In Asian countries one may see many other things offered: food, water, drinks, fruit, etc. The idea behind this kind of offering is gratitude to the Teacher, and the consideration that one should not partake of good things without first having offered something, symbolically, to Lord Buddha. The word "offering" rather suggests that one expects those things to be "accepted" but of course the Buddha having attained Nibbana is beyond acceptance and rejection. The Pali word for these things makes this matter clearer: sakkara is that which should be done properly and means firstly, honor and hospitality given to guests and so by extension, to a symbol of one's Teacher.
Regarding the incense-burner, though various patterns are used in the East, the cleanest method is to part fill an open-mouthed bowl with clean sand and to place this on a saucer or other flat vessel. This should collect most of the ash. Some Buddhist traditions do not use vases but as in Sri Lanka arrange the flowers in patterns on trays or platters. This method, of course, requires time, while the flowers quickly demonstrated their impermanence.
People quite often ask why these three things in particular are offered. The offering of flowers is a bridge to the contemplation of the body's impermanence. An ancient Sinhalese Pali composition may be translated like this:
These flowers, bright and beautiful, fragrant and good-smelling, handsome and well-formed --Candles or lights are lit to symbolize the light of Dhamma which one should find in one's own heart, driving out the darkness of the defilements there. In the Dhammapada (verse 387) there is a suitable verse for recitation while making this offering:
soon indeed discolored, ill-smelling and ugly they become.This very body, beautiful, fragrant and well-formed --
soon indeed
discolored, ill-smelling and ugly it becomes.This body of mine too is of the same nature,
will become like this,
and has not escaped from this.
The sun is bright by day,Incense having a good smell is lighted to remind one that the Dhamma-light can only be found with the aid of good moral conduct (sila) which has been so many times praised by the Buddha, as in these Dhammapada verses (56, 54, 55):
the moon lights up the night,
armored shines the warrior,
contemplative, the brahmana,
but all the day and night-time too
resplendent does the Buddha shine.
Slight is this perfumeIf these offerings are made with mindfulness of their meaning then they are not without good results.[1] Also, they act as objects for focusing the mind, which in the morning may still be sleepy, or in the evening may be distracted by the events of the day. These offerings lead one to concentrate the mind when reciting the Refuges and Precepts, the recollections and during meditation. So we can see that these actions agree with that quality of the Dhamma called "leading inward" (opanayiko). However, before we come to these aspects of practice a few words should be said on the traditional gestures of respect.
of tagara and sandalwood,
best the perfume of the virtuous
blowing even to the devas.
The perfume of flowers does not go against
the wind,
neither that of sandalwood, jasmine, or tagara:
but the perfume of the virtuous does go
against the wind.
The good man suffuses all directions,
Sandalwood or tagara,
lotus or the jasmine great --
of these perfumes various,
virtue's perfume is unexcelled.
1. Perhaps at this point someone who has read the discourses of the Buddha might object, "But the Buddha before his Parinibbana said, 'Ananda, the twin sala trees are quite covered with blossoms though it is not the season. They scatter and sprinkle and strew themselves on the Perfect One's body out of veneration for him. And heavenly Mandarava flowers and heavenly sandalwood powder fall from the sky and are scattered and sprinkled and strewed over the Perfect One's body out of veneration for him. But this is not how a Perfect One is honored, respected, revered, venerated or reverenced: rather it is the bhikkhu or bhikkhuni, or the man or woman lay-follower, who lives according to Dhamma, who enters upon the proper way, who walks in the Dhamma that honors, respects, reveres and venerates a Perfect One with the highest veneration of all. Therefore, Ananda, train thus: "We will live in the way of the Dhamma, entering upon the proper way, and walking in the Dhamma."'" (Ven. Ñanamoli's translation).
There is no doubt that the practice of giving (dana), moral conduct (sila), meditation (samadhi) and wisdom (pañña) are the best way of honoring the Buddha -- they are called the puja of practice (patipatti-puja), but offerings and chanting are found useful by many people as it stimulates practice. It is only when sakkara-puja, the puja with material offerings, supplants patipatti-puja that there is the danger that peoples' "Buddhism" becomes mere ceremonials. In time, these tend to become complex, like a strangling vine overgrowing the majestic tree of the Buddhasasana. [Go back]