The use of incense.

Padawan

I'll probably look like a complete plum for asking, but I'd like to know if anyone here uses incense at all, either as an aid to meditation or as an offering, and if so, which one is your favourite, or if any specific ones are used for certain practises. While meditating, I usually burn a Nag Champa incense stick, or some times I use Nepalese Tashi Tag Gye. I find the fragrances help me to relax and achieve a meditative state.

wezz_975

I use incense all the time, my favorite is Gonesh sticks No. 8 perfumes of a Spring Mist. it's the only incense I use at the time being, it brings such a peacefull environment into the room, perfect for relaxation and meditation, you can find it for $1.99 at Fruth pharmacy(well, at mine, not sure about others) and I have seen some of there incense and incense cones at Spencers Gifts.

gregc

I haven't smelled incense in a long time, not since the last time I was in a Catholic Church before mass (the priest would spread incense around the room). I agree it does have a relaxing effect, but I'll need to find out where I can get some of the incense mentioned above (in Maryland).

federica

I love incense!! I use it whatever, whenever!

I have so much now, I'm running out of room in my little cabinet...
I also use nag champa (its scent is wonderful) Tibetan, hand-rolled incense and also granular incense, with charcoal briquettes.... unfortunately, my little house is SO small, if I use these, it looks like the place is on fire - ! So I have to moderate my enthusiasm...!

Vacchagotta

I use incense nowadays mainly as a convenient silent timer. I sit for the time it takes for one stick to burn. Depending on conditions, it burns a little shorter or longer but it is roughly the same, close enough for my schedule, unobtrusive, and doesn't hurt as an offering! Always sandalwood, I don't shop around for different aromas. I am not sure what, if any, beneficial effect the pleasant scent has on meditation, since for me meditation is primarily a withdrawal from the senses. Surely, at least, I don't get the gist of the Buddha's teaching as encouraging delighting in sensual pleasures--odors included. Although perhaps there is something to be said for one sense being filled with a single sensation, if taken as an object and held at a distance while "guarding the sense doors", being conducive to concentration...I don't know--and don't forget that incense is a burnt offering supposed to please spirits. About that I don't know anything either.

buddhafoot

Same here.

I find that I meditate for about as long as it takes a couple of sticks to burn.

Plus, my girlfriend can smell it and doesn't keep stumbling into the room while I'm meditating. So... she gets the smell of incense (which she loves) and knows I'm having my "time out".

-bf

wezz_975

couple of people here have mentioned Nag Champa, I need to go try some of that one day!

Frizzer

If you can get hold of the Nag Champa in a gold coloured packet I can definately recommend it!
Failing that the regular Nitiraj Nag Champa is great, unfortunately I find it a bit too strong for meditating so I use Baieido Koubunboku Japanese incense for that purpose.

Here's info about it from [url]www.dharma-store.com:[/url]

Baieido Koubunboku is a premium incense blending the finest aromatic wooods including sandalwood and cinnamon, to produce natural, mild, low-smoke incense sticks of superb quality and aroma. It is manufactured in Sakai, Japan, by traditional methods, and for centuries has been especially popular as an aid to meditation among the Zen sects of Buddhism, and is today the preferred incense of the Sanbo Kyodan Kai in Kamakura, Japan.

Ratty

I like incense, but the smell and the smoke bothers my delicate husband (we live in a not-too-huge apartment), so if I ever light it I only let it burn a minute or two.

This morning actually my car smelled like incense inside. I had gone to the monastery yesterday, so the incense smell must have really permeated my clothes! I didn't notice it then. It made my little drive to work very pleasant.

buddhafoot

Does anyone burn hair when they're meditating?

Burning hair. That has a unique odor...

-bf

Palzang

Only with the rest of the body when we burn them, bf!

I use incense mainly as an offering as it is required in various practices I do. I use Tibetan incense as I can't stand the perfumed kinds as they make me sick with the strong odors. I really can't stand strong odors of any kind. I've walked past stores in malls that sell candles or whatever that have strong odors wafting out, and I have to avoid them. Weird, huh?

