If conditions allow, it is best to have an altar at home for you to pay respects and make offerings to Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. You should also invite a statue of Guan Yin Bodhisattva to your altar.
- The basic requirements for altar setup at home are as follows:
• The altar must not be near a toilet (the toilet door should be closed at all times).
• The altar must not directly face the kitchen.
• The altar must not be placed on top of the television, refrigerator, or directly below an air conditioner. If it is close to the television or in an untidy environment, you can use a cabinet with a wooden door for the altar. When you are not offering incense, you can close the door. When you are offering incense, please do not switch on the television. You should also not cover the statues or images of Buddhas or Bodhisattvas with a glass dome.
• You should not place the altar in the bedroom of a couple (the bedroom of an elderly couple may be alright).
• You can place the altar in single bedrooms, but the foot of the bed should not face the altar.
• You should not place the altar on a balcony extending out from the building (i.e. not attached to the ground). However, if the balcony is inside the building then it would be alright, e.g. sunroom.
• All statues and images of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, as well as other Dharma instruments, including incense burners, oil lamps, etc. should not be placed on an extended fixture (jutting out over empty space). In other words, there must be tables, cabinets or frames, etc. that are connected to the ground to hold up the items.
o The best location to make offerings and pray to Buddhas and Bodhisattvas is near a window where it is bright. But you should not place the altar against a window; the altar must be placed against a wall. There should not be any mirrors in its surroundings.
o Do not place unrelated objects or books underneath the altar. Normally, Buddhist scriptures and Dharma instruments could be stored underneath.
o The altar should not be too high or too low. It would be best if the statues or images of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas on your altar are slightly above eye level. If they are too low, you can place something (such as a nice box) underneath to raise their height.
o On the altar, there should be oil lamps (offering oil lamps can improve your eye health), and cups of water (one cup of water for each statue or image of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas). The water should be changed daily. Do not drink the water directly from the cup used for offerings.
o There should be a burner for the offering of incense. You can make an incense offering once in the morning and once at night. The time for incense offerings should be kept consistent. The best times for the morning offerings are 6am, 8am and 10am, and the best times for night offerings are 6pm, 8pm and 10pm.
o It is best not to have too many statues or images of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas on the altar.
o If conditions allow, you can make offerings of fresh fruit (allowing wishes to come true more quickly) and fresh flowers (offering fresh flowers can improve your physical attractiveness). Fruits and flowers should not be left on the altar longer than one week. If they are not fresh, remove or replace them as soon as possible. Do not leave rotten fruits and withered flowers on the altar even if replacements are not available.
o The best location for the altar is sitting south and facing north (for the Southern Hemisphere), or sitting north and facing south (for the Northern Hemisphere). However, if your current conditions do not allow you to place the altar this way, other directions are also acceptable. - Offering Fruit:
• It is best to offer fruits that are fragrant, such as apples, oranges, mangoes, pineapples, watermelons, etc.
• Bananas and peaches are not suitable for offering to Buddhas and Bodhisattvas.
• The fruits offered should be in odd number for each layer, not the total number.
• For example, if four fruits are offered, they should be arranged in such a way that there are three at the bottom layer with one on top. In short, every layer should be in odd number.
• Offer only one type of fruit on each plate. Do not offer an assortment of fruits on one plate.
• The total number of plates of fruits does not matter.
• When replacing fruits, replace the whole plate of fruits. Do not remove a few from the plate and add fresh ones to the old ones. - Offering Flowers:
• It is good to offer lucky bamboo to Buddhas and Bodhisattvas.
• Chrysanthemums, lilies, orchids, and daffodils can be offered to Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. Roses are not suitable for offering due to their thorns.
• You can tell whether a flower is suitable for offerings or not by its Chinese name. For example, flowers such as peach blossoms or Japanese morning glories are not suitable offerings.
• Potted plants with soil must not be placed on the altar.
• In general, when offering lucky bamboo, place one vase on each side of the altar. It is alright to offer one, two or three lucky bamboos in each vase, but not too many. - Offering Oil:
• If possible, the number of oil lamps should match the number of statues/images of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas on the altar. If this is not possible, you may offer a pair of oil lamps or a single oil lamp for the entire altar.
• If you have one statue/image of Bodhisattva on the altar, you can offer one oil lamp. Offering two oil lamps is fine as well.
