-moon above his head. This portrays enlightenment in the darkness. Above this, the spiral and line with knots represent life going up into the universe.

In both cultures, the Unalome symbol may be accompanied by a lotus flower. In the Hindu religion, the lotus flower represents enlightenment. In Buddhism, the lotus flower is Nirvana.

FABRIC

This jersey racerback tank features a slightly scalopped bottom hem and 100% ring-spun cotton.

**Please note these run small and are pre-shrunk 

I wear a size M in these tanks. Please size up.

SIZING