Palzang

questZENer

I feel the same as you do, Palzang. Stong perfume of any kind--incense from India, candles, essential oils of particular sorts--all make my stomach turn. I do like scent of Nepali/Tibetan incense, but it's very smoky.

I particularly can NOT stand Nag Champa Fed & Friz--as far as I'm concerned, please use as MUCH as you can! Ohh! Sooo sweet!

Palzang

Yeah, it's just overpowering. We did a house blessing here for a really nice lady last week, lived in an earth ship and all, but she gave us some offerings afterwards, one of which was some really, really strong smelling incense. There were four of us in the car on the way home, and we all couldn't stand smelling it! Appreciate the offering, but there's no way that's going home with me! Subtle is what I like.

Interestingly, when I was in Mongolia last summer, you couldn't find Tibetan incense anywhere. Mongolian incense is made from juniper and has a very pleasant smell. It's powedered, so they burn it on long charcoal burners. Kind of a different effect.

Palzang

Craig

i use it for a peaceful atmosphere and when meditating sometimes.
I use Satya Sai Baba Nag Champa in the blue box.
but I would like to find something else too,but i dont like to use incense that smells like hotel soap.

Michelle

I use the same one as Craig. I like that it doesn't have an overpowering scent. I burn it everyday just to scent the house. I also burn it when meditating.

I have my 8 year old daughters using it, too. They light one in their room while they're going to sleep.


Blessings,
Michelle

YogaMama

buddhafoot wrote:

Does anyone burn hair when they're meditating?

Burning hair. That has a unique odor...

-bf

You are such a nut job.

I really like to brun incense when I meditate, and I agree that Nag Champa is the best. But does anyone else worry about the carcinogens the incense is giving off? I am silly for worrying about that?

Palzang

YogaMama wrote:

I really like to brun incense when I meditate, and I agree that Nag Champa is the best. But does anyone else worry about the carcinogens the incense is giving off? I am silly for worrying about that?

It's OK, YM, they're blessed carcinogens!

BTW, how do you brun incense? I'd like to try it!

Palzang

YogaMama

Smarty pants.

Palzang

I know, I'm horrible! :grr:

Palzang

Simonthepilgrim

Especially for Fede and those of us who remember the use of fine incense at High Mass, here is a link to my neighbours, the monks at Prinknash. They make some wonderful incenses, in the Western tradition.

http://www.davidsemporium.co.uk/Prinknash/

federica

Thank you Simon....

I have been fortunate to have been clients of theirs in the past...The incense they manufacture is absolutely divine, and the fragrance fills my home without being too overwhelming.... I have never had anyone yet tell me they dislike the scent....

But use in moderation - !

I have seen Altar servers pass out cold, whilst swinging the burning handbags....!!

Brigid

Tallulah Bankhead, on going to Catholic mass for the first time in a slightly intoxicated, loud, theatrical voice to the priest:

"LOVE the dress, darling, but your handbag's on fire."

Makarov

Incense? Indeed I do use incense but I guess I am still a little too "white trash" as well as too poor to have ever yet tried Nag Champa or other "gourmet incense types. I'm almost embarrassed to admit that I but my stick incense at Target...lol.

A side note to my use of incense...since finishing my first Vipassana course I have simlified my practice and eliminated much of the "ritual" stuff I used to do. I no longer have my home altar filled with offering bowls and candles, etc. Only incense remains because I find it calming during meditation and of course it also makes the room smell nice.

Padawan

Craig wrote:

i use it for a peaceful atmosphere and when meditating sometimes.
I use Satya Sai Baba Nag Champa in the blue box.
but I would like to find something else too,but i dont like to use incense that smells like hotel soap.