• Practitioners following Guan Yin Citta Dharma Door usually pray to these six Bodhisattvas: Guan Yin Bodhisattva, Nanjing Bodhisattva, Tai Sui Bodhisattva, Guan Di Bodhisattva, Zhou Tsang Bodhisattva and Guan Ping Bodhisattva. It is best to have 4 oil lamps (one for Guan Yin Bodhisattva, one for Nanjing Bodhisattva, one for Tai Sui Bodhisattva, and a shared one for Guan Di Bodhisattva, Zhou Tsang Bodhisattva and Guan Ping Bodhisattva. If possible, it would be best to have 6 oil lamps (Offer separate oil lamps for Zhou Tsang Bodhisattva and Guan Ping Bodhisattva). If this is not possible, then you should only put one or two oil lamps for the entire altar.
• The offering of candles is generally not recommended. If you have been doing so, it is best to offer a pair of red candles.
• You are advised to put out the oil lamps as soon as you are done with your prayer or before the incense is burnt out. Avoid leaving oil lamps burning while there is no burning incense, as this tends to attract foreign spirits.
• You may use electric lotus lamps provided that you are offering real oil lamps at the same time. Take note that they must not be switched on all day long (24 hours).
• To make incense offerings and perform prostration, you can first turn on the electric lotus lamps and then light the oil lamps. Before the incense is burnt out, you need to put out the oil lamps, and then switch off the electric lotus lamps.
• You can put out the oil lamps by covering the flame with a lid or with other suitable instruments. Do not blow them out with your mouth.
• Leaving lotus lamps on for a long period of time without offering incense tends to attract foreign spirits.
• Making offerings of vegetable oil to Buddhas and Bodhisattvas will result in blessings of keen eyesight, hearing and wisdom.
• Generally, vegetable oils such as olive oil, canola seed oil, corn oil, and lotus oil may be used in oil offerings.
• Sesame oil, peanut oil, or any oil with an aroma should not be used for oil lamps, as oils with an aroma are considered impure. Their strong aroma would overpower the scent of the sandalwood incense, thus they are not suitable for offerings to Buddhas and Bodhisattvas.
• Soybean oil is too concentrated to burn easily, and is therefore also unsuitable for oil offerings.
• After removing the packaging and the label, you can offer the entire bottle of oil before the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas on the altar. This would be considered an oil offering, too.
• However, the best way of making oil offerings is to light oil lamps and refill the oil lamps with the oil that you wish to offer. You should refill the oil lamps frequently by adding a little bit of fresh oil every day, just as you would make offerings of fresh flowers, fruit and water.
• Be aware that the oil that has been offered to Buddhas and Bodhisattvas must not be used to cook non-vegetarian dishes. We can consume the fruits and water after offering them to Buddhas and Bodhisattvas directly. But for the offered oil, it has to be cooked before being consumed. For example, you may use the offered oil to cook vegetarian dishes.
• When you make oil offerings in a public place, for example, at the Guan Yin Practice Centre, you can bring your own bottle of oil to refill the oil lamps on the altar. Afterwards, you can take the bottle home and use the remaining oil for cooking purposes. - Great Compassion Water:
• Great Compassion Water is the water that you have offered to Guan Yin Bodhisattva. It has been blessed by Guan Yin Bodhisattva. As ordinary humans, we are unable to bless the water simply by performing recitations to make it become Great Compassion Water.
• You can offer hot or cold water that has previously been boiled, mineral water, purified water or any other potable water that has no colour or fragrance. You should not directly use tap water or untreated water.
• Please use a brand new cup for making water offerings for Great Compassion Water. The cup can be made of glass, china or ceramic. It can be with or without a lid, but it is better to have a lid to prevent dust and insects from falling into the cup. It is best to use a plain white cup without any text on it. There should not be any scriptures including the Great Compassion Mantra or the Heart Sutra printed on the cup. The cup should also not have any names or images of Buddhas or Bodhisattvas, or have any animal figures.
• Generally, one cup of water is offered to each Buddha or Bodhisattva. You could offer more than one cup of water before each Buddha or Bodhisattva, but you should not have fewer cups than the number of Buddhas or Bodhisattvas on the altar. The cup should not be too large in size. In addition, you should not offer bottled mineral water to Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, it is disrespectful to substitute the cup of water with a bottle of mineral water. While you are offering cups of water, bottled water should not be offered on the altar.
