Windhorse Blessings: What Prayer Flags Whisper to the Universe
As Hugh Edward Richardson noted in his biography, “The commemorative flags symbolize the relationship between the people here and the universe, and my guides seem to take great pleasure in seeing these prints of the Himalayas.” When prayer flags become the subject of conversation, certain spatial fields and bodily philosophies that go beyond the objects themselves also surface from hidden places. If you are interested in our prayer flags, please click on the link: Prayer Flags.
Often referred to as "རླུང་རྟ་" in Tibetan, the Wind Horse flag is known in Chinese as "风马旗". This widely used name, however, represents merely the superficial aspect of the concept. A deeper examination of the flag's significance shows that it fuses the term's foundational meaning with its striking visual elements, including the central horse and the four mythical creatures positioned in the corners.
In other literature, the Tibetan term for prayer flag is written as "ཀླུང་རྟ་". The first component, "ཀླུང་" (klung), should neither be interpreted as an alternate spelling of "wind" nor merely as a designation for the "wind element" among the five elements. Within earlier indigenous religious writings, "ཀླུང་" broadly denotes a specific area—such as a river or cultivated land—or, more precisely, an aggregate of something (a river being an aggregate of water, and cultivated land an aggregate of soil).
In Tibetan, a remarkable feature of vocabulary is that once a central meaning is established, other senses of the same word can be described within that central word's explanatory framework. The word 'རྟ་' exemplifies this richness: it carries not only the usual sense of 'horse' but also connotations connected to tone and to pharmaceutical adjuvants. Moreover, what people generally understand as 'རྟ་' did not, at the outset, denote the biological horse.
Take the Tibetan term for prayer flag, 'རྟ་': according to the literature, it denotes 'means or tools'—for instance, 'སྨན་རྟ་' as a pharmaceutical adjuvant, or 'ལས་རྟ་' referring to business assistance in certain Bon texts. Later, however, the connection between the celestial horse and the flow of sound caused the term to also acquire the sense of melody, and the horse's image was subsequently integrated into the woodblock of prayer flags. For further details, one can consult the works of historian Professor Namkha Norbu.
Seen in this light, the significance of the wind horse flag becomes far more evident. It is not merely a banner with a horse at its center blowing in the breeze; rather, it serves as a tool that enables a particular grouping to gain support. And what does that grouping consist of? It is the assemblage of elements—the elemental field. To grasp why these elements held such importance for the early ancestors of Snowland, one must look to the traditional system of astronomy that was built around them.
Segong Chuqiong, the master of elemental astrology and son of Donba Xinrao, once asked his father about the way of elemental astrology. In reply, Donba Xinrao explained that objects are composed of particles, and the elements are what cause the particles to act within an object. He went on to say that the various functions of the elements fall roughly into four categories: earth, water, fire, and wind. According to the traditional scriptures of the Benzene religion, the complete interpretation of elemental astrology traces back to its spiritual patriarch and founder, Donba Xinrao.
All things are shaped by the earth element, while water concentrates energy in a single location, fire causes everything to reach fruition, and wind drives the growth and circulation of all phenomena. Taken together, these elements exist in mutual harmony and evolve in accord with natural law. Nevertheless, adverse interactions among the elements are also possible, and when they follow that law in development, all objects ultimately come to an end.
When asked how elemental astrology functions, Dunbar Rinpoche explained that recognizing the connections between the outer world and the configurations of the twelve months, four seasons, and constellations allows one to perceive the changes occurring in the universe, which follow natural laws. These laws, in turn, enable people to see how external activities such as farming and herding correspond to the positive or negative shifts of elemental forces within the inner self.
Of course, this account of where astronomical knowledge came from can be viewed as heavily shaped by history—a mythical mode within a particular historical narrative. Yet it at least reveals how central celestial elements were to Tibetan life, which in turn explains the origins and evolution of the Wind Horse flag. With that understanding, people can then use it as a guide to choose suitable elemental methods for their own healing and nurturing. So how should the Wind Horse flag be read?
Having understood the connection between the Five Elements Theory and the Wind Horse Flag, two further questions remain: first, why does the flag's combination of elements consist of five? Second, how are these five elements represented visually? According to elemental astrology, there are five elements—"earth, water, fire, wind, and space" (Sa, Chu, Me, Lung, Namka)—where "space" denotes both the sky and emptiness.