I like Satya Sai Baba Nag Champa- I'm especially fond of the 'super hit' variety in the black box. If you're after a subtle fragrance that doesn't smell too much like hotel soap, another one I like is called Citronella. It has a wonderfully refreshing lemony smell that isn't too overpowering. If you LIKE strong smells, there's also one called Pakeedah, which I think must have been designed for large buildings like temples, because it's waaaay too strong for an ordinary room!

Yagoodza

Some short description of Tibetan and Nepalese formulas of making incense:

Shambala Incense. This fragrance of this incense helps to plumb the depths of a mystery of divine sparks in human beings and mortal coil. It can purify a most tainted atmosphere and pacify mind. The incense also cures Karmic diseases.

Full article — "The short description of some Tibetan and Nepalese formulas of making incense"

johnathan

Native Americans use a grass called sweet grass which they braid and dry... It is burned in a smudging ceremony to purify and it is thought to attract good spirits and good influences....

It is burned and the smoke is dispersed over the body by rubbing your hands in the smoke, and then gather the smoke and bring it into your body, or - rubbing it onto yourself; especially onto any area you feel needs spiritual healing. Keep praying all the while so that the unseen powers of the plant will cleanse your spirit. Sometimes, one person will smudge another, or a group of people, using hands - or more often a feather - to lightly brush the smoke over the other person(s). Burning sweetgrass while praying sends prayers up to the Creator in the smoke.

Sweetgrass is very hard to find these days but its perfume-like, musty odor is not overly strong and quite pleasant actually.

I have only partaken in a smudge once when a Mi'kmaq woman came to one of my High School classes and performed the ceremony for us.

Theswingisyellow

I like Japanese aloeswood incense. Very pleasant and mild. As others have stated, I also cannot stand incense that perfumy or overpowering. I have very little aloeswood and use it sparingly. Unfortunately it is not cheap. http://www.dharmacrafts.com/100xJP/2FUUIN/traditional-temple-incense.html
Yours in the Dharma,
Todd

mettafou

burn asafoetida... "it is used to protect the magus from daemonic forces and to evoke the same and bind them." you can have demon wars while you meditate.

Brigid

johnathan wrote: »

Native Americans use a grass called sweet grass which they braid and dry... It is burned in a smudging ceremony to purify and it is thought to attract good spirits and good influences....

It is burned and the smoke is dispersed over the body by rubbing your hands in the smoke, and then gather the smoke and bring it into your body, or - rubbing it onto yourself; especially onto any area you feel needs spiritual healing. Keep praying all the while so that the unseen powers of the plant will cleanse your spirit. Sometimes, one person will smudge another, or a group of people, using hands - or more often a feather - to lightly brush the smoke over the other person(s). Burning sweetgrass while praying sends prayers up to the Creator in the smoke.

Sweetgrass is very hard to find these days but its perfume-like, musty odor is not overly strong and quite pleasant actually.

I have only partaken in a smudge once when a Mi'kmaq woman came to one of my High School classes and performed the ceremony for us.

Hi Johnathan,

I love sweet grass. LOVE it. I often smell it around the farms where I live and its scent is divine, especially when it's still growing and has just been mowed. It's well named.

mettafou

kyoto moon incense is good, pure, and cheap:
http://www.shoyeido.com

if you really want to have demon wars, burn some sulfur. it's toxic though.

JacobWanderer

Tibetan incense is all natural with no chemicals. The healing and ayurvedic varieties are actually made to be inhaled. I like green healing, ayurvedic healing, ganden, yog-sadhana, medicine buddha, and Tibetan monastery blends the best. www.hitherandyon.com has all of these at great prices and the guys at Hither and Yon are excellent to deal with.

unsui

I'm still new to meditation, but I think I'd like to try using incense. The problem is that I live in an apartment and I don't want to do anything that could set off the smoke detectors and the fire alarms they're attached to. :eek:

Does anyone have any suggestions?

Oh, I'm with Palzang...I don't like strong odors, so something subtle would probably be what I'd need.

