Colouring the Landscape, The Landscape Colouring You
The natural world communicates in beautiful ways. Colour serves as a vital environmental signal that facilitates interaction among organisms. A bright yellow frog signifies caution, whereas the same yellow in a field of wildflowers cheers up the spirit. The sky changes colour throughout the day, from midnight blue to golden orange, communicating time and weather. Subconsciously, all living beings have learned to read these visual cues to navigate the world around them. For the longest time, especially before the advent of the modern era, humans have used these cues to plough fields, fish the oceans, celebrate festivals, create crafts, or even cook certain recipes. The human engagement with the colours of the natural world has never been purely visual. It has been embedded in systems of knowledge, belief, memory, and everyday practice. Understanding these ‘colours’ becomes synonymous with understanding the planet and its residents.
One way to understand human society is via the plethora of material culture created by communities, which, by its form, material, usage, making process, and colour, materialises abstract ideas into tangible forms. Daily interaction with these objects facilitates a conditioning that shapes our perception. Colour in society has also become codified to share universal ideas. For instance, the red light at a traffic signal worldwide signifies a halt. Modern societies have created these codes based on the physical properties of colours and their wavelengths. However, before the laws of physics, colour derived its meaning through experience. For a tomato farmer, red signifies prosperity, whereas for a young girl, the first blood of menstruation indicates her transition into adolescence. The ‘experience’ of colour is not just seeing, but also feeling it with all the senses.
The Himalayan region has been a catalyst for many spiritual developments. Spanning a vast geographical area, the Himalayas stretch across northern and northeastern India and neighbouring countries of Nepal, China, Bhutan and Pakistan. The Himalayas are seen as a sacred landscape in religions such as Buddhism, Hinduism, Bon, and many animist traditions. The shared geographical space of the Himalayan region has been an arena of cultural exchange and shared belief systems across communities. Dwellers of the Himalayas have heavily incorporated elements of animism, focused on nature spirits and protective deities, into the prevalent religions of the region.
The Himalayas have a distinct ecology, housing unique flora and fauna. From the frozen golden-white snowscapes of the Greater Himalayas, to slate-brown cold dunes and canyons of the Trans-Himalayas, lush green forests of the Outer Himalayas, and the colourful alpine meadows of the Lesser Himalayas, the diverse terrain creates surreal landscapes that attract travellers and adventure seekers.
Walking through the bustling Himalayan town, amongst the vast cornucopia of souvenir shops, curious tourists, hustling taxis, and friendly dogs, small five-coloured flags quietly flutter in the wind. Like the aroma of savoury delicacies, the dance of these flags captivates the eye. These five colours are not difficult to spot. Instead, one can say that these colours find you. They find you when you enter a monastery, when you enter a treacherous mountain pass, in restaurants, on backpacks, and even on vehicles. They wrap every pole, dangle from doorways, and span across valleys. These colours- blue, white, red, green, and yellow, are repeated across Buddhist sacred art like sculptures, sand mandalas, and thangkas. Even monasteries are painted predominantly in this colour palette.
Often these colours are spotted as flags, called Lung-Ta Darchong in Tibetan. The word ‘Lung’ means wind, ‘Ta’ means horse, and ‘Darchong’ denotes a flag or banner. Few people call horizontal flags ‘Lung-Ta’ and bigger vertical flags ‘Darchong’. Terminologies may differ, but they mean ‘the flags of wind-horse’. The Wind Horse, or Lung-Ta, is a mythical Tibetan creature and a symbol of the life-giving energy present in all living matter. The Lung-Ta carries prayers to deities, bringing positive energy and good fortune to the people. Here, good fortune refers to one’s overall well-being, such as health, rather than material wealth.
Tibetan Buddhism, deriving symbolism from Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhism, is one of the most popular types of Buddhism seen especially in Himalayan towns of India. Therefore, Lung-Ta Darchong has become one of the most popular material cultures of the Himalayas. Their frequent use has led to commodification and reduced them to souvenirs marking a Himalayan adventure. However, for Buddhist practitioners, these flags are invaluable signifiers of Buddhist values and wisdom.
Like national flags which signify the territory or an institution of a country, these five-colours have come to indicate the Himalayan ‘place’. The concept of ‘space’ and ‘place’, frequently used in the humanities, helps us understand not only how humans interact with the world but also how they make it. ‘Space’ denotes the geographical area or the physical aspects, like mountain caps, rocky hills, or grasslands. ‘Place’ is what happens when humans interact with their ‘space’, infusing it with history, spirituality, stories, and identity.
Traditional Lung-Ta Darchong often depicts a horse carrying a flaming wish-fulfilling jewel surrounded by sacred mantras. The Four Directional Dignities, supernatural guardians of the four cardinal directions, are placed on its four corners. Chung (Garuda) of the North represents freedom of the air; Seng (Snow Lion) of the East symbolises the vitality and playfulness of the earth; Tak (Tiger) of the South instils confidence and discipline of the fire element, whereas the Druk (Dragon) imparts wisdom and power of the water element. The arrangement of these symbols with the Lung-Ta in the centre signifies the aim of the practitioner to align these qualities to set the Lung-Ta in motion. Today, smaller flags with the Sanskrit mantra, Om mani padme hum (praise to the jewel in the lotus), associated with Avalokiteshvara (a widely venerated deity in Mahayana Buddhism), are commonly seen.
