Our car was winding through the 5,500-meter-high Gangbala Mountain when the Tibetan farmers sitting beside gave me a pile of  wind horses-colored paper printed with Buddhist portraits and scriptures. I was quite confused and did not know what to do with the paper. All of sudden, our car drove out of the valley and a wide open vista unfolded before us -white hada (long silk scarves), colored prayer flags, tall piles of mani (holy stone carvings) and a crystal clear lake. The car windows were all open and the Tibetan farmers threw the wind horses into air while chanting sorry to disturb you, mountain and water gods.

Ubiquitous Wind Horse

The Wind horse appears not only in Tibet but also in Tibetan-inhabited areas of neighboring provinces. For centuries, Buddhists have planted these prayer flags outside their homes and places of spiritual practice for the wind to carry the beneficent vibrations across the countryside. Prayer flags are said to bring happiness, long life and prosperity to the flag bearer and all beings in the vicinity.

The wind horse is usually made of a piece of cloth made from five colors red, yellow, green, blue and white. Printed on the prayer flags are a holy horse and various mantras and Buddhist patterns. Traditionally, they are fastened to wooden poles for either vertical or horizontal display.

Whenever a Tibetan climbed a mountain peak or rode across a bridge on a pilgrimage, he would get off his horse and take off his hat, shouting auspicious words and throwing the wind horse to show respect to the gods. The colored prayer flags can be seen everywhere in Tibetan-inhabited areas in China.

Sacrifice to the Mountain God

The Wind horse is called Lung-ta in the Tibetan language. Lung means wind while ta refers to horse. Ancient Tibetans believed that Tibet's mountains, valleys, rivers and prairies were all protected by the Year God living in the heaven. The Year God often rode the Wind horse to inspect the wide area of Tibet and ward off ghosts and evils. In order to show their gratitude and respect, Tibetans offered steeds to the god on auspicious days.

This tradition gradually evolved into a religious practice. People inscribed on the wind horse auspicious symbols, invocations, prayers and mantras to show their reverence to the gods and to hope prayer flags would bring fortune to them.

Varieties of the Wind Horse

There are three types of wind horse-cloth, paper and prayer flags used variously according to their different purposes.

The cloth Wind horse is made of rectangular or square cloth in five colors, yellow, green, red, white and blue, in that order. The size of the cloth varies from 30 cm to 60 cm.  Buddhist patterns and mantras are printed on the cloth in red or black. The cloth wind horse is usually hung outside homes or religious places. Sometimes it is placed in sanctuaries or Buddhist niches in Tibetan houses. 

The paper wind horse is thrown during praying ceremonies or sacrificial rites. It can be also pasted or hung inside or outside houses.

The prayer flag is either sewn onto ropes to be displayed horizontally, or fastened to wooden poles for vertical display. The vertical prayer flag stands as tall as dozens of meters such as the one in the square of the Jokhang Temple Monastery. It is decorated with gilded bottles, a colored canopy and cushions. When the wind blows, it rustles and clangs. The horizontal prayer flag may be as long as several hundred meters. For example, the flag between the Red Hill and the Medicine King Hill stretches five hundred meters, made of thousands of  wind horses.

The five colors of the wind horse represent the five elements of the universe earth, water, fire, air, and ether (space). Normally, a Lung-ta has a horse symbol in the middle, carrying Buddhist mantras. In its four corners are the four majestic mystical animals; the snow-lion, symbolizing destiny; the garuda, vitality; the dragon, prosperity; and the tiger, representing the human body.

The Legend of the Prayer Flag

There is a beautiful legend about the origin of the prayer flag. On his journey back from ancient India, a senior monk walked across a river and discovered his scripture books were wet. He placed his books under a tree to dry, and sat down to meditate. Suddenly, Buddhist music filled the air and the Buddha appeared. He opened his eyes and found his books had been blown into the trees. The monk immediately realized that he had reached the highest level of Buddhism. As he had come to fully understand Buddhism, the scripture books would be of no use to him. That was why the Buddha blew his books away.

The monk finished his Buddhist journey and left his scripture books behind. Since then, the tradition of hanging prayer flags has been carried on.

Buddhist Prayer Flags

Like burning mulberry leaves and turning Buddhist scriptures, hanging prayer flags is an important tradition in Tibetan life. Normally, on the third day of the first month of the Tibetan calendar, people will burn mulberry leaves on their roofs and replace their fading prayer flags with new ones. They will sing loud to pray to the Buddha while scattering highland barley or zanba. Then they will post prayer flags in sacred mountains and lakes nearby. It is said that the higher and longer one's prayer flags are, the better his luck will be.

In the Gangren-botsin Mountain, worshipped by Tibetans as a holy mountain, a prayer flag-changing ceremony is held on the fifteenth of the fourth month of the Tibetan calendar. On that day, local people and pilgrims from other places will volunteer to replace the old flag. When the dozen-meter-tall flag is brought down, faithful Buddhists will rush to get a piece of the wind horse The next day, they will erect a new one to mark the beginning of turning Buddhist scriptures in the new year.

Prayer flags are actually print artworks on cloth. Together with mani stone carvings and murals, they are representative artistic expressions of Tibetan folklore. Tibetan people create wind horses out of their religious enthusiasm and devotion. That is why they call them the flags of destiny.