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Pūjā (Buddhism)

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In Buddhism, offerings (Pali: pūjā) are expressions of "honour, worship, devotional attention."[1] Honoring those "worthy" (Pali: arahant)[2] of honor is one of the "highest blessings" in Buddhism, as reflected in the following words attributed to the Buddha:

Asevanā ca bālānam
panditānañ ca sevanā
pūjā ca pūjanīyānam
etam mangalam-uttamam....

With fools no company keeping,
With the wise ever consorting,
To the worthy homage paying:
This, the Highest Blessing....[3]

Contemporary Western practitioners often find the making of offerings to be occasions for gracious mindfulness.[4] Within the traditional Buddhist framework of karma and rebirth, offerings also lead to:

Buddhism traditionally identifies two different types of offerings:

  • material or hospitality offerings (Pali: amisa-puja[6] or sakkara-puja[7])[8]
  • practice offerings (Pali: patipatti-puja[9])

Material offerings

Symbolic offerings to the Triple Gem are often made prior to meditation.[10] Typical material offerings involve simple objects of one or more of the following:

  • the lighting of a candle or an oil lamp (padīpa pūjā)[11] represents the light of wisdom illuminating the darkness of ignorance.
  • the burning of incense (sugandha pūjā)[12] represents the fragrant scent of morality.
  • flowers (puppha pūjā)[13] represents the aspiration to achieve the body of the Buddha with the Thirty-two marks of the Buddha as well as the teaching of impermenance.
  • food, fruit, water, drinks[14] represents the nectar of Dharma and the wish to achieve it.

These are external offerings of "words and deeds."[15]

Material offerings nurture generosity (Pali: dana) and virtue (Pali: sila).[16] The act further honors the Triple Gem (the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha), deepening one's commitment to the Buddha's path. By contemplating on an offering, one tangibly sees life's impermanence (Pali: anicca), one of the three characteristics of all things upon which the Buddha encouraged his disciplines to recollect. For instance, the end of a traditional chant (in Pali and English) when offering flowers to an image of the Buddha is:

Pujemi Buddham kusumenanena
Puññenametena ca hotu mokkham
Puppham milāyāti yathā idam me
Kāyo tathā yāti vināsa-bhavam[17]

I worship the Buddha with these flowers;
May this virtue be helpful for my emancipation;
Just as these flowers fade,
Our body will undergo decay.[18]

In addition, puja refers to the act of raising ones hands together (anjali) in a gesture of homage. Traditionally, one offers puja to the Buddha's likeness in a statue (rupa), to a stupa (a pagoda that enshrines bodily relics of the Buddha) or to the Bodhi tree. Traditionally, one offers puja to one's teacher and parents as well.[19]

Practice offerings

Practice offerings may be manifested by practicing:

  • giving (Pali: dana)
  • moral conduct (sila)
  • meditation (samadhi)
  • wisdom (pañña)[20]

The Buddha declared practice offerings as "the best way of honoring the Buddha"[21] and as the "supreme" offering.[22] This is primarily an internal offering for mental development (Pali: citta, bhavana and samadhi).

See also

Notes

  1. ^ PTS (1921-25), p. 471.[1] See also, for example, Khantipalo (1982).
  2. ^ PTS (1921-25), p. 77.[2]
  3. ^ From the Sn 2.4 and Khp 5. English translation by Soni & Khantipalo (2006).[3]
  4. ^ Such an appreciation might be experienced, for instance, by those practicing in the style of Thich Nhat Hanh.
  5. ^ Lee & Thanissaro (1998).
  6. ^ Lee & Thanissaro (1998).
  7. ^ Khantipalo (1982).
  8. ^ See also Alms#Buddhism regarding the traditional Theravada offering of providing daily alms to bhikkhus.
  9. ^ Khantipalo (1982); Lee & Thanissaro (1998).
  10. ^ See, for instance, Indaratana (2002), p. v; Kapleau (1989), pp. 191ff.; and Khantipalo (1982).
  11. ^ Indaratana (2002), pp. iv, v; Kapleau (1989), p. 193; Khantipalo (1982); Lee & Thanissaro (1998).
  12. ^ Indaratana (2002), pp. 11-12.
  13. ^ See, for instance, Indaratana (2002), pp. 11-12.
  14. ^ Kapleau (1989), p. 193; and, Khantipalo (1982).
  15. ^ Lee & Thanissaro (1998).
  16. ^ See, for instance, Lee & Thanissaro (1998).
  17. ^ Indaratana (2002), p. 12.
  18. ^ Ibid., p. 11.
  19. ^ Indaratana (2002), pp. iv, v. Indaratana states that the basis for venerating stupas comes from the Mahaparinibbana Sutta. See, for example, Vijira & Story (1998), verses 25-31.[4]
  20. ^ Khantipalo (1982); and, Nyanaponika (2000), pp. 298-299. On the other hand, Lee & Thanissaro (1998) identify only meditation as patipatti-puja.
  21. ^ Kantipalo (1982), n. 1.
  22. ^ Lee & Thanissaro (1998).

Bibliography

  • Kapleau, Philip (1989b). Zen: Merging of East and West. NY:Anchor Book. ISBN 0-385-26104-7.
  • Nyanaponika Thera (2000). The Vision of Dhamma: Buddhist Writings of Nyanaponika Thera. Seattle: BPS Pariyatti Editions. ISBN 1-928706-03-7.



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