The Tibetan Flag - A Symbol Of Freedom

The Tibetan flag has been around since about 820 or 7th century on the Christian calender where it had its basic birth as a military flag. There have been a few changes since, but it truly represents the joys and sorrows of the Tibetan peoples.

Its center has a thickly snow clad mountain, and across its dark blue sky are six red bands that represent the six original ancestral tribes of the Tibetans – Se, Mu, Dong, Tong, Dru and Ra.

The dark blue bands represent various spiritual teachings. The very tip of the mountain is the sun creating the rays, and it represents prosperity, material happiness, and spiritual and freedom agreeability.

* Tibetan flag

Two white snow lions represent Tibetans victorious accomplishments, and in between them is a multicolored jewel that stands for the three Buddhist objects of refuge, Sangha, Dharma, and Buddha. The lions seem to hold swirling jewels, and those represent the self-discipline of performing ethical behavior.

All around the flag is a yellow border, though one side does not have a border. It represents the teachings of the Buddha. This is represented by the purified gold color going in all directions. The reason for the lack of a fourth border is to represent Tibet's acceptance of non-Buddhist thought.

In the 20th century, His Holiness the Great Thirteenth Dalai Lama, brought forth improvements to the flag, designing the improvements himself. By official proclamation, he proclaimed that all Tibetan regiments would adopt this particular flag as their own standard. Thus, all military defense establishments now proudly fly this flag.

Thus, their Tibetan national flag can be closely related with the genuine history as well as the royal ancestral lineages of Tibet that are thousands of years old.

Considering that Tibet has given up a bit of archaeological data that suggests that humans may very well have passed through Tibet during the period when India was first inhabited, that puts it approximately half a million years in the past!

Of course, at the moment, Tibet suffers from many serious grievances of the Tibetian peoples, which have been historically long standing. They concern the loss of educational opportunities, unequal employment opportunities, as well as the imprisonment of so many Tibetans.

Thus, the Tibetan flag has become a symbol of freedom.

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