Prayer flags were flying last month at Ratna Ling, a retreat center nestled in the redwood trees of Northern California.
The colorful flags greeted me as I came and went from meetings of the Sonoma County Writers Camp, which is held annually at Ratna Ling.
Across the canyon at the magnificent Odiyan complex, more prayer flags flew from the Cintamani Temple, which on that day was softly visible through the mist blowing in from the Pacific.
All those prayer flags! Someone was doing some praying here at Ratna Ling and across the canyon at Odiyan. Someone — a community — with good intentions toward the world and all living things had made sure that plenty of prayers were blowing in the wind.
Prayer Flags Are Flying — But What Is Prayer?
I’m not so good at prayer. Is effective prayer as simple as stringing prayer flags from tree to tree and letting the wind do the work of delivering the prayer to where it needs to go?
Or does a person have to come up with words, something ardent and to the point, to get the attention of the mystery of mysteries?
How to pray? This is not a new question for me. I took it up on this site way back in 2009, and I’m not sure I’ve made much headway since.
Maybe the Tibetan Buddhists are on to something. Maybe you just hang a flag — you just have the intention to pray — and the wind and nature will do the work.
A Benedictine Monk Weighs In
A Benedictine monk shared her thoughts on prayer with me way back in 2009, when I was researching my book, “Wrestling with God.”
When it comes to prayer, she said, “Don’t talk, listen.” Read more.