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Your Favorite Scent of Incense for Meditation?

BuddhaGirl02BuddhaGirl02
edited July 2010 in Meditation
What is your favorite scent of incense for meditation? My current favorite is Nag Champa incense. :)

Comments

  • JeffreyJeffrey Veteran
    edited April 2010
    My favorite scent is Jasmine essential oil in my aroma lamp. It is expensive though but a little lasts a couple years if used occasionally. I also like peppermint rosewood cedar rosemary sandalwood orange.
  • ManiMani Veteran
    edited April 2010
    I prefer to use Tibetan incense, and I will often use Lama Chodpa incense.
  • fivebellsfivebells Veteran
    edited April 2010
    None, or something unmentionable, if I made a bad choice at my last meal.
  • FoibleFullFoibleFull Canada Veteran
    edited April 2010
    I use incense during the initial offering rituals. I do it to learn better.

    At the start of my practice, I am taking refuge and setting my motivation. This is an attitude that I want to learn, to thoroughly sink into my being, replacing previous years of non-Buddhist attitudes. And that learning will be deeper by employing all three styles of learning:

    A PhD in Education taught me that one learns best if they employ all three styles of learning: auditory (hearing), visual (seeing), and kinesthetic (acting it out physically).

    I find it exciting that our Tibetan teacher has taught us to do our practice using (coincidentally?) all three styles of learning: We chant (auditory), we see our altar and do visualizations (visual), and we perform certain physical actions such as prostrations and making offerings (kinesthetic).

    So offering incense is one of the kinesthetic activities of starting practice.
    .... and I don't care what scent it is. I'm not focusing on it once I'm meditating anyway. The primary benefit is to enhance my gratitude and respect for the teachings and to increase my motivation to do my practice with focus and concentrated effort.
  • zendozendo
    edited April 2010
    BuddhaGirl02 wrote: »
    What is your favorite scent of incense for meditation? My current favorite is Nag Champa incense. :)
    I love Nag Champa too! :)

    It's the only incense I ever use, actually. I love the smell, but I think there's also some kind of virtue in it, beyond the mere fragrance alone.
  • PietroPumokinPietroPumokin
    edited April 2010
    athlete's foot
  • JeffreyJeffrey Veteran
    edited April 2010
    I think dogs like a little athletes taste. Because they like to lick toes!
  • PietroPumokinPietroPumokin
    edited April 2010
    my dog likes to eat poo.
  • ChazChaz The Remarkable Chaz Anywhere, Everywhere & Nowhere Veteran
    edited April 2010
    I use Nippon Kodo VIVA incense a lot. That a sandalwood/pine scented incense. It's a nice every-day incense, easy to find around here and inexpensive. Very popular with Dharma centers.

    I just got a box of Nippon Kodo's Hinoki. That's a Japanese Cyprus-scented stick. Very nice.

    Shoiedo makes great products, but they're a little more expensive. Moss Garden and White Cloud are two favorites.

    All the incense mentioned above provide an excellent container for practice.

    I like Tibetan-style incense, but find it too smoky and strong for regular use.

    I'm saving pennies for some Bayiedo Aloeswood incense. Expensive, but.....yum!
  • MountainsMountains Veteran
    edited April 2010
    I use one from Nippon Kodo as well, although I can't recall the name of it. It's a very light floral scent that is almost totally smokeless. The sticks burn for almost exactly 25 minutes at my altitude, which is perfect for my meditation. If I'm pressed for time, I break one in half.

    I'm highly allergic to many types of incense (sneezing, eyes swelling), and since finding this one I've stuck with it.

    Mtns
  • GuyCGuyC Veteran
    edited April 2010
    You guys are all just addicted to sensual desires. You'll never get enlightened that way! :P
  • patominpatomin
    edited April 2010
    Sandalwood seems to do it for me! :P
  • fedaalisfedaalis
    edited June 2010
    Sandalwood is my favorite incense
  • DazzleDazzle
    edited June 2010
    Sun Rise Incense








    .
  • mugzymugzy Veteran
    edited July 2010
    I use incense regularly in my home, and I prefer Fred Soll incense. I've always been a fan of Anna's Incense as well. For meditation I typically use something more natural or traditional, like Tibetan incense.
  • lightwithinlightwithin Veteran
    edited July 2010
    I don't know why, but incense has always been too distracting to my puny mind when I've used it.

    It's like my nose is not breathing normally but instead constantly trying to "smell" the air instead of just letting the air in, and of course this makes concentration really hard.
  • shaina512shaina512
    edited July 2010
    I usually use Nag Champa, opium, or sandalwood
  • ThailandTomThailandTom Veteran
    edited July 2010
    I prefer to use no incense as I find it distracting to a certain degree and believe it to be bad for my health. Although the smells are very captivating and beautiful at times. I know it is tradition and a ritual, but why are they used in the first place? The sense of smell is a delusion and can lead to attachment, so why people use it in meditation is beyond me. Also I love the smell of my feet, really centres my mind :p

    Tom :)
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