• You should not drink the Great Compassion Water directly from the cup used for offering on the altar. The water can be poured from the offering cup to another cup for drinking. Your mouth should not touch the offering cup. As a general practice, you can first face the statues and images of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, then with both hands, respectfully raise the cup slightly above your eyebrows, and say the following prayer gently: “May the Greatly Merciful and Greatly Compassionate Guan Yin Bodhisattva protect and bless me, , grant me good health.” At the same time, you can visualise that the pure water of Guan Yin Bodhisattva is gradually being poured onto the top of your head, and then flowing over your entire body. You can then pour the water into another cup, and drink the water respectfully. For best results, you can place your palm facing down over the cup and recite the Great Compassion Mantra once before drinking the water.
• After the water has been offered, if you find the water too cold and you wish to heat it up, avoid doing so directly or using the microwave. You can immerse the container with the Great Compassion Water in hot water to heat it up before drinking (it should only be heated slightly rather than heated to its boiling point).• For the water offered to other Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, you can just pour it away. Otherwise, you need to recite the Great Compassion Mantra once before drinking. In addition, you should not mix the water that you offered to different Buddhas and Bodhisattvas together. You should pour the water into different cups before drinking.
• Water offered to Buddhas and Bodhisattvas should not be used for watering plants. - Incense Burners and Offering of Incense and Grand Incense
• For the altar in the home, incense should be offered at least twice a day, once in the morning and once at night. The time of incense offerings should be kept consistent. The best times for the morning offerings are 6am, 8pm and 10am and for night offerings, 6pm, 8pm, and 10pm. Incense offering is optional if recitations of scriptures and Little Houses are being performed at other times. If conditions permit, it is good to keep the incense burning.
• If you have several statues or images of Bodhisattvas on the altar, it is best to place one incense burner before each statue. You can offer one incense stick for each incense burner and three incense sticks on the first and fifteenth day of each lunar month as well as commemorative days of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. If conditions do not allow, you can place only one incense burner for the entire altar but it is best to light three incense sticks for the morning and night offerings of incense.
• You may offer grand incense on the 1st and 15th day of each lunar month and commemorative days of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. After lighting the oil lamps and making incense offerings, you can then light a piece of sandalwood (available in most Buddhist shops). Extinguish the flame by fanning it with your hand; the smoke that comes out is considered grand incense, the fragrance of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. You must not blow it out with your mouth. You can repeat this offering three times, after which you can make prostrations, say your prayers and perform recitations of scriptures. The used sandalwood can be placed horizontally in the incense burner and be kept for future use. - Setting Up Altar When Moving House:
• If you already have an altar in your existing home, you need to invite the statue of Bodhisattva to your new home. First, burn the last stick of incense in your old home, wait for the incense to burn out, then invite the statue down from the altar and wrap it with a piece of red cloth. When you arrive at your new home, it is important that you place the statue of Bodhisattva on the altar first, and then make incense offerings with three incense sticks. Recite the Great Compassion Mantra 7 times and the Heart Sutra 7 times, make more prostrations, and say the following prayer: “May the Greatly Merciful and Greatly Compassionate Guan Yin Bodhisattva come to our new home, please continue to protect and bless me, , and my family (full names of family members). We will cultivate our minds diligently and sincerely.” It is best to relocate your altar and set it up before you move the rest of your belongings.
• When you relocate your altar to your new home, it is not necessary to perform another blessing ceremony for the statue of Bodhisattva. This is because the Bodhisattva has already visited the statue. The Bodhisattva will visit your home once an incense offering is made.
• If the house is under renovation and you have to stay at another place temporarily, it is best that you set up an altar at the temporary residence. When the new home is ready, you can move the altar there. - Making Offerings When Away Temporarily:
• If you have to be away for a brief period (e.g. business trip etc.), you can replace the Great Compassion Water, fruit and flowers shortly before leaving. Make sure they won’t rot before your return. Leave everything as they are on the altar; it is not necessary to cover them.
