Editing Shambhala Training (section)

===The Four Dignities, Drala and the Lhasang ritual===

On prayer flags and paper prints, windhorses usually appear in the company of the four animals of the cardinal directions, which are "an integral part of the ''rlung ta'' composition": [[garuda]] or ''kyung'', and [[Azure Dragon|dragon]] in the upper corners, and [[White Tiger (Chinese constellation)|tiger]] and [[snow lion]] in the lower corners.<ref>Karmay, Samten G. ''The Arrow and the Spindle: Studies in History, Myths, Rituals and Beliefs in Tibet.'' Mandala Publishing: 1998 pg. 416</ref> In this context, the wind horse is typically shown without wings, but carries the [[Three Jewels]], or the [[Cintamani|wish fulfilling jewel]]. Its appearance is supposed to bring peace, wealth, and harmony. The ritual invocation of the wind horse usually happens in the morning and during the growing moon. The flags themselves are commonly known as windhorse. They flutter in the wind, and carry the prayers to heaven like the horse flying in the wind.

The garuda and the dragon have their origin in [[Hindu mythology|Indian]] and [[Chinese mythology]], respectively. However, regarding the origin of the animals as a tetrad, "neither written nor oral explanations exist anywhere" with the exception of a thirteenth-century manuscript called "The Appearance of the Little Black-Headed Man" (''dBu nag mi'u dra chag''), and in that case a yak is substituted for the snow lion, which had not yet emerged as the national symbol of Tibet.<ref name="Karmay, Samten G. pg. 420">Karmay, Samten G. ''The Arrow and the Spindle: Studies in History, Myths, Rituals and Beliefs in Tibet.'' Mandala Publishing: 1998 pg. 420</ref> In the text, a ''nyen'' (wylie: ''gNyan,'' mountain spirit<ref>de Nebesky-Wojkowitz, René. ''Oracles and Demons of Tibet'', pg 287-289</ref>) kills his son-in-law, Khri-to, who is the primeval human man, in a misguided attempt to avenge his daughter. The nyen then is made to see his mistake by a mediator and compensates Khri-to's six sons with the gift of the tiger, yak, garuda, dragon, goat, and dog. The first four brothers then launch an exhibition to kill robbers who were also involved with their mother's death, and each of their four animals then becomes a personal ''drala'' (wylie: ''dgra bla'', "protective warrior spirit") to one of the four brothers.<ref name="Karmay, Samten G. pg. 420"/> The brothers who received the goat and dog choose not to participate, and their animals therefore do not become drala.<ref name="Karmay, Samten G. pg. 420"/> Each of the brothers represents one of the six primitive Tibetan clans (''bod mi'u gdung drug''), with which their respective animals also become associated.

The four animals (with the snow lion replacing the yak) also recur frequently in the [[Epic of Gesar|Gesar epic]], and sometimes Gesar and his horse are depicted with the dignities in place of the windhorse. In this context the snow lion, garuda and dragon represent the Ling (wylie: ''Gling'') community from which Gesar comes, while the tiger represents the family of the Tagrong (wylie: ''sTag rong''), Gesar's paternal uncle.<ref>Karmay, Samten G. ''The Arrow and the Spindle: Studies in History, Myths, Rituals and Beliefs in Tibet.'' Mandala Publishing: 1998 pg. 421</ref>

The windhorse ceremonies are usually conducted in conjunction with the ''lhasang'' (wylie: ''lha bsang'', literally "smoke offering to the gods") ritual,<ref name="Karmay, Samten G. pg. 417">Karmay, Samten G. ''The Arrow and the Spindle: Studies in History, Myths, Rituals and Beliefs in Tibet.'' Mandala Publishing: 1998 pg. 417</ref> in which juniper branches are burned to create thick and fragrant smoke. This is believed to increase the strength in the supplicator of the four ''nag rtsis'' elements mentioned above. Often the ritual is called the ''risang lungta'', (wylie: ''ri bsang rlung ta''), the "fumigation offering and (the throwing into the wind or planting) of the ''rlung ta'' high in the mountains."<ref name="Karmay, Samten G. pg. 417"/> The ritual is traditionally "primarily a secular ritual" and "requires no presence of any special officiant whether public or private."<ref name="Karmay, Samten G. pg. 417"/> The layperson entreats a mountain deity to "increase his fortune like the galloping of a horse and expand his prosperity like the boiling over of milk (''rlung ta ta rgyug/ kha rje 'o ma 'phyur 'phyur/'').<ref name="Karmay, Samten G. pg. 417"/>

Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche elaborates on the traditional understanding and etymology of ''drala'':

<blockquote>In many ancient Bön texts the name 'Drala' is spelt ''sgra bla'', which literally means '''la'' of sound', where ''la'' (soul or vitality) stands for a type of individual energy that is also endowed with a protective function. In more recent texts, notably those of the Buddhist tradition, we find the spelling ''dgra lha,'' 'deity of the enemy', a term which has been interpreted to mean a warrior deity whose task is to fight one's enemies. [...] Other authors, interpreting the term in the sense of 'deity that conquers the enemy's la' have instead spelt it ''dgra bla,'' 'enemy's la'.</blockquote>

<blockquote>[...] The spelling ''sgra bla'' ('la of sound') found in the ancient texts as a matter of fact is based on a very deep principle characteristic of the most authentic Bön tradition. Sound, albeit not visible, can be perceived through the sense of hearing and used as a means of communication, and is in fact linked to the ''cha'' (the individual's positive force, the base of prosperity), ''wang tang'' (ascendancy-capacity), and all the other aspects of a person's energy, aspects that are directly related with the protective deities and entities that every person has from birth. Moreover, sound is considered the foremost connection between the individual himself and his ''la''. From all this we can easily understand the deep meaning of the word ''sgra bla''.<ref>Namkhai Norbu, Drung De'u and Bön, translated by Adriano Clemente, Library of Tibetan Works and Archives, 1995 pp.61-62</ref></blockquote>