Wind Horse

Who knows the island of Kauai so well? 　Is it Kauai resident or visitor of Kauai?

After part-time　residents of Kauai, Khenpo and Ariel took me to the beautiful stupa here on Kauai, I thought the one who knows Kauai the best is a part-time resident of Kauai....This is just like a teaching of Buddha….Middle way is the best way.  The part-time resident can be both visitor and resident.

I think you would agree with me if you think of good guidebooks.   The guidebook of sightseeing or tourism are
usually written by tourists, not residents of the place. Because residents know too much about the place and people, and as a result, they are not interested in these things as a part of life.   On the other hand, because tourists don’t know much about the place and people, they can be interested in whatever they don’t know before.  That is why tourists can write good guidebooks.

But tourists have problems. In order for them to know more of the place, they need to stay longer.  So the best one is the visitor who has a place to live, called part-time resident.

Anyway I was able to visit the stupa for my first time, thanks to dear friends.

According to Khenpo, these colorful flags are called, Lung-ta, meaning "Wind Horse" to keep out evil spirits and at the same time it's a symbol of Dharma spreading over the world.  Interestingly, there are five colors, representing five elements of universe.

Blue =Space

White= Wind

Red=Fire

Green=Water

Yellow=Earth

These flags are called, "Darchor" and I learned red flag is Amida (Amitabha) Buddha which reminded me the five Tathagata flags in Japan.

For a long time, I didn't know the meaning of these five colors flags but now I know they are related to Lung-ta and Darchor. 　I also knew if flags are blown by the wind, it has the same merit of chanting sutra!

長い間、五如来旗の色がなぜ５色なのか？疑問に思っていましたが、それが同じ島にあるチベット仏教の仏塔に参拝、親友夫妻から説明を受けて関係が分かりました。

チベットの５色の旗ですが、、横につるされているのがダルチョという祈祷旗で、縦につるされているのがルンタというそうです。ルンタとは「風の馬」という意味で、５色は宇宙の５つつの要素を表し、順番が決まっているとのこと。

青色は、空。

白色は、風。

赤色は、火。

緑色は、水。

黄色は、土。

チベットでは、風で５色旗がたなびくと読経と同じ功徳が得られると信じられているそうです。

Interestingly, the first streamer of Koi Nobori has five colors (blue, white, red, green and yellow)!!!!   I now believe this has a connection with Tibetan Buddhism.

そういえば、日本のこいのぼり！！！５色の色が最初の”のぼり”に使われていますが、どうもチベット仏教の影響がありそうですね。