• It is best to take a photo of the altar when there is no incense burning. Wrap the photo with a piece of red cloth and bring it with you. If conditions permit, you can make offerings of incense, water, fruit, and flowers in front of the photo. If conditions do not allow, just take the photo out and offer Heart Incense, and then wrap the photo with the red cloth after finishing. - Inviting Bodhisattva to Enter the Sacred Image:
• If you are following Master Lu’s Guan Yin Citta Dharma Door to cultivate your mind and practise Buddhism, it is best to invite a statue or an image of Guan Yin Bodhisattva to the altar in your home. At the same time, we must respect all religions, all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, and all spiritual beings. In terms of the statue or image of Guan Yin Bodhisattva we invite, generally it is better to choose one in a standing posture holding the purification vase and the willow branch, made of ceramic, and which contains no dragon or other auspicious creatures. It is also recommended that you select a new statue or image that has not been blessed. You can bring the statue or image home and perform the blessing ceremony on your own to invite Bodhisattva to enter the statue. It is certainly better to have Master Lu or other esteemed, knowledgeable and greatly virtuous Buddhist monastic or lay practitioners bless the statue or image for you.
• When you select a statue or image of Guan Yin Bodhisattva, you can go to a Buddhist shop and look at the ones that you wish to invite home. If you feel that you favour a particular statue or image, or if you feel that the statue or image of Bodhisattva is smiling at you, then you should invite that statue or image home. You can also invite the image of Guan Yin Bodhisattva from the Guan Yin Centre after you colour print and frame it.
• Generally, if you have not attained a great spiritual state, you do not have the ability to bless statues or images of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas yourself. However, you can still invite Guan Yin Bodhisattva to enter a statue or image on your altar. On an auspicious day such as the 1st or 15th day of the lunar month, and during an auspicious time such as 6am or 8am (or 4pm if it is not possible in the morning), you can prepare the altar where the statue or image is going to be placed. After you have invited the statue or image of Guan Yin Bodhisattva to your altar, you can make offerings of water, fruit, oil, and incense. It is better to make incense offerings with three incense sticks. Join your palms together and raise the incense sticks slightly above your head, and bow to Guan Yin Bodhisattva 3 times. After you place the incense sticks into the incense burner in front of the statue or image of Guan Yin Bodhisattva, you can say the following prayer: “May the Greatly Merciful and Greatly Compassionate Guan Yin Bodhisattva perform miracles, and enter the sacred offered by me, ”. You should then recite the Great Compassion Mantra 7 times and Heart Sutra 7 times, and then prostrate 3 more times. The more you recite the Great Compassion Mantra and the Heart Sutra, the better the result.
• Before you begin your recitation, you can say your prayers to Guan Yin Bodhisattva. For example, you can sincerely pray to Guan Yin Bodhisattva for protection and blessings, and to grant your family safety and harmony. You can also make a vow that from now on you will pay respect to Guan Yin Bodhisattva twice a day, once in the morning and once at night, etc. Ensure that your incense sticks are burning during the entire recitation process.
• After you have invited the statues or images of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas to your altar, avoid touching the statues or images randomly. In general, you do not need to clean the statues or images frequently. If too much dust has accumulated, you may clean it gently with a new piece of dry cloth during the daytime and recite the Heart Sutra while cleaning. Should you ever need to relocate the statues or images, you should first make an incense offering to the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, and tell Bodhisattvas about the relocation. Then you should recite the Great Compassion Mantra 3 times, and the Heart Sutra 3 times. After the incense has completely finished burning, you can then relocate the statues or images (during the daytime) while reciting the Heart Sutra. - Offering Heart Incense
• If you are unable to set up an altar in your home for the time being, or you are away on a business trip or vacation, you can offer the Heart Incense.
• Method: When offering the Heart Incense, visualise that the image of Guan Yin Bodhisattva is in front of you. Visualise that you are making an oil lamp offering, followed by taking an incense stick and lighting the incense, joining your palms together and then raising the incense above your forehead between your eyebrows. Then you visualise that you are placing the incense into the incense burner, making full prostrations, and saying your prayers in your heart. Do not do any other actions such as bowing or physically kneeling down.
• Please note: You can only make incense offerings if you have an altar at home where you pay respects and make offerings to Buddhas and Bodhisattvas every day. Images of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas on computer screens, printed on sutra booklets or other statues and images of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas that you do not pay respects and make offerings to every day would not have the energy field of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. If you are making incense offerings to these statues or images, then you are actually making offerings to heaven and earth, and all the spiritual beings around you might come and accept your offerings. This involves risks and may invite unnecessary troubles. - Setting up an altar in the home under constraints
• Due to the constraints in your living place, for example, if it is impossible to avoid the bedroom of a couple, kitchen or toilet, or there are family members who do not believe in Buddhism at the moment, you may buy a new cabinet with a wooden door in which to place the statue of Guan Yin Bodhisattva.
