Incense, flame, and flowers are three main offerings that are essential to all Buddhist shrines.
The traditional offering of flowers (instead of food and bottled water) symbolized the fact that no person can escape death and that even though we are beautiful people now, we will become something utterly different soon enough. This scripture says it all:
These flowers, bright and beautiful,
fragrant and good-smelling, handsome and well-formed--
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.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
from Psalm 90
the days of our lives are threescore and ten, and if by reason of strength, they may be fourscore; even then their span is only toil and trouble; our years come to an end like a sigh; they are soon gone and we fly away.
So teach us to count our days that we may gain a wise heart.
Post a Comment