The Nepal prayer flags you have on your desk and on your bike are more than just any decorative piece. Everything has a deeper meaning, from the colour to the text on the flags. Buddhist prayer flags in layman’s terms are simply prayer flags that send our prayers through the wind to be answered. What do prayer flags entail? Before you tell your friend visiting Leh-Ladakh to get some for you, here’s what you should know about them.
Tibetan prayer flags are customarily hoisted high in the air to catch the wind and carry out the prayer to bless and bring good fortune to all sentient beings. The words on Wind Horse prayer flags, when translated into English, read:
“May the rain come when it’s supposed to.
May your crops and livestock prosper.
May there be no more sickness, famine, or conflict.
May all living things be well and happy.”
Tibetan Prayer Flags are bright, rectangular fabrics meant to encourage compassion, serenity, strength, and knowledge. They’re also used to carry mantras and prayers over the air. Lung-ta, which means wind horse, and Dar Cho, which means “to promote fortune, wealth, health, and life” and “Cho,” which means “all sentient beings,” are two types of prayer flags. Lung-ta flags are hung in groups of five horizontally. The five flags are arranged in order of colour and meaning:
- The colour blue is associated with the sky and space.
- The colour white is associated with the elements of air and wind.
- The colour red is associated with fire.
- Water is represented by the colour green.
- Earth is represented by the colour yellow.
The balance and order of the flags bring about health and harmony. Prayer flags can be seen on hills, mountain passes, between trees, rocks, and on top of monasteries, stupas, and temples all throughout the world, but mainly in South Asia. They’re usually hung from high to low, diagonally. Individual Danchor flags are affixed to a hardwood pole varying in length from 3 to 60 feet. These are usually seen near monasteries and spiritual sites, where they are planted in the ground. In Tibet, the Prayer Flags precede Buddhism. They were first displayed in reaction to the common flags used by warlords in the 7th century.
Originally, they had to be commissioned because they were hand painted one by one. Tibetan prayer flags are now printed utilising a woodblock printing method with mantras, prayers, and auspicious symbols, making them easier to create and get.
Last modified: August 31, 2022