As stated earlier, Lung-Ta covers the landscape of a Himalayan town. When hung on poles or suspended across the valley, the colours create a balanced contrast that forms a harmonious palette of cool colours (blue and green), warm colours (red and yellow), and the neutral white, which stand as vibrant points of focus against the natural backdrop.
Usually, the flags are viewed from a distance. For tourists, they signify the start of an adventure. For vehicles commuting the dangerous mountain roadways, they act like signposts to seek blessings before entering a highway pass. Hence, before one engages with its material, the flag’s colours are observed.
Colour has an eminence in Himalayan regions. Often, colour was imported or derived from minerals or precious gemstones. The climate and rough terrain of the Himalayas made it quite difficult to have colour readily available. On the other hand, colour in Buddhist philosophy can convey and guide practitioners in their journey. Patrons and practitioners often commissioned artworks with a predominant colour to meditate upon as per their needs. It is therefore a widely common practice to see various manifestations of deities categorised according to colours, which cater to specific needs of the practitioners. For instance, the yellow or golden form of Avalokiteshvara is associated with wealth and brilliance, whereas the red form denotes passionate compassion. Another popular Tibetan deity, Goddess Tara, is also worshiped in her coloured forms. Green Tara purges negative emotions of fear and anxiety, whereas Blue Tara helps to calm anger and dispels negative influences. This particular categorisation of colours in Tibetan Buddhism is widely used in the commissioning of Buddhist sacred material culture upon which the practitioner meditates as per their requirement.
These colour symbolisms are drawn from the philosophy of the Five Pure Lights in Tibetan Buddhism. According to Dzogchen (Great Perfection) teachings, all physical matter that we touch and see is simply the elemental manifestation of these five subtle spiritual lights. These lights are essentially five colours: blue, white, red, green, and yellow. Hence, Buddhist material culture and monasteries actively use the five-colour palette. These Pure Lights also link to the five Dhyaanibuddhas (or Tathagats) who are the embodiments of five qualities of the Buddha and heads of the Five Buddha families. These Buddha families are not sects, but aspects of an enlightened mind which transform the Five Poisons into wisdom. The five natural elements manifest from these five pure lights.
Be it the Five Pure Lights, the directional dignities, or the five colours, the natural elements become an inseparable part of their identities. Tibetan medicine practices often treat illnesses as a result of an imbalance of any of the five elements. The five elements are neither good nor bad; they are primordial qualities which are malleable and transformative. In essence, as the natural elements govern the well-being of all life forms, and the five colours are a reflection of this dependence, they become means through which the communities appreciate the nature around them. Rather than viewing the natural environment as a repository of resources to be exploited, it views the natural environment as an extension of the self.
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On the surface level, there is nothing extraordinary about this five-colour palette of the Lung-Ta Darchong. However, viewing these colours from the perspective of humans residing in the Himalayan landscape opens up a new window in colour studies. These colours, beyond their visual aesthetics, offer the viewer an experience of the Himalayan landscape.
Blue, which denotes the Vajra (Diamond) Family, is seen in the expansive blue sky. When one looks above, the sky feels unbound yet stable. The sky has no colour of its own; it simply reflects light, taking on different hues throughout the day. At nightfall, the sky reflects the entire galaxy. It holds all matter yet remains unaffected by it. This scattering blue light is therefore seen as the ‘mirror-like wisdom’ of Buddha Akshobhya, all-embracing and infinite. If the element of sky/ ether is tampered with, the same blue curdles into the ‘poison of anger’, a turbulent shattering, rigid and chaotic, that destroys matter. The clear blue sky is seen as a calm mind, observing and allowing thoughts to pass rather than being a complete void or a collapse due to fixation.
White, denoting the Buddha Family, is seen in the air. Visually, the moving wind at high altitudes, bringing clouds sweeping across the sky, makes one feel weightless. For a pastoralist herding their sheep, a soft breeze feels refreshing. Because white light is a union of colours rather than a fixed one, it becomes the colour of the formless air. Air, which is explorative, playing with trees and dirt, stands for the ‘wisdom of the reality’ of Buddha Vairocana. Reality which can only be understood in movement and constant exploration. When air becomes dense, it turns into a thick white fog, which obstructs vision and inhibits movement. The ‘poison of ignorance’ is born when one refuses to move and stays in the fog. When the oversaturated white fog disappears into a light, playful breeze, one can see reality as it is.
