The Bhutanese Leading the way.
Lungta (wind horse) prayer flags have long been a significant symbol of culture and religion in the Himalayas. These colorful flags are hoisted with the spiritual meaning of peace, compassion, good fortune, and wisdom to flourish.
Hoisting prayer flags along monasteries, forests, hills, mountain passes, and trails has been a common practice and is deeply personal and meaningful to the individual, believing that the blessings and goodwill embodied by the flags will spread across the lands.
While the practice of hoisting Lungta prayer flags is a vital part of Buddhist spirituality, there is an underlying reality of the type of prayer flags being hoisted that carries detrimental effects to the environment.
Therefore, VAST Bhutan recognised this importance and is actively attempting to create greater awareness in society, working tirelessly to spread the message for a more mindful hoisting of prayer flags.
The Unseen Problem
Executive Director of VAST Bhutan, Passang, said that the essence of hanging authentic prayer flags is being lost as the prayer flags available in the market today are those made of polyester instead of cotton and its strings made from high resistance materials, which leads to choking trees and hampering branch growth.
Most of the cotton-made traditional prayer flags in the market have been replaced by imported ones, which are made of polyester, which is a plastic material.
Its quality is also visible in the printed Lungta texts, with missing and incorrect mantra spellings.
“Authentic prayer flags are cotton-made and their mantra inscriptions are also printed using a xylographic block method,” she said.
She noted that the traditional xylographic is also slowly disappearing as there is only one remaining person who uses the traditional method to create authentic prayer flags.
Passang said that hanging prayer flags is often a gesture of good fortune, luck and goodwill, but people are losing sight of the essence of it as most aren’t aware of these unauthentic prayer flags.
For the environment, this is especially bad news as young trees and their branches are often choked by the strings, leading to stunting of trees and branch growth.
A recent fire at Sangaygang stood as another strong proof of their movement as the fire also engulfed the flags that were hoisted in the hills.
“Flags made from cotton fabric burn well and turn into ash afterwards. However, polyester-made prayer flags after burning left hardened plastic lumps which pollute the environment more,” Passang said.
What’s even more concerning is the synthetic strings that bind the flags. The VAST team gathered all the flags after the fire incident and collected the flags. Looking at the strings, they held strong resistance to the fire as opposed to the flags that turned into plastic lumps.
While the practice of Lungta is considered spiritual and done with sentiments of goodwill, Passang clarified that VAST’s objective is not to discourage people from hanging prayer flags but to be more mindful while doing so.
Her aspiration for the festival is to bring awareness to the public.
“Our actions have consequences and if we aren’t aware of what we are doing especially in terms of Lungta, they might be doing more harm than good.”
Therefore, coinciding with the Year of the Horse, VAST Bhutan is currently in the midst of hosting its year-long Lungta Art Festival, which aims to bring awareness of the Lungta and drive meaningful change through art.
Unveil, Untangle and Unleashing the Lungta
The festival is oriented into three segments: unveil, untangle, and unleash of the Lungta through a diverse list of activities including art exhibitions, collection of soiled prayer flags, art talks, and hands-on workshops to turn the collected flags into bio-degradable materials.
The objectives of the LAF are clear: Promoting social-cultural and spiritual values for societal growth, peace and harmony, creating awareness and stewardship on environmental protection needs in the fragile mountain ecosystem, and fostering positive social and behaviour change through community engagements.
Passang said that the majority of activities planned are five solo exhibitions (for individuals to reflect on the Lungta) and three group shows depending on the budget.
Additional shows and exhibitions throughout other dzongkhags will also be hosted if we get an additional budget.
A xylographic workshop in collaboration with the Department of Culture was conducted recently for youths to learn the process of printing.
One of the main goals is to recycle the flags by making them into something reusable.
She said that VAST is currently looking into ordering a shredder machine (a pilot phase), to process the collected flags into shreds and looking into creating eco–friendly blocks.
Currently, the CSO is looking to collaborate with different government stakeholders from the tourism and environment sectors to enable strengthened participation in fighting this battle.
Asha Kama, the Director of the festival said, “as the LAF director, my dream is to understand the basic phenomena of the Lungta and share them with my fellow artists.”
“Together we hope to relate our finds through our art to a wider audience – with involvement of a bigger community we hope to untangle some prayers, prayer flags and some trees,” he added.
Passang said that mindfulness is part of our fabric as Bhutanese and any support to this festival may help the outside world understand what Bhutan is all about.
Practicing mindfulness comes from our actions and can contribute to Bhutan as a champion of harmony and peace and inspire more to take similar courses of action.
She added that if we practice mindfulness and if the outside world sees us like that, then the value of the Gelephu Mindfulness City (GMC), also becomes higher.