• Other than praying instruments and Buddhist sutra booklets, do not place any unrelated items in the cabinet or anywhere above the statue.
• You may keep the cabinet door open while offering incense to the Bodhisattva. Close the cabinet door once the incense has finished burning. - Procedures to set up an altar in the home
(1). Prepare the following items and respectfully place them on the altar.
a. Statues/images of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas (Arrange them in the following order when you stand facing the altar. The number is the order for you to place the statues/images on the altar);
③Tai Sui Bodhisattva; ②Nanjing Bodhisattva; ①Guan Yin Bodhisattva; ④Guan Di Bodhisattva (Guan Ping Bodhisattva, Guan Di Bodhisattva, Zhou Tsang Bodhisattva).
b. Incense burner;
c. Oil lamp;
d. Cups of water;
e. Fruit;
f. Flowers.
(2). Inviting Bodhisattvas
• Light up the oil lamps. If you have electric lotus lamps, switch them on first before lighting oil lamps.
• Light up incense sticks. Light up 3 incense sticks from the oil lamp. Raise the incense sticks slightly above your forehead between your eyebrows and bow 3 times. Place the 3 incenses all at once into the incense burner, do not separate them and do not point the incense sticks to Buddhas and Bodhisattvas.
• Light up grand incense (sandalwood) 3 times. First light up the oil lamp and incense sticks, then burn the sandalwood using the oil lamp. Put out the flame on the sandalwood (do not blow with your mouth) and the smoke that comes out is considered grand incense, the fragrance of Bodhisattvas. This can be repeated three times.
• Kneel down in front of the Bodhisattvas
• Sincerely invite the Bodhisattvas (Mention the holy names of each Bodhisattva three times)
• You may say this prayer, “May the Greatly Merciful and Greatly Compassion Guan Yin Bodhisattva perform miracles, and enter the sacred (statue or image) offered by me, (your full name).” You should then recite the Great Compassion Mantra 7 times and the Heart Sutra 7 times. Likewise, you request Guan Yin Bodhisattva to invite Nanjing Bodhisattva to enter sacred statue/image offered by you, after which you recite the holy name of Nanjing Bodhisattva 108 times. Next, you request Guan Yin Bodhisattva to invite Tai Sui Bodhisattva to enter the sacred image offered by you, then you recite the holy name of Tai Sui Bodhisattva 108 times, followed by Xiao Zai Ji Xiang Shen Zhou 21 times. Similarly, you request Guan Yin Bodhisattva to invite Guan Di Bodhisattva, Zhou Tsang Bodhisattva and Guan Ping Bodhisattva to enter the sacred statues/images offered by you, and then recite their holy names 108 times.
• If the statues or images have been blessed by Master Lu, you can pray to them straight away and need not make separate recitations. You can make a general invitation for the Bodhisattvas to enter the sacred statues of images offered by you, after which you recite the Great Compassion Mantra 7 times and the Heart Sutra 7 times.
• Kneel down and bow once to each Bodhisattva. Alternatively, you can pay general respects to all the Bodhisattvas by bowing 7 times.
• Subsequently, you may make a wish and say your prayer according to your conditions:
(1). Making vows: Not to kill live creatures for the rest of your life; practise vegetarianism; make incense offerings once in the morning and once at night, introduce Buddhism to others and help them awaken spiritually; perform meritorious and virtuous deeds by making donations to print sutra booklets and CDs for free distribution. You should make vows according to your ability and circumstances. It is inappropriate to demand that everyone make specific vows.
(2). Saying prayers: Make reasonable wishes based on your own circumstances. For example, you may pray for good health, success in your career and harmony in the family.
• Express your gratitude:
Finally express your gratitude to the Bodhisattvas by bowing 7 times.
“My sincere gratitude to Namo the Greatly Merciful and Greatly Compassionate Guan Yin Bodhisattva Mo He Sa”.
“My sincere gratitude to Namo Nanjing Bodhisattva, Namo Tai Sui Bodhisattva, Namo Guan Di Bodhisattva, Namo Zhou Tsang Bodhisattva, Namo Guan Ping Bodhisattva”, and include each Bodhisattva you make offerings to on the altar, if any.
“My sincere gratitude to all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, and Dharma Protectors”.
