Prayer Flags in Bhutan

 

 

Prayer flags are common in the Himalaya region and I've already shown some of them [1]. Today I want to share more about the flags seen in Bhutan.

The origin of the prayer flags [2] might be found in the Bön religion, which has been practiced in Tibet before the advent of buddhism and which both might have influenced each other. Prayer flags are usually rectangular pieces of cloth, most come in the five colors of the five elements, but as we have already seen, prayer flags for the dead are only white [3].

The horizontal flags are called lung-ta, which mean wind horse and quite a lot of these flags have a wind horse printed on them, but there are other pictures as well. Prayer flags are set up to let the wind carry prayers into the surrounding country to promote peace, compassion, strength, and wisdom for every being. They aren't prayer to gods or demons. The vertical flags are called darchog in Tibetan.

The colors are rich in smbolism and „blue symbolizes the sky and space, white symbolizes the air and wind, red symbolizes fire, green symbolizes water, and yellow symbolizes earth“. Usually the five colours are repeated in the same manner in order to produce long strings of pray flags. In Bhutan,  colored flags „also stand for the five wisdoms of Buddhism, the five directions, the five meditation Buddhas, and the five emotions“ [4]. What if the colors fade? This is considered an auspicious sign as more prayers  have been spread already.

Besides the lung-ta you will find other animals (real and fictional) on the flags: dragon, garuda,  tiger, and snowlion. They might stand for happiness and longevity, luck or prosperity.

 

A lay monk sells prayer flags previously consecrated by a lama

 

The monk uses his hand as an abakus
to calculate auspicious days from the lunar calendar

Prayer flags are set up on specific days according to the lunar calendar. You will be told by the lama as one only puts up consecrated flags, which by the way are also available for the tourist.

Red Tara or Kurukulla - most probably the aquivalent to love potion No. 9

Links and Annotations:
[1] Tibet: https://rheumatologe.blogspot.com/2018/08/prayer-flags.html or a German blogpost: https://rheumatologe.blogspot.com/2021/05/maibaum-und-gebetsfahnen.html
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prayer_flag
[3] https://rheumatologe.blogspot.com/2023/04/funeral-rites-tsa-tsas-and-prayerflags.html
[4] https://www.longitude80.com/travel-log/on-a-flag-and-a-prayer  

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