Prayer flags are found wherever Tibetan Buddhism is found. As they flutter in the breeze, they use this wind to send blessings out into the world. Through many parts of the Himalaya they adorn monasteries and humble homes, chortens and bamboo flagpoles. They are tied in their hundreds and thousands to bridges, above mountain peaks, and in the courtyards of every conceivable building.

Elsewhere, they are to be found wherever exiled Tibetans live, and wherever their school of Buddhism flourishes.

The makers of the flags intend the prayers and blessings that adorn them not for their own benefit, but for the benefit of all beings.

Prayer flags in the Yumtang Valley, Sikkim, India.

Prayer flags, Observatory Hill, Darjeeling, India.

Prayer flags outside a monastery in Sikkim, India.

Prayer flags adorn a pair of chortens and walls of prayer wheels in Khumjung, Nepal.

Prayer flags at Tengboche, Nepal.

And adorning a bridge of the Dudh Khosi, again in Nepal.