U got do any water, food or smoke offering ?

Hi friend,

Yes, I offer food alms.

I am not sure what you mean by smoke.. do you mean incense?

应(以智慧)如实观照当下之法，让他坚定
地、不动摇地了知它，确定它。
Instead with insight let him see each presently
arisen condition; let him know that and be sure
of it, invincibly, unshakeably.


今日便好努力，谁知明日死亡可能就到
来；与死王之大军是无法讨价还价的。
Today itself ardent effort should be made; who
knows [whether] death will come tomorrow. For
there is no bargaining with that, [that is] with
death and its great army (i.e. all the ways by
which one’s death may happen).


excerpt from Bhaddekaratta Sutta: An Auspicious Day

im talking about food/water/smoke offering to the hungry ghost

like sometime u see people burning incense or incense powder outside their house ...

"The Smoke Offering" is also known as "The Pure Offering". It was developed in the period of Sakyamunni, and was introduced by Guru Rinpoche (Padmasambhava) to Tibet. At that time, The Smoke Offering got rid of many different kinds of evil that bothered Tibetans. The Smoke Offering helped Buddhism prosper, so the people were able to live happily and healthily.

The fundamental principle of Vajrayana practice is to integrate compassion (Karuna) and enlightened wisdom (Paramita) in order to liberate all sentient beings from suffering. Every Dharma practice in Vajrayana always follows these two principles. The "Smoke Offering" was also introduced based on the above teaching. The basic essential spiritual power of The Smoke Offering is based on the Dharma prayers' truly pure heart of compassion. Then extend the true heart of the prayers, to realize the suffering and needs of the sentient beings from the Six Realms who would like to demolish all of their sins. Also, to help liberate the bardos (those souls who are shapes of an inter-median state) depart from this world and be re-born in The Pure Land, or as a higher level being in order to reach enlightenment. As a result of very strong vows of compassion from the contributors of the offering and the dharma prayers, all of the Buddhas, Bodhisattva, Dharma protectors, Gods, and attained beings around the whole universe will automatically bless, support, protect and help you.

Besides grain, five colored beans, five colored clothes, fresh leaves from the pine tree, fruits, flowers, wheat, cookies and honey, the materials for "the Smoke Offering" also include hundred of precious herbs. The purified offerings are burned to smoke and contributed to all of the Buddha, Bodhisattva, Deities (Yiddams or Lineage masters), and Dharma Protectors. The offering cloud and sweet dew (Nectar) transformed from the respect for the Buddha and supported by the Guru Rinpoche and Dharma protectors, and blessed by the Buddha, will satisfy 1080 kinds of evil beings, all kinds of sentient beings or dragons that bring illness to people. The offerings will also be given to all the beings in the world including their relatives and enemies. After getting the smoke offering, all of the beings who received the offerings are liberated from suffering and pain, and reach the state of happiness and satisfaction, or reach to enlightenment. The contributors of the offerings and prayers extended their truly pure heart of compassion to give the smoke offering, and as a result the beings who were blessed by the offering, will have their disasters and obstacles either eliminated or turned into luck, peace or wealth. Many human diseases will be alleviated or cured, sins will be spiritually purified, disputes with foes will be eliminated, bad luck or sadness will turn to good fortune or peace, and all of ones undertakings or wishes will be supported and realized.

One should practice the "The Smoke Offering" frequently when you moving into a new house, or suffer any form of disaster, disease, unruly kids, lack of harmony in the family, trouble on the job, poor mental condition, or a wish to run away from misfortune, and have the desire to be good or better, or confess sins and pray for fortune, wisdom, etc. The Smoke Offering will benefit not only ones self, but also others and bring boundless merits.

In my practice, I offer food (or 4 allowable requisites) to the Sangha and share merits with the departed. Other tradition, I am not sure how they do it

actually for the water/food/smoke offering is to fulfilled the six parimita in the charity category ....
normal people where got time to do charity or no extra money to do charity ....
eg like food n water offering is easy to do, can see video below ...



the benefit is longevity, no illness, protect from ghost/yaksa n can collect massive merit ....

