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WHY WE DO WHAT WE DO

It is one of the main

offerings that Buddhistpractice but not unique

to Buddhist alone. It is

an old Indian religious

practice. Other religions such as

Christianity also light candles

which is considered very

significant. Butter lamp offering is

also a pan religious practice.

Why offer butter lamp?

Buddhist always considered

ignorance, lack of wisdom andlack of knowledge as the main

source of all our problems. The

biggest problem the world faces

is ignorance and ignorance is

often presented or metaphorically

portrayed as darkness. To get rid

of ignorance or darkness is the

best thing one can do. The offering

of butter lamp is the offering of

wisdom and light of knowledge to

eradicate darkness or ignorance.

Therefore it has a crucial place in

our daily rituals.

When we talk of butter

lamps, first we have the physical

darkness, which is similar to

mental darkness (the inner

darkness of ignorance). The

physical butter lamp, therefore,

is also symbolic to the inner light

or knowledge that will dispel the

darkness inside. If one loses thereal purpose of offering butter

lamp, it is the same as lighting

anything. Therefore, it is important

to offer butter lamp realising its

purpose.

History

In a world where there was

no electricity, one of the best

things one could give someone is

light, which has less smoke, less

contamination and less pollution,is the light from butter or oil.

Other forms of creating light such

as from firewood or coal emits

pollutants. In this way, one creates

light but also creates darkness,

which is not pure as lighting a

butter lamp. In that context, where

there was no electricity butter

lamp offering was a pure gift one

could offer to the Buddha who we

cherish and respect. It is a most

precious gift one can offer.

How to make the offering?

The whole process of offering

butter lamp is also a very spiritual

practice. The traditional practice

of preparing a butter lamp

starts from washing ones hand,

wearing a mask to protect from

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contaminating the butter lamp

through ones breadth, making

the wick out of pure cotton and

cleaning the butter out of the

chalice with a reserved specific

clean piece of cloth (often in the old

days, people used to bring mossesfrom the trees to wipe the butter in

a butter lamp, which is the purest

thing one can find in the forest).

The whole process is meditative,

that draws one in both physically

and mentally, and a spiritual

practice if one can understand and

practice it according to the norms.

What should one think of while

offering?

One simply doesnt go andlight a butter lamp, one should

pray as I lit this butter lamp I am

lighting a wisdom for the world, I

am dispelling the darkness of the

world by dispelling the darkness in

this room.

Then one can visualise the

whole world of universe contained

in the butter lamp, where the butter

is the nectar or ambrosia and while

lighting the butter lamp one is

dispelling the darkness from thewhole universe.

Once the butter lamp is lit one

should focus on the flickering flame

and realise how impermanent life is,

how everything is inter-dependent

where there is chalice to hold the

butter, the butter have to be of the

right temperature to be of use, thewick have to be of the right texture

and grip, the butter have to flow

up through the wick and then with

match sticks to trigger the flame.

The whole combination of

things, giving rise to light, reminds

one of theory of dependence, which

is a central Buddhist concept.

One shouldnt be stuck with

thinking that one is real or things

are different but understand the

fluid nature of things by lookingat things such as the flickering of

a flame from a butter lamp. When

second flame is lit, the second

flame doesnt bring the flame

from the first one. The first flame

can continue being alight but

the second one cant come into

existence without carrying on the

flame from the first one. Its the

same with third, fourth, fifth and so

on and it shows the process of cycle

and how existence evolves in thismanner. This is a very important

Buddhist understanding as well.

After lighting the butter lamp,

there are lots of prayers one can

chant. The most popular of all is the

marmey moenlam.

If one lights a butter lamp

without any of the mental

and spiritual input, there is no

difference from just lighting a

cigarette.

The final prayer is dedicatingthe merit one has accumulated

during the practice to free all

sentient beings from darkness.

Dr Karma Phuntsho, founding director

of Loden Foundation and author ofe

History of Bhutan in conversation with

inley Zangmo