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Curious about Home Altars, Shrines, etc.
Makarov
Explorer
Hi Friends!
I am back with a question about setting-up a home altar and what the real rules are. I have read several things online about what an altar should have.....and they all say different things. So, I am wondering, as I set-up my own home altar, if I am doing anything horribly wrong as I am setting it up to contain those things that I find valid/practical in my eyes.
My simple and small 14" deep X 22" wide altar has two levels. The top shelf/level is made of glass and holds a beautiful 13" tall Buddha statue in the back center. To his left is a clear glass incense burner and to his right a matching clear glass votive style candle holder. In front of it all is a row of 5, not 7 or 8 but just 5 tiny 2.5" clear glass bowls into which I place offerings as follows: Clean water, perfumed water, rice, flowers and once more clean water. All of this sits upon a pale red & gold silk cloth. That is it.
The lower shelf is of lesser importance and contains a bamboo mat over the glass shelf. On top is a small Tetsubin on a black wooden base and a smaller raw bamboo mat tiopped with 2 chinese tea cups. Essentially, I came to inquire into Buddhism after practicing and enjoying simplified forms of japanese tea ceremonies combining meditation. It was this introduction to meditation/relaxation that lead me to what I feel may be the ultimate source of inner peace...studying and practicing the teachings of The Buddha.
So...am I taking too many liberties or am I correct in concluding that home altars and the manner in which one honors The Buddha can be individualized so long as basic protocol regarding respect are followed?
I am back with a question about setting-up a home altar and what the real rules are. I have read several things online about what an altar should have.....and they all say different things. So, I am wondering, as I set-up my own home altar, if I am doing anything horribly wrong as I am setting it up to contain those things that I find valid/practical in my eyes.
My simple and small 14" deep X 22" wide altar has two levels. The top shelf/level is made of glass and holds a beautiful 13" tall Buddha statue in the back center. To his left is a clear glass incense burner and to his right a matching clear glass votive style candle holder. In front of it all is a row of 5, not 7 or 8 but just 5 tiny 2.5" clear glass bowls into which I place offerings as follows: Clean water, perfumed water, rice, flowers and once more clean water. All of this sits upon a pale red & gold silk cloth. That is it.
The lower shelf is of lesser importance and contains a bamboo mat over the glass shelf. On top is a small Tetsubin on a black wooden base and a smaller raw bamboo mat tiopped with 2 chinese tea cups. Essentially, I came to inquire into Buddhism after practicing and enjoying simplified forms of japanese tea ceremonies combining meditation. It was this introduction to meditation/relaxation that lead me to what I feel may be the ultimate source of inner peace...studying and practicing the teachings of The Buddha.
So...am I taking too many liberties or am I correct in concluding that home altars and the manner in which one honors The Buddha can be individualized so long as basic protocol regarding respect are followed?
0
Comments
Are you, to your mind, doing anything which might contradict those 'Spokes of the Wheel'? Then whatever you do, if you do it with the Right 'Everything' you are doing fine.
FWIW, I think your altar sounds the picture of peace, Serenity and mindful devotion to your Chosen path.
And to my humble mind, all is well.
Altars can be highly individualized. And many Buddhists, don't even have altars. It's not a requirement. However, they can be a useful tool to focus during mediation, remind you of your goals, etc. And as such, being highly individualized is a good thing. It should be something that works for you.
I don't think you have to worry about doing something wrong so long as your heart is in the right place and you follow the 8-fold path.
Some have been landscape 'shaped' by humans, like Silbury or the Avebury/Stonehenge complex, or the wonderful pictographic rock I saw in Ontario. Then there are the great enclosed spaces, fanes, cathedrals and temples.
And then there are altars and shrines. From the great tombs of saints to the tiny statue stuck to a car dashboard.
And, this time, I notice that, despite all these apparent categories, they all fall into one of two groups: the organised and the organic. The organised are put together according to 'rules'. In the case of some great monuments, like Stonehenge or the Pyramids, they reflect an understanding of astronomy and calendar rules. Churches are aligned East-West in order to approximate turning towards Jerusalem, which is (presumably) a spiritual 'rule' which was discerned at one time. Altars, also, tend to be organised rather than organic.
What I understood this time is that an altar is, essentially, a place where a 'sacred action' takes place. In our earliest days, maybe it was the place set aside for ritual sacrifice or to grind the sacred corn. Who knows? Perhaps it was where the sacred king's blood was shed in the Spring and the Autumn. It is certainly the word given to the place where the symbolic shedding of blood still takes place. Because these actions partake of the nature of manipulations of spiritual power, they may be seen as requiring equipment and layout. These rules will be descriptive, prescriptive and proscriptive.
A shrine, on the other hand, is something much more static and, I believe, more personal. And here the 'rules' are the rules of the heart, the family, the hearth.
Build what you like-provided it means something to you and your chosen path-at least thats what I think-perhaps this fits in with "Right Intention"???