This post has been edited by will4848: Mar 20 2018, 03:04 PM

Ten Meritorious Deeds

1. Dana (Generosity)
2. Moral Conduct/ Virtue (Sila)
3. Meditation (Bhavana)
4. Respect or reverence (Apacayana)
5. Rendering service in helping others/ volunteerism (Veyyavacca)
6. Transference of merits (Pattidana)
7. Rejoicing in others’ merit (Pattanumodana)
8. Teaching the dhamma (Dhamma-desana)
9. Listening to the Dhamma (Dhamma-savana)
10.Correcting one’s view (Ditthiju-kamma)

Try our best to do all

This post has been edited by Chrono-Trigger: Mar 20 2018, 08:05 AM

do u know, b4 a monk eat they must scoop a bit of their food/rice to make offering to the garuda ??
and monk cannot eat everything on their plate, they must leave some food/rice to make offering again but this time offer to hungry ghost....

cos during sakyamuni buddha time, the garuda always eat the dragon, the dragon take refuge under buddha n buddha nego with the garuda ...
but the dragon actually the the garuda food, so garuda say if they dont eat dragon what should they eat ?? so buddha promise the garuda that ...
all his disciple monk must scoop a small portion of their food b4 eat n offer to the garuda, and by using mantra to multiply the food....
thats is where the food offering start during buddha time ....

and during buddha time, there is a mother ghost(i cant remember the name), like to eat human baby as food .....
the ghost mother got 1000 son, so buddha "kipnap" one of the son ... the mother ghost become angry ...
buddha say to the mother ghost, u lost 1 son u can get so angry, what about those baby u eat n their parent will feel ?
so buddha ask every of his disciples to leave some food after meal to make offering to the mother ghost ....

that where they started to do water/food/smoke/fire offering ....
i think all, theravada, mahayana or vajrayana temple all got do food/smoke offering everyday inside the temple ...
so water/food/smoke/fire offering is also one part of buddhism practise ....

I know of these offerings to the Buddha - Candle, Oil Lamp, Incense, Flowers, Water, Milk drink, Staple Food, Non-staple food, fruits.

But offering to the Hungry Ghost, traditionally we share the merits with the departed ones. That is to say, after we acquire merits , we dedicate it to the Hungry Ghosts.

The things we offer to other people, the merits also depend on the person who offers the food, and the receiver of the goods.

And if the Hungry Ghosts can rejoice in the merits, they benefit greatly from it.

How other tradition does it, I am not sure cheers


Dana -

There is a whole section on offering. Perhaps we can share it here.


This post has been edited by Chrono-Trigger: Mar 20 2018, 04:52 PM


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there are 3 category of hungry ghost .....
1. no merit n fortune at all - normally food offering is for this type of hungry ghost cos totally no merit, so totally no food to eat
and they cant eat/drink anything cos neck is as thin as pencil, mouth always on fire n bloated stomach, always in suffering condition
2. got little bit of merit n fortune - little food to eat
3. got merit n fortune, some even got supernatural power, as powerful as heaven being cos some they practise meditation too- normally call as earth deity, like lak tuk kung n those chinese folklore deity, deswai they call as "yin" deity ....

so if no one do food offering for those hungry ghost, actually they totally no food to eat ..by doing food/water/smoke offering is also a part of practise compassion heart. actually theravada, mahayana n vajrayana all also got do water/food/smoke offering.

about the merit transferring, then is depend of which school....for mahayana normally they transfer merit to all 10 direction of sentient being ...
if u dont transfer the merit, only u got merit, but if u transfer merit to all 10 direction sentient being, actually u r planting a wholesome seed to every sentient being in 10 direction....that is unlimited merit
but also depend, cos maybe your family member got illness, then u should transfer to them la... hope they can recover soon ...

and one more benefit of doing food/smoke offering is pay your debt to your creditor .....
normally when u do food/smoke offering, only those got related to u only can eat ....cos maybe u owe them something in previous life ...
and actually they got no choice, so when they eat your food, actually you also reducing your karma ...

so actually practising food/smoke offering is an important part in practise buddhism .... to fulfill the charity in first parimita ....

I cannot speak for other tradition, but in Theravada, the "smoke" offering you mentioned could be the incense/ candle/ light offering to the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha. During these offering , the mind is inclined to wish for good things and good states, and the merits we get, we can share it with the hungry ghost.

For example, those peta who don't have anything to eat (for it's the natural state of their existence), we offer food to the Sangha (food alms to the monks/ nuns) and we recite the wish "may this be for our relatives". The petas, if they are there, and if they know how to rejoice in the merits accrued, benefits immediately. I will share the Sutta and commentaries about this later.

So, it is a bit different from other tradition I suppose, where you give food "directly" to the petas or other offerings.

