This splendid combination of book and five colorful Tibetan prayer flags will be a welcome addition to your devotional resources. Prayer flags have been used for centuries and are now the only public display of Buddhist worship permissible in the country occupied by the Chinese Communists. The colors stand for the five elements: blue (sky), white (clouds), red (fire), green (water), and yellow (earth). They can be used outdoors or indoors to carry the blessings of peace, compassion, happiness, and good health to family, friends, strangers, and even enemies. As Tibetan Buddhist scholar Robert Thurman says in the introduction: "Small acts of devotion such as prayer flags plant the seeds of greater spiritual accomplishment."
The beautifully designed book by Tad Wise contains helpful material on the origin of prayer flags and their history, the symbols and mantras on the flags, and some suggestions for flying prayer flags properly. He believes that these devotional tools are primers on Tibetan Buddhist thought, vehicles to improve one's karma, and embodiments of the wind-borne spores of the Dharma. We have hung our prayer flags in the office and have already felt the some of their wonderful effects which Wise summarizes as "heightening awareness, sparking curiosity, gladdening the spirit and celebrating the universe."
