Tibetan Prayer Flags mark the “World’s Scariest Bridge”

BBC News reported today from the “World’s Scariest Bridge”, otherwise known as the Titlis Cliff Walk in Switzerland. The suspension bridge, Europe’s highest, has been open for over a year, but this is the first video I’ve seen with the newly added Tibetan Prayer flags. Perhaps they have a calming effect on some visitors who are not so interested in “a high-adrenaline kind of new adventure ” as a spokeswoman described it.

Have a look:

Tibetan prayer flags are believed to date back to pre-Buddhist days in Tibet, when they were made to honor local gods in what has become the Bon religion. The colors represent the five elements: air, fire, water, earth, and space (white, red, green, yellow, and blue). They would be block-printed with mantras and images, often of protectors such as the snow lion, garuda (mythic bird), dragon, and tiger. Others will have an image of the Buddha, Padmasambhava, or various bodhisattvas, again accompanied by mantras. Commonly they will have the ‘lung ta‘ (wind horse), pictured here and in more detail here.

The flags are meant to spread the power of the mantra (and accompanying symbols) throughout the land, carried on the wind. So high places are thought to be especially auspicious.

 Today travel has more photos here.