Also, in our practice, the karmic force of offering is dependent on the virtues of the giver and the receiver.

An immoral person who offer food to another immoral person - it's like a seed that is planted on infertile ground, so the fruit that grows on it will also be limited.

A virtuous person , who gives to another virtuous person will have the karmic effects multipled many folds.

So, if a person with 8 percepts, offered the food to 227 precepts monks, then the karmic force will be so much potentiated.

What more to say, if the receiver is someone with Jhanas and an Ariya (noble ones). The Buddha has declared that offering to the Sangha has immeasurable field of merits to the world.

That is why, people during the Buddha's time, who had made offerings to the Buddha and Sangha benefited a lot. Even a single meal offered to the Buddha or Arahant, a person will take rebirth in the heaven for many lifetimes.

This post has been edited by Chrono-Trigger: Mar 21 2018, 07:01 AM

There are petas which has dual-existence, certain time of the day as Devas and other time of the day petas due to certain karmic actions.

Earth-bound deities, are not Petas. They are devas from the Abode of the Four Heavenly Kings (cathumaharajika realm). The amount of refinement and enjoyment they have, of course, are dwarfed by the devas in the Tavatimsa heaven.

Refer below - Tavatimsa (heaven where Ti Gong lives) and Cathumaharajika realm (including the earth bound, forest bound , sky bound deities)



This post has been edited by Chrono-Trigger: Mar 21 2018, 09:10 AM


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Hi,as I study the practition in Buddha history, Smoke offering and fire offering already adapt by Brahmin quite some times.

As I try to find related info in tripitaka,just can't find any.May I know is there any support tripitaka that Buddha advise step by step for this smoke offering?

[B]Tirokudda Kanda: Hungry Shades Outside the Walls[/B]


......
For no weeping,
no sorrowing
no other lamentation
benefits the dead
whose relatives persist in that way.
But when this offering is given, well-placed in the Sangha,
it works for their long-term benefit
and they profit immediately.

In this way
the proper duty to relatives has been shown,
great honor has been done to the dead,
and monks have been given strength:

The merit you've acquired
isn't small.


Tirokudda Sutta - Hungry Shades outside the walls


Excerpts for background to the Sutta above;

1. ghost relatives of King Bimbisara waited outside the walls of the palace , expecting him to dedicate merits to them (for they had suffered so long in Hell and became Ghosts for so long due to their previous evil kamma)

2. King Bimbisara did not dedicate the merits to them

3. The ghosts lost all the hope and made terrible wailing and cries in the night outside the palace.

4. Frightened King Bimbisara went to see the Buddha the next morning to ask him about the strange unearthly noise.

5. The Buddha told King Bimbisara about the Ghosts and their evil deeds they had committed many many Aeons ago.

6. The Buddha taught King Bimbisara on the dedication of merits (sharing of merits) to the ghosts.

7. King Bimbisara gave alms to the Buddha and Sangha , dedicated the merits to the ghosts

8. The Buddha enabled King Bimbisara to see the ghosts outside the walls , and how they transformed from ghosts to gods after he gave the buddha / sangha the gifts.

9. The Buddha preached the Sutta


More on this
background of Tirokudda sutta

This post has been edited by Chrono-Trigger: Mar 21 2018, 11:01 AM


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any idea where i can do this smoke offering or buying the materials for smoke offering?

actually those powder/material u can buy from normal incense/candle shop ...
smoke offering must do outside of your house, not inside the house ....
but for more detail, u need to ask those monk from temple how to do it, cause u need to use mantra also ....
the article is for vajrayana sect, actually is more complicated n need more material, like milk, candle, water, biscuit, medicine, sandalwood etc ....
but u can perform simple smoke offering like with 3 stick of incense + mantra will do, just put outside of your house ....
if for mahayana one, just can use a cup/container + rice/biscuit/food + water and recite a mantra will do, then just pour the water + food on the floor...
the best time to do is 5pm-7pm ...if u r not free, then just do it anytime u want also can....
normally this smoke/food offering is for your good health not wealth ....
or u also can transfer the merit to your family member if they are sick ....
if u are interested i can pm u the video how to do it .....just simple n basic one la ....
full n complicated one, must ask the monk .....

Would like to know about the video, mind to share? Thanks

Birth of Prince Siddhartha


Prophecy of Sage Asit


This post has been edited by nash_ph_41: Dec 15 2018, 10:45 PM