Lesson #29 Prayer Flags and Buddhism

Prayer Flags are usually hung in groups of 12

close up of most of Evie's six

my six from starting at the end by the tree

one of Evie's

one of mine

This year we have began to study a few different world religions. We have recently studied Buddhism and made our own prayer flags. Although we are not Buddhist, we can appreciate much that Buddhism has to offer. One thing that Evie found interesting and appealing is there is no deity in Buddhism. No heaven/hell, or forms of. Buddhism revolves around the fact that humans suffer, how we can prevent and eliminate suffering , I find this is very interesting. The path of enlightenment is one that many can follow and add to any religion, helping us all lead a better life, be kinder to others, and eliminate some of the suffering in our lives.

How do homeschoolers with no specific curriculum study or embrace a subject? Well for this particular subject we have used the section on Buddhism from the Usbourne Guide to World Religions, and the awesome internet resources it has already complied for you as our jumping off place. We researched the internet, watched some great instant documentaries on Buddhism, Tibet, India, China, Burma, and Laos. We love instant play documentaries! As an art project and soul shining activity we made our own prayer flags. Prayer flags in most Buddhist countries are wood block printed with sayings from the Buddha, or prayers from the sacred text of the Buddha. Traditionally in Tibet and other Buddhist believing countries, new flags are hung to help replace the old fading ones on the New Year Day. We hung ours on the Tibetan and Lunar New Year, and we lit incense from Tibet outside to blow in the wind with our flags.

What I loved most about making these was the heart, art, and time spent together in creating these prayers for our selves and others. We spent most of a month working on them. The thought is that in Buddhism, nothing is permanent, so the art on our flags is impermanent, the attachment of our art could lead to suffering, but we fill no suffering as our flags are now hanging in the elements.  The Buddhist thought that the wind will carry our prayers out into the world, surrounding and helping all they touch is a beautiful thing.