The Tibetan Plateau is not only rich in its beautiful landscape, but also with its unique Tibetan Culture and traditions.
Tibetan Culture–Hada
Hada is a long narrow silk scarf, which is also a symbol of respect but is used in various ways including the use of talisman. If you go for a journey you can offer Khada for his protective traveling. It represents welcome as well as offering. The Khada has offered certain amounts of money to see the higher designated Buddhist monk.
These are not just lovely pieces of colored cloth with writing on them, but Buddhist prayers, mantras and powerful symbols to produce a spiritual vibration carried by the wind across the countryside. All beings touched by the wind are uplifted and a little happier. The silent prayers are blessings on the breath of nature. Just as a drop of water permeates the ocean, prayers dissolved in the wind extend to fill space. There is no simpler way to create goodness in this world than to put prayer flags for the benefit of other living beings.
The meanings behind prayer flag texts and symbols behind the whole idea of prayer flags, are based on the most profound concepts of Tibetan Buddhist philosophy. The Tibetan word for prayer flag is Dar Cho. “Dar” means the increase of life, fortune, health and wealth. “Cho” means all sentient beings. Prayer flags are simple devices that, coupled with the natural energy of the wind, harmonize the environment, increasing happiness and good fortune among all living beings.
Tibetan Culture–Tibetan prayer wheels
(called “Mani wheels” by the Tibetans) are devices for spreading blessings and well being. Rolls of thin paper, imprinted with many copies of the mantra (prayer) Om Mani Padme Hum wound around an axle in a protective container and spun around repeatedly. Typically, larger decorative versions of the syllables of the mantra are also carved on the outside of the wheel. Tibetan Buddhists believe that saying this mantra, out loud or silently to yourself invokes the powerful benevolent attention and blessings of Chenrezig, the embodiment of compassion.
Looking at a written copy of the mantra is said to have the same effect and the mantra is carved into stones left in piles near paths where travelers will see them. Spinning the written form of the mantra around a Mani wheel is also supposed to have the same effect, the more copies of the mantra, the more the benefit is.
Mani wheels are found throughout Tibet and in areas influenced by Tibetan culture. There are many types of Mani wheels, small hand-held wheels which are the most common by far. Tibetan people carry them for hours, and even on long pilgrimages, spinning them any time their hand is free.
Larger wheels are placed where they can spin by wind, by water or hand, they contain a myriad copies of mantra, and may also contain sacred texts, totaling at up to hundreds of volumes and always spin clockwise.
Tibetan Singing Bowls
Tibetan Singing Bowls are a type of bell however they are a standing bell rather than hanging inverted or attached to a handle. Singing bowls produce sounds that invoke a deep state of relaxation naturally assisting one in entering into meditation, the ultimate goal of enlightenment. In addition to the traditional usage for meditation, Tibetan singing bowls are used for deep relaxation, stress reduction, holistic healing, Reiki, chakra balancing, and World music. Many people find that the blend of harmonic overtones which bells produce have a direct effect upon their chakras. Playing the bells usually cause an immediate centering effect. The tones set up a “frequency following response” that creates a balancing left and right brain synchronization. Meditating on the subtle sounds of the Tibetan singing bowl tunes you to the universal sound within and without.
Singing bowls are traditionally constructed out of seven metals as follows: gold, silver, mercury, copper, iron, tin and lead, which correspond to the seven planets (sun, moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn, respectively). The pitch of the bowl depend on its thickness, size and weight.