Red symbolises the Padma (Lotus) Family and is seen in fire. The glowing embers warm houses during harsh winters, and the flames cook food. Fire is a vital force which sustains life. It is ever hungry and consumes to generate heat. Push it further, and the same fire burns. The magnetic red is seen as the ‘wisdom of discernment’ of Buddha Amitabha. It can also become the ‘poison of attachment’, desire that keeps consuming and is never full, until it burns even itself down to ash. Just as the fire is first fed and then put out after it fulfils its need, red signifies caution towards overindulgence and seeking permanence.
Green is the colour of the Karma (Action) Family and is the colour of water. Green is usually the colour of vegetation and foliage; here, however, it signifies the result of water. Higher altitudes have less rain, and hence less greenery. Water here becomes the food for barren earth, a signifier of fertility and rejuvenation. Water is as precious as the green jade and emeralds; it is as cooling as the sight of lush green grass. It represents the ‘wisdom of all-accomplishing actions’ of the Buddha Amoghasiddhi. Unlike ordinary action, an ‘all-accomplishing’ action is selfless and free of comparison. When water is not shared for mutual growth, it turns into the ‘poison of jealousy’. Jealousy makes one hyper-individualistic, resulting in singular action. Green is born when all natural elements work together to create life.
Yellow represents the Ratna (Jewel) Family and earth. Not just any earth, but earth ripe with harvests, blooming flowers, bees, and butterflies. It is the ultimate gold, the element that brings prosperity to the people. Earth is solid and reliable, an immovable foundation that supports elephants as well as an ant. Yellow reflects the ‘wisdom of sameness’ of Buddha Ratnasambhava. When earth is owned and bordered, it becomes a signifier of the ‘poison of pride’. The hierarchical pride differentiates between a gold coin and a daffodil. Yellow reminds one that everything has the same potential, and humility does not dim the colour’s brightness.
It is also interesting that the vibrancy of Lung-Ta is expected to fade away with time. The Buddhists do not intend to preserve the colour; in fact, the beauty of colour is seen in its impermanence. The fading of these flags is quite celebratory, as it represents the gradual assimilation of the prayers and elements back into the cosmos. It is believed that humans have the responsibility of praying for other life forms who coexist with them; hence, practitioners hang these flags outdoors for the wind to carry prayers of prosperity, protection, and peace to all life forms. Just as life moves on and is replaced by new life, Buddhists continually mount new flags alongside the old.
Beyond complex philosophies that govern any religion, people have their own way of engaging with religious ideas on a daily basis. Rather than only seeking enlightenment, the daily practice often concerns itself with the prosperity, protection, and peace of the practitioners and their communities.
Communities residing in the Himalayan landscape are entirely dependent on nature. The fickle landscape cuts them off from the outer world for several months, especially in winter. Even today, these towns and cities have not been much influenced by industrialisation. Wounded by constant social tensions, climate change, and the extreme landscape, a common sense of affinity is seen amongst them towards nature. Much like the Five Pure Lights and their corresponding natural elements, nature becomes their guide and provider. This belief makes balancing the lights as well as their corresponding elements a continuous act requiring constant care and respect. The colours repeated across the land reiterate this need to maintain balance.
Seen from the Buddhist philosophy of Pratityasamutpada (Dependent Origination), nothing in the universe exists on its own, completely separate from other beings. Hence, the colours need their significators to make sense. The colours have no magical ‘colourness’ hidden inside because they depend entirely on a network of causes and conditions to derive that ‘colourness’. When humans live around such stimuli which constantly remind them of their interdependent existence, they grow to naturally appreciate and protect all living beings around. Though modelled upon religious beliefs, these transmit habits of practice and attitudes to future generations.
Long ago, Gautama Buddha, walking the foothills of the Himalayas, reminds us, “If you wish to know the divine, feel the wind on your face and the warm sun on your hand”. Lung-Ta presents this thought as a colour palette. Colour, threaded onto a post and left to wither with time, invites humans to stop and feel the world around. To see the sky, breathe the air, recognise the heat of fire, follow the movement of water, and feel the ground beneath our feet. It asks the viewer not simply to look at the Himalayan landscape, but to recognise themselves within it.
References:
Tucker, M. Evelyn and Ryuken, Williams (eds) (1997) Buddhism and Ecology: The Interconnection of Dharma and Deeds. Harvard University Press.
Kapstein, M. T. (2014) Tibetan Buddhism: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press.
A short note on Lungta, a Tibetan prayer flag and its origin — Tibet Policy Institute (2021). https://tibetpolicy.net/a-short-note-on-lungta-a-tibetan-prayer-flag-and-its-origin/.
The Office of His Holiness The Dalai Lama | The 14th Dalai Lama (no date). https://www.dalailama.com/messages/environment/buddhist-concept-of-nature.
Benefits of creating sacred objects (no date). https://www.lotsawahouse.org/tibetan-masters/shabkar/benefits-sacred-objects.
Project, T.N. (2026). The meaning of windhorse Tibetan prayer flags. https://tnp.org/the-meaning-of-windhorse-tibetan-prayer-flags/.
