Greg and his tattoo brother Rob Deut adopted the Unalom in 1998 and chose it as their personal symbol. The Unalom comes from the ancient Pali-writing, a pre-Buddhistic writing. The meaning of the Unalom seems obvious, especially when you consider that the meaning of a spiral in most cultures stands for: infinity, the re-occurring, continuation, cycles, et cetera.
In the Unalom the spiral is being broken and the line gradually goes up. If you do not want to come back to earth endlessly, or make the same mistakes over and over, you can take certain actions to break the spiral which gives you the opportunity to rise to Nirwana, heaven, the next round, whatever.
It's the intention of believe systems/philosophies (based on reincarnation) to break through this infinite spiral. Letting go of the materialistic way of thinking, live by the ten commandments or the dharma, consider the universal rules, be honest to yourself, be more compassionate to other people, forgivingness, mindfulness and so on. There are many ways and examples. This is the search for enlightenment which the Unalom represents.
The blossom of the cherry tree is essential and prominent in Japanese art. The brief and magnificent period of flowering and the swift fading and subsequent scattering of petals in the wind symbolises the fragility of human existence and also the perfect death of a warrior, marked by living in the now and indifference to the world left behind.
The cherry blossom is associated with samurai and is the ultimate symbol of their ‘bushido’ (in Japanese this means: ‘way of the warrior’). This is the code of honour of the samurai. Bushido is a strict code that demands loyalty, faithfulness, purity and honour until death. The ideal samurai, a combination warrior and sometimes poet or artist, was ever ready to meet his death, ever appreciative of the fleeting moment.
