Gesar, Trungpa & Flags

Robin Kornman, who is translating the Gesar epic, has the above flag noticed on his website. He calls it Trungpa Rinpoche's "secret flag," and explains that Trungpa designed it during a calligraphy workshop. Nevertheless, Robin is asserting a copyright in the design, which apart from being ridiculous is also charming. Doubtless Robin will assign this copyright to the 12th Trungpa Tulku.

According to Robin, the above depicts a Chinese character which he describes as the character for "Universal Monarch." Well, yes and no. The character, "Wang" (or "Wong," if you prefer, but certainly not "Huang") can be considered the character for "King." To depict this character in black is incorrect. It should be imperial yellow. Similarly, the six dots to the left should be on an aquamarine blue field, and should be the six colors white, blue, yellow, red, green, and charcoal black.