Zayl

I use incense mainly for its pleasant smell, but I'll also watch the smoke swirl and form shapes while I sit and quiet my mind. Nag Champa is the only way to go for me. There's a reason its so popular

Zayl

unsui wrote: »

I'm still new to meditation, but I think I'd like to try using incense. The problem is that I live in an apartment and I don't want to do anything that could set off the smoke detectors and the fire alarms they're attached to. :eek:

Does anyone have any suggestions?

Oh, I'm with Palzang...I don't like strong odors, so something subtle would probably be what I'd need.

Cut a 2 liter plastic bottle in half, tape the bottom half of said bottle over the smoke detector. Remove immediately after you are done with the incense.

LesC

I simply must share this story here... I was intrigued that so many of you were in favour of the nag champa incense. Not having a Buddhist community here, very little exists that is Buddhist-centric. In all my sojourns into stores looking for incense I had never seen any nag champa, so resigned my self to obtain some on my next visit to the USA.

Today I was invited to meet with a friend at a new tea room that had recently opened up to discuss some important matters between us over a cup of tea. Upon arriving at the tea room I was over-whelmed... the decor was positively Buddhist, with posters and candles and prayer flags... I was stunned!

And there on one wall was an entire display of nag champa incense. Was I already in bardo-land? Needless to say I purchased some immediately. I spent the most delightful hour, in that quiet peaceful surround... lovely couches and chairs... and soft music playing in the background... surely this must be nirvana.

A great hour, tea for two, and a package of 15 nag champa incense sticks... $10 total!!! Yup, it's true, I've died and gone to nirvana!!!

Chrysalid

I only burn it in summer, so I can have the windows open and the smoke doesn't collect. That way I get a more subtle scent without the unpleasantness of the smoke.

JacobWanderer wrote: »

Tibetan incense is all natural with no chemicals. The healing and ayurvedic varieties are actually made to be inhaled. I like green healing, ayurvedic healing, ganden, yog-sadhana, medicine buddha, and Tibetan monastery blends the best. www.hitherandyon.com has all of these at great prices and the guys at Hither and Yon are excellent to deal with.

Bullhockey. Insence smoke is as carcinogenic as any other type of smoke, and it doesn't matter what ingredients you're burning, its the very act of burning that generates the toxic chemicals.

shenpennangwa

Chrysalid wrote: »

Bullhockey. Insence smoke is as carcinogenic as any other type of smoke, and it doesn't matter what ingredients you're burning, its the very act of burning that generates the toxic chemicals.

Its not really meant to he "inhaled" like Jacob said. I wouldnt recommend that anyone directly inhale any kind of smoke.
The ayurvedic medicinal properties of Tibetan incense are more related diminishing allergens and other illness inducing elements in the air.
That said, the smoke is still an irritation for some while it is a positive factor for others.

Mountains

There is a difference between fragrance and smoke. Smoke, by definition, is particulate. Those particles are generally what's harmful to the respiratory tract. Fragrance (odor is a less elegant word) is what excites the neuroreceptors in the olfactory system and allows us to distinguish fresh baked bread from rotten tomatoes (the taste and texture notwithstanding). Usually the fragrance isn't harmful, it's what goes with it that's harmful. If you use smokeless incense, the amount of potentially harmful particulates is so tiny as to hardly be worthy of mention. The fragrance is wonderful, and (as far as I can tell) essentially harmless unless you happen to have an allergy to that particular substance. I find I get allergic reactions to cheap incense from the hippy store, but not from the good Japanese smokeless kind.

Palzang

LesC wrote: »

Yup, it's true, I've died and gone to nirvana!!!

My condolences!

Palzang

LesC

Palzang wrote: »

My condolences!

Palzang

MellowViper

I like incense too sometimes, and I practice mindfulness with the scent when I do. It isn't really central to anything though. I doubt Buddha would have used it.

Azikil

Wiki says there's a risk of lung cancer with incense..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incense#Incense_and_health
would this make oils an alternative?