Prayer flags
All over Nepal, the Himalayas for that matter, where there are buddhists residing, strings with flags are fluttering in the wind over roof tops, from poles, cairns and monuments.They are called prayer flags, mainly made out of cotton and they come in a prescribed selection of colours. There are varieties of block prints that are imprinted on these flags, they are strung on a line and hung at an auspicious point, such as at a mountain pass, significant rock or other feature in nature, a cairn on a mountain top etc. You can also see them on religious buildings, on homes, and inside in family shrines. The imprints are basically (as I have understood it) prayers and mantras and symbolic blessings, and when these flutter in the wind prayers are wafted into heaven and to the Buddha. The act of putting up prayer flages on strings or poles is thus also a way of gaining merit in the next life.You...
