{"collection":"Buddhism","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/bud/tib/chyngoff.htm","path":"bud/tib/chyngoff.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/bud/tib/chyngoff.htm","text":"The Consecration Ritual - Excerpts\nOfferings are a major part of the ritual of consecration and of many\nother Tibetan Buddhist rituals, but their nature clearly reveals their\nIndian origin. Offerings are made to acquire merit, but the recipient can be\nthe poor and needy as well as lamas or deities. If the merit thus acquired\nis dedicated to the attainment of enlightenment, the offering becomes part\nof the practice of the perfection of giving.\nThough elaborate offerings to deities who never seem to partake of them\nmay seem wasteful to the sceptical, especially in the case of the ritual\nfire offerings during which everything is burned, such offerings are not\nmerely meaningless ritual. the primary aim of Buddhist practice is to train\nthe mind and this is the context in which the offerings should be\nunderstood. Whether physical offerings actually benefit the recipient or\nnot, from the practitioners point of view they are an essential means of\nreducing the desire and greed which characterize our relationship with the\nphysical world. Desire is to think that we would be satisfied if we were to\nobtain some object, and greed is to think we will be more satisfied if we can\nkeep what we have obtained or gain more. Both passions tend to reinforce the\nnotion of ourselves as real, independent selves to be satisfied. Making\nofferings accustoms the mind to giving, letting go of desirable objects, and\nserves to loosen our sense of clinging to a real and independent self. The\nmerit derived from giving can be a cause in the short term for acquiring\nwealth, but ultimately for attaining enlightenment.\nOfferings directed to certain deities, Buddhas, or Bodhisattvas create\nconnections with them. In Sanskrit the word for offering is \"puja\" which\nmeans to please. Offerings please the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, not because\nthey are pleased to receive gifts, but because they delight in the virtue of\nthe givers, which is determined by the quality of their motivation in making\nthe offering. Offerings need not even be material. Milarepa offered his\nspiritual practice, his most cherished attribute. The best offerings are of\nvirtuous accomplishments. Thus, the offering of religious practice is what\nmost pleases the deities and creates a bond between them and the\npractitioner, which provides a basis for his/her further development.\nSeveral factors determine the quality of an offering. Prominent is the\ngiver's motivation, though the status of the recipient and the nature of the\noffering also contribute. The giver acquires the greatest merit when he/she\nis motivated by a wish to attain enlightenment for the sake of all sentient\nbeings. It is much less if he/she aspires for his/her own enlightenment\nalone and even less if he/she wishes merely to obtain a good rebirth in his/her\nnext life. The poorest motivation is the wish to gain some benefits in this\nlifetime, such as wealth and a long life, or to be completely mundane in\nseeking a reputation for generosity.\nThe status of the recipient is an important factor. The merit gained by\nmaking an offering with absolutely pure motivation to a Buddha is\nimmeasurable. Since images and other manifestations of the Buddhas and\nBodhisattvas are to be regarded as no different from them in nature, making\nofferings such as are made to the mandala deities in the consecration\nrituals is equivalent to making offerings to the Buddhas. The Buddhas are\nexalted objects of offering because they are the ultimate source of refuge,\nnot because they will snatch us out of cyclic existence, but because the\nteachings they demonstrate enable us to do so ourselves. One's own lama or\nteacher is also an exalted object of offering, because it is due to his\npersonal kindness and guidance that one can make any progress on the path of\ndevelopment for the benefit of all sentient beings.\nNevertheless, since pure motivation is so important, a gift made with\na very pure motivation to a needy person is also very meritorious. One can\nreflect that this needy person has at sometime been one's own kind mother or\nconsider the fact that one depends on others to attain enlightenment, for\nwithout them one would have no opportunity to practice giving, ethics and\nforbearance, which are essential in the quest for Buddhahood. Thus it could\nbe said that the merit obtained from making a modest gift to a needy person\nwith an exalted motivation is far greater than one made to a Buddha with a\npoor motivation.\nWhatever is offered should always have been honestly obtained, for a\nwrongly acquired object severely detracts from the wholesome quality of\ngiving it. Offerings should always be of the best one has. Food offered to\nthe Buddhas should not be bad or rotten on the pretext that no one will eat\nit. It is good to offer one's own food before eating it. Since the main\npurpose of making offerings is to reduce avarice, one should do so without a\ntrace of regret. The Buddha recommended that avaricious people should\ninitially accustom their minds to giving, by giving something from one hand\nto the other.\nWater is also commonly offered. Water is pure. the Indian master\nAtisha, who visited Tibet with profound effect in the eleventh century,\npraised the purity of water in Tibet, saying that simply by appreciating its\nexcellent qualities one could offer it joyfully to the Buddhas. Water can\neasily and honestly obtained and when offering it one can imagine washing\naway the miserliness of all sentient beings.\n(Portion of \"The Consecration Ritual\", pp 55 - 56, Cho-Yang, Vol. 1-No.2,\n1987. Cho-Yang is an occasional publication of the Council for Religious and\nCultural Affairs)","title":"The Consecration Ritual","type":"page"}