WINDHORSE IMPORTS - BUDDHIST SHOP - FOR BUDDHIST PRACTICE SUPPLIES, MEDITATION SUPPLIES AND SINGING BOWLS

buddhist practice supplies, meditation supplies and tools, windhorse trading in dharmaware, ritual objects, hindu statues, buddhist statues, tibetan art, buddha sculptures, religious statues, handcrafted statues, buddhist shrine, spiritual and religious items, tantric art, nepalese art, prayer flags, quartz crystal, butter lamps, butterlamps, tibetan singing bowls, religious education resources, buddhist artifacts, dharmaware, himalayan art, tibetan artifacts, brass buddha statues, buddhist artifacts, buddhist giftsWindhorse Imports, buddhist practice supplies, meditation supplies and toolsUK Imports of fine quality Tibetan Buddhist meditation and feng shui suppliers, ritual objects, Dharmaware and practice materials. Buddhist and Hindu statues, Tibetan singing bowls, prayer flags, wall hangings, door curtains, Tibetan turquoise jewellery and quartz crystal.buddhist practice supplies, ritual objects, buddha sculptures, religious statues, handcrafted statues, free tibetAll Buddhist traditions use a Buddhist shrine as a reminder and focal point for meditation. It represents the Buddha, and offerings are placed on it. Some traditions are more elaborate than others. The Tibetan shrine, for example, is more ornate than the Zen or Theravadin shrine. The essentials in every tradition are as follows: The right space. The best is a room which is used for nothing else. Otherwise a quiet corner in a bedroom, sitting room or study is okay. The shrine itself should be higher than one’s head when seated. An image or representation of the Buddha, usually a Buddha rupa or statue of the best quality one can afford, and offerings of water, light, flowers and incense. As a leading Buddhist shop trading in dharmaware, we offer high quality Buddhist practice supplies and meditation tools, including Buddha statues, offering bowls and butterlamps, and Tibetan Buddhist jewellery.Types of Shrine. THERAVADIN BUDDHISM: A simple Theravadin-style shrine is a single platform with a picture or image of the Buddha, flowers on either side, a set of religious statues, handcrafted statues and candles or butterlamps in front, ritual objects and a pot of Tibetan incense in front of that. ZEN BUDDHISM: A Zen shrine has an image of the Buddha at centre back; water and food offerings placed in front; incense in front of that, a candle or butter lamps on the right, flowers, on the left. TIBETAN BUDDHISM: An elaborate Tibetan shrine has three levels. The highest has a Buddha image or statue in the centre with an image of Guru Rinpoche the Tantric Buddha of Tibet, on the left, as you stand facing the shrine, and Chenresig, the deity of compassion on the right. A photo of one’s personal guru may be included here. The second level has dharma texts in the centre, a yidam such as Vajra Yogini on the left, a protector such as Mahakala on the right. A bell and vajra and a stupa may be included here. At the lowest level are the seven offering bowls representing water, one for washing one for drinking, flowers, light, food , music. A mandala set to represent an offering of the universe to the Buddha is often placed here. Dharmaware including Buddhist statues, handcrafted statues, singing bowls, prayer flags, prayer wheels, prayer beads and other religious and spiritual items, and buddhist gifts can be obtained from our online buddhist shop. We also stock Tibetan door curtains, shrine hangings and other Tibetan artifacts.

Tibetan Prayer Flags

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.