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Wind Horse or in other words prayer flags are one of the most commonly seen sights in our homes and surroundings. The prayer flags are something we Tibetans embrace it with certain sanctity and holiness. Therefore, prayer flags are normally seen hoisted on high grounds, mounts, treetops and on top of wooden poles in our homes. The reasons are that there are mantras inscribed on it and hence it has to be hung or raised high so as a symbolic representation of our fortunes and luck riding high. Wind Horse or prayer flags play important roles in our lives and is an integral part of our day-to-day life.

The tradition of hoisting goes back to the pre-dated historical Shangshung period of Tibetan history. During Shangshung there was a practice of hoisting sheep wool and yak hairs on wooden poles. The reason why our ancestors hoisted sheep wool and yak hairs was that their livelihood is depended solely on domestic animals. Since their survival and livelihood depended on animals they hoisted the wool and hairs of animals believing that it would protect and ward off illness and sickness from animals.
 
Apart from the above-mentioned reason, the hoisting of animals hairs and wool during Shangshung days has nothing to do the religious rituals related to Bon and Buddhism.  

Another practice in ancient times was that when a martyr died in a battlefield, the people used to erect a wooden pole on a mounted grave of the dead soldier. That practice was to represent his martyrdom as well as to remember his bravery and courage. So in that sense, the meaning of hoisting wooden poles differs greatly from each other.  

Then gradually down the ages, during the time of first Tibetan king Nyatri Tsenpo who built his capital in Yarlung Basin where the hoisting prayer flags as a Bon ritual flourished. At that time the people in Yarlung Basin had a different name for the prayer flags, they called it “Yarbskyed”, which means, “to rise higher and progress”. However, during Shangshung days there was only a practice of hoisting yak hairs and sheep wool on wooden pole but not of clothes or fibre. Hence, the yak hairs and sheep wool had become the first prayer flags of Tibet.  

Subsequently down the ages, the practices of hoisting pieces of coloured woollen clothes and other clothes on the wooden poles. It was how the transition from yak hairs and sheep wool to hoisting of clothes took place. However, during those times they have no letters on the hoisted clothes on wooden poles.  

According to Bon religion, the five different square colour clothes represent the five elements of nature. That is to say, the Bon religion explained that the earth or universe was formed by five elements of nature. The Bon text also explained that human mind, body and consciousness were also formed by combination of five elements of nature. Therefore, Bon practitioners having believed that the five elements of nature were the prime and root cause of happiness and bliss.  

It was on that background, the hoisting of prayer flags began and come into being. Likewise, offering ritual prayers to local and earth dwelling Nagas and deities were also part of practice. They explained the ritual offerings as one of pleasing the earth dwelling Nagas and deities so that the five elements of nature will be in harmony with each other. According to Bon belief, when the five elements of nature are in harmony, it would be the source of happiness and well being for human beings and others.  

There are images of Tiger, Lion, Garuda and Dragon. The Tiger represents Grace, Lion represents Strength, Garuda represents Skill and Dragon represents Fame. Therefore whoever hoist the prayer flags with these images of animal will be endowed and blessed with Grace, Strength, Skill and Fame. That was how the ancient Bon people believed.  
However, there is a major difference of intention and motivation according to Buddhist explanation when it comes to hoisting of prayer flags. This is to say, a faithful does not go to hoist prayer flags in order to derive selfish gains such as Grace, Strength, Skill and Fame. On contrary the faithful go out to hoist prayer flags with intention and motivation of benefiting and doing good things for other sentient beings.  

This is the major difference between the two religious traditions and how they hoisted prayer flags. Apart from this difference in motivation and intention, there is no other difference in colour and size of prayer flags. However there is one slight difference, that is to say, today’s prayer flags has an image of horse carrying three ‘Wish Fulfilling Jewels’ on its back. The image of horse and Wish Fulfilling Jewels is in the centre of the prayer flag.
 
The image of horse has a meaning. The horse in the picture represents one of the Seven Attributes of the Universal Monarch. The name of the horse is The Stallion Horse. The horse has few qualities, it can talk, it can understand what other people convey to him, and in a single day the horse can make three trips around the world. The people commonly believe that the Dharmaraja, the Universal Monarch rides on this very horse. From the astrological point of view, the images of four animals as I mentioned above is interpreted to symbolise person’s Life force, Body, Power and Fortune.
 
However, at one point of time, a tradition of depicting the image of Yak on prayer flags also come into practice. But it never flourished as a widespread practice. Hence the image of Yak on prayer flags lasted for a short period of time. This is a brief introduction on the Tibetan prayer flags and how it came into being as it is practice today.