1.Time
• 8am, 10am and 4pm are the best times for burning Little Houses.
• You may burn Little Houses anytime in the day from 5am to sunset under fair weather conditions
• It is best not to burn a Little House on a rainy day.However, should you have a Buddhist altar at home, it is not a big issue.
• Do not burn Little Houses after sunset except under urgent circumstances such as acute illnesses or extremely demanding karmic creditors.
2.Location
• Place the plate used exclusively for burning Little Houses on top of a box, a block of wood, or a new chair (exclusively used for the purpose) next to the Buddhist altar.
• Please do not place the plate on the Buddhist altar or directly on the ground (refer to Figure 21).
3.Prayers before burning Little Houses
• With a Buddhist altar:
First, offer incense, then say the following prayer three times, “I express my sincere gratitude to the Greatly Merciful and Greatly Compassionate Guan Yin Bodhisattva.”
Raise the Little Houses slightly above your head, and then place it on your Buddhist altar.
Kneel down and say the following prayer: “May the Greatly Merciful and Greatly Compassionate Guan Yin Bodhisattva protect and bless me, “your full name”, help me to give these “number” Little Houses to “name of the recipient” (which can be your karmic creditor, a deceased person, an aborted or miscarried child, a karmic creditor of someone’s house or someone who resolves karmic conflicts).”
• Without a Buddhist altar:
You can burn the Little House on your balcony, near the window in your living room, or in your backyard.
First, offer “Heart Incense” (visualise yourself making incense offerings)1, then say the following prayer three times, “I express my sincere gratitude to the Greatly Merciful and Greatly Compassionate Guan Yin Bodhisattva.”
Then, recite the Great Compassion Mantra once and the Heart Sutra once.
Raise the Little House slightly above your head, and then perform three bows facing the sky (or facing a window so that you can see the sky), or visualise yourself kneeling down and bowing, and say the following prayer, “May the Greatly Merciful and Greatly Compassionate Guan Yin Bodhisattva protect and bless me, “your full name”, help me to give these “number” Little Houses to “name of the recipient” (which can be your karmic creditor, a deceased person, an aborted or miscarried child, a karmic creditor of someone’s house or someone who resolves karmic conflicts.”
4.When burning a Little House
• While you are burning Little Houses, simply say, “May the Greatly Merciful and Greatly Compassionate Guan Yin Bodhisattva protect and bless me with your compassion.” Do not say anything further.
• You may light the Little House using the flame from the oil lamp on your Buddhist altar, a match or a lighter. However, it is suggested that you favour a match or lighter over your oil lamp.
• It is best to burn Little Houses starting from the upper right-hand corner where it says, “Offer To:”.
• Little Houses must be burnt thoroughly, there should not be any pieces left unburnt.
• Do not handle the ashes with your bare hands.
• Burn the Little House one after the other. Do not burn several pieces simultaneously.
• If you are burning Little Houses to different recipients, you should say the prayers for each separately. Once finished burning Little Houses to one recipient, you should pause for one to two minutes before burning them to another one.
• Ensure that the Little House is completely filled out before burning as it is irrevocable once burnt (refer to Figures 22 to 25).
5.After burning the Little House
After burning the Little Houses, say, “I bow in gratitude to the Greatly Merciful and Greatly Compassionate Guan Yin Bodhisattva for helping me, “your full name”, offer these Little Houses to “name of the recipient”. I express my sincere gratitude to the Greatly Merciful and Greatly Compassionate Guan Yin Bodhisattva for protecting and blessing me!” (followed by one prostration).
You can also say corresponding prayers. For example, if you offer Little Houses to your Karmic Creditor, you could pray to Guan Yin Bodhisattva to grant you good health, safety and good fortune. If you use Little Houses to resolve karmic conflicts with someone, you could pray to Guan Yin Bodhisattva to help you resolve the negative karmic affinity between you and that person.
6.Burning a Little House on behalf of others
• If you are burning Little Houses on behalf of someone else and the Little Houses were recited by him or her, you can say the following prayer, “May the Greatly Merciful and Greatly Compassionate Guan Yin Bodhisattva help “name of the reciter” to give the Little Houses to “name of the recipient”.”
• However, if the Little Houses were recited by other people (in the event that you or your friend have asked others for help with recitation), you can say the following prayer:
“May the Greatly Merciful and Greatly Compassionate Guan Yin Bodhisattva help “the name of the person who seeks help” to give the Little Houses to “name of the recipient”.”
