Travel Tibet and Experience Tibetan Culture – Tibet Prayer Flag

Tibet has a very unique culture and tradition that attracts curiousities of world wide travelers, travel Tibet and knowing the Tibetan culture is an different experiences. Here Explore Tibet introduce the meaning of Tibetan prayer flags, prayer flags are commonly seen in Tibet every where like high passes, holy lake shores, roof of the houses and in the monasteries, mostly any prominent places exposed to the wind may be adorned with multicoloured prayer flags ( in Tibetan it called darchok), permitting the natural power of the wind to distribute the blessing of their inscribed prayers as they flap to and fro, for which reason they are known also as “horse of thw wind” (lungta). Domestic rooftops and monastery campounds often have large poles to which there prayer flags are attached, and renewed annually on the 3rd day after teh Tibetan New Year. Similiarly, most mountain passes are marked by cairns of stones (some inscribed with mantras), to which sets of prayer flags are attached. Whereever public buses or private jeeps cross over a jamor pass, the passengers will invariably disembark to add a stone to the cairn, or tie a newly prepared set of prayer flags and burn incense as an offering to the spirit of the mountain, who would have been tamed and appointed protector of Buddhism by Padmasambhava back in the 8th century. Some will cast paper prayer flags into the air form the bus window, rejoicing loudly in the ancient paean: “Kyi-Kyi-so-so-lha-gyel-to” (May the God be victorious!).

A single set of cotton prayer flags is ordered in the sequence: blue, white, red, green and yellow, respectlvely symbolizing the five elements: space, water, fire, air and earth. In each corner of the flag there may be a protective animal: Garuda, dragon, tiger and lion, while the mantra-syllables forming te main part of the inscription may vary according to the preferred meditational deity of the devotee. Those of the three bodhisattvas: Avalokiteshvara, Manjughosa, and Vajrapani are commonplace, as are the mantras of the female bodhisattva Tara, who protects travellers from the diverse dangers of the road.
Explore Tibet is a local Tibetan tour operator and we always introduce our Tibetan culture and tradition to our customers, because we think knowing the culture of the locality is a great experiences of traveling in the area, it also makes your Tibet travel more different and meaningful.