Prayer Flage

Prayer flags

Prayer flags are colorful panels or rectangular cloths placed on single poles or strung along lines, on mountain ridges and peaks high in the Himalayas, on temples or homes. Prayer flags were used by Tibetans well before the arrival of Buddhism by Tibetan armies as regimental flags. Tibetan Shamans in the Bon tradition[1] adopted the flags into spiritual shaman rituals. Tibetan villagers adopted the shamanistic practice of prayer flags into their daily lives.

Buddhism has always demonstrated its ability to adopt and absorb shamanistic rituals into its own spiritual practices. Shamanism, Daoism, and Buddhism have evolved together in a kindred relationship throughout the history of Buddhist expansion in Asia. After Buddhism arrived in Tibet as early as the fourth century B.C.E., monks adopted the shaman's colored flags into Tibetan Buddhist practice. These flags came to be seen as prayer flags, adopted into the very fabric of Tibetan Buddhist belief. The prayer flags have retained their shaman uses to bring benefit and protection, including good health, and to invoke blessings on special events. Buddhist practitioners use the prayer flags to seek spiritual blessings including benefit in future reincarnations and the experience of Nirvana. The flags are often set at the highest places possible in the Himalayan mountains on single poles or strung on a line on houses. When set on mountain peaks, the flags have a unique beauty. Read More........