© Windhorse Imports. All rights reserved.
Design by Clive Peaple
History
Prayer flags date back thousands of years to the Bon tradition of pre-Buddhist
Tibet. Bon shaman made and hung prayer flags in five colours representing the five
elements – earth, air, water, fire, and space. According to Eastern medicine, health
and harmony are produced through the balance of these five elements. It was thought
that properly arranged coloured flags around a sick patient harmonized the elements
in his body, helping to produce a state of physical and mental health. The flags
were also used to help appease the local gods and spirits of the mountains, valleys,
lakes and streams as protection against natural disasters and disease.
As Buddhism
spread from India during the first millennium AD it incorporated some of the earlier
Bon traditions. Sacred mantras and iconographies were painted onto the Bon flags,
thus creating the beginnings of what have now become known as Tibetan prayer flags.
Originally
the writing and images on prayer flags were hand-painted. When in the 15th century
carved woodblocks were introduced from China, it became possible to reproduce identical
prints of the same design. Traditional designs could then be easily passed down through
the generations.
Most prayer flag designs were created by famous Buddhist masters
and then copied by lay craftsmen. There are relatively few basic designs and no real
innovations to the printing process have occurred in the past 500 years. Most of
the prayer flags imported to the West today are still woodblock printed, although
some are now being produced using prints made from zinc faced blocks that can be
etched photographically. This allows for finer detail than the hand carved woodblocks.
Natural stone ground pigments have been replaced by printing inks. Most of the traditional
prayer flags today are made in Nepal and India by Tibetan refugees or by Nepali Buddhists
from the Tibetan border regions
Meaning and Use
Tibetan prayer flags are known as ‘Lungta’
among Tibetans which translates as ‘Windhorse’.
The most common flags have the Ghachenchemon
mantra script contents on them. The literal translation of this is the ‘highest umbrella’
which gives the protection of enlightened prayer to its followers. The mantra invokes
the wish that all sentient beings should have a rich life of achievement, free of
fear, pain, misery, ignorance, illness, and failure.
Usually the Windhorse image is
at the centre of a set of five flags, often with four supernatural and symbolic creatures
at each corner: the dragon, the Garuda, the snow lion and the tiger. The Windhorse
gallops like the wind carrying the wish fulfilling jewel which radiates peace, prosperity
and harmony. The Windhorse symbolises the accomplishment of positive work by the
elimination of all hindrances. Other flags may carry images of auspicious symbols,
protectors and enlightened beings.
Prayer flags may be hung either inside a building
for good luck and to increase the spiritual atmosphere, or outdoors where the wind
can carry their prayers and beneficent vibrations across the countryside. Traditionally
they are hung from the highest points, such as eaves and trees, or fastened to wooden
poles for vertical display.