In the Wind Horse Flag, two systems of elements are brought together: one from elemental astrology, which has a fixed sequence of "wood, fire, earth, iron, and water" (Shingme, Sa, Chaktsu, Chu), and another from star astrology. The order in the first system is unchangeable, and the arrangement of gold, wood, water, fire, and earth is not part of the Himalayan region's astrological tradition. In the flag, this pairing reflects both the internal balance and disruption of elements within elemental astrology and the relationship of elements to the outer world in star astrology.
An interesting symbolic system is embodied by the five animals depicted on the Wind Horse Flag.
The tiger embodies space or wood—its forest dwelling reflects the universe's vitality—while the snow lion stands for earth, moving through mountain and woodland. Fire is represented by the great bird, whether the Bon religion's "qiong" bird or the Buddhist golden-winged bird, both linked to fierceness. Water corresponds to the dragon or dragon clan, a divine group that lives in water, and wind is symbolized by the horse, the mountain god's mount endowed with thirty-two virtues, galloping through the sky. At the same time, these creatures are a concrete manifestation of a particular region: the four directions and the center, a viewpoint that was distinctive to the people of the Tubo period, as their literature reveals.
Note that the five animals on the Wind Horse flag (བྲི་ཐབས་) are not always fixed; in some earlier Bon religion versions, the flag featured the white yak and excluded the snow lion and tiger. As for the fabric colors themselves, blue corresponds to the wood element, green to the fire element, red to the earth element, yellow to the iron element, and white to the water element.
The symbiotic relationships among the elements cause each one to support another. In a mythological reading of the five animals, they represent the five children (ཀླུང་རྟ་སྤུན་ལྔ་) of the world creator king (སྲིད་པ་ཡེ་སྨོན་རྒྱལ་པོ་) and queen (སྲིད་པ་ཡེ་སྨོན་རྒྱལ་མོ་). This same interpretation has also been extended to the five animals on the Wind Horse flag, which are viewed as totems of the five principal early Tibetan clans.
The water element, bolstered by iron, generates wealth and power. Earth's support of iron ensures that political matters proceed smoothly. Fire's reinforcement of earth renders it stronger. Wood's aid to fire produces success across all efforts. Water's contribution to wood brings harmony to aquatic zones.
According to certain religious interpretations, the form and function of the Wind Horse flag carry meanings distinct from the concept behind it. In Bon and early beliefs, the flag aids with "destiny-body-fortune" and calms the spirits that travel through the body's blood vessels. Meanwhile, the prayer flags fully express the concept of elements through the combination of animal motifs and colors.
In form, Bon Wind Horse flags seldom feature images other than animals, whereas Buddhist Wind Horse flags typically depict a deity or high-ranking monk at the center and often fill the empty spaces with repeated Buddhist mantras. In Buddhism, the Wind Horse flag serves to aid the “body-speech-mind,” also called the three gates in Buddhism. A symbol specific to the Buddhist Tantric tradition is the Victory Banner adorned with the fierce goddess Dvajagrakeyura.
The fusion of mantra veneration with the native Victory Banner custom establishes a sacred space for Buddhist practitioners. This goddess originates from the luminous light atop the Buddha’s head and personifies mantra, a tool employed in Tantric rites for upholding virtuous qualities.
Regarding the Wind Horse Flag ceremony, opinions on it vary, yet the procedure generally adheres to these steps: [1] a person offers a request; [2] horses summon the elemental wind (འབྱུང་བའི་རླུང་ཆེན་); [3] this elemental wind then conveys the request to different objects of desire (ཕྱོགས་ལ་བསྟན་པ་); [4] people call out (བོན་དང་བསྭོ་) to the spirits; and [5] the spirits respond with feedback (བཀྲ་སྦྱིན་པ་). Such a ceremony may be held at water edges, tree branches, or mountain passes, as long as the site serves as a gathering place of the elements.
There is much to say about prayer flags, yet as long as we hold faith in the ever-changing elements and the romantic idea of the body behind them, blessings from the gods will surely appear wherever those flags flutter. At the same time, be cautious not only of the Tibetan mantras near you, but also of what later generations call the elephant seal script. Take my word: those blessings are genuine, and the horses still gallop among the clouds.
This article is translated from Sorang Wangqing's blog. Pegasus bears our aspirations and charges toward the horizon.
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