[url=]1. Initiation and Worship[/url] 1. Initiation
Of the many articles of offering used at present in this kind of worship in Sri Lanka, flowers have become the most important and popular. They constitute the minimum requirement at any form of Buddhist worship. One can observe how the devotees arrange the flowers in various patterns on the altar. The color (vanna), smell (gandha), and quality (guna) of the flowers are taken into account when selecting them for offering. Before being offered, the flowers are "bathed" with filtered water (pan). Sometimes they are arranged in a tray(vattiya) and offered. A flower's blooming upon contact with light is regarded as symbolic of the attainment of Enlightenment, hence flowers become quite a fitting article for offering to the Buddha, the Enlightened One.
As was mentioned earlier, an essential part of the ritual of offering flowers is the recital of the following Pali stanza, whereby the offering is made valid:
Vannagandhagunopetam
etam kusumasantatim
pujayami munindassa
siripadasaroruhe.Pujemi Buddham kusumena 'nena
punnena 'metena ca hotu mokkham
Puppham milayati yatha idam me
kayo tatha yati vinasabahavam.
"This mass of flowers endowed with color, fragrance, and quality I offer at the lotus-like feet of the King of Sages. I worship the Buddha with these flowers: by the merit of this may I attain freedom. Even as these flowers do fade, so does my body come to destruction."
It is of interest to note that this stanza incorporates the Buddhist idea of the impermanence(anicca) of all phenomena. Merit-acquisition is also regarded as contributing towards the attainment of Nibbanic freedom.
Another popular offering of much importance is that of lighted lamps, usually of coconut oil(dipa-puja or pahan-puja). As the Buddha is regarded as the dispeller of the darkness of ignorance, when lighted lamps are offered in his name this metaphorical contrast between the light of knowledge and the darkness of ignorance is taken as the theoretical basis for the ritual. This kind of symbolism being too deep for the vast majority of ordinary people, their motive for this ritual is usually the desire to acquire merit or to avert the evil influence of a bad planetary conjunction. However, it is the former idea that is implied in the traditional stanza used by the Buddhists of Sri Lanka for this offering:
Ghanasarappadittena
dipena tamadamsina
tilokadipam sambuddham
pujayami tamonudam."With this lamp lit with camphor that dispels all darkness, I worship the Perfectly Enlightened One who is a lamp unto the three worlds and is the dispeller of darkness."
The epithets tilokadipa ("lamp unto the three worlds") and tamonuda ("dispeller of darkness") as applied to the Buddha are significant in this context. The stanza itself seems to testify to the popularity of the offering of camphor (ghanasara) in early times. But nowadays, even when coconut oil has replaced camphor, the stanza has survived without change.[5] The offering of lighted lamps had been a popular ritual even in ancient times. The Bodhi-tree and the dagaba (also referred to as stupa, cetiya, or caitya) are the two main objects or places where the ritual is usually performed. The offering of lamps is one of the main aspects of the worship of the Bodhi-tree (bodhi-puja). As it was under a Bodhi-tree that the Buddha attained Enlightenment, it is quite natural that lamps be lit under that tree, not only in memory of the great event, but also as a ritual whereby the devotee could expect to obtain a ray of that light of wisdom attained by the Great Sage. Thus the entire ritual becomes a spiritual exercise, the merits of which are transferred to all other beings, gods, humans, and spirits (bhuta).
Dagabas constitute another place where this popular offering is made. Consequently, along with the flower-altar, the lamp-stand too has become a necessary adjunct of the dagabas.One can also see that the Bodhi-tree in most temples is surrounded by a platform built of brick or stone in which niches are made to hold lighted oil lamps. The niches are meant to shelter the lamps from wind and rain. In any Buddhist temple there are many other places where lamps can be lit in that way. Sometimes special lamp-stands are constructed for the purpose. Of special significance is the lamp called the dolosmahe-pahana (twelve-month lamp), sometimes found in Buddhist temples and devalayas. It is called thus because it is expected to keep burning all-year round.
Special light offerings are also made on auspicious occasions. On full-moon days when devotees flock to the temples, lamps are lit in large numbers, for it is the custom among the Sri Lankan Buddhists invariably to take flowers and coconut oil on their visits to the temple as two indispensable articles of worship. There are also occasions when devotees light and offer a particular large number of lamps for special purposes, such as redeeming a vow(baraya) or on special occasions like Vesak Day. Many Buddhists perform the ritual of light offering (pahan-puja) to counter evil planetary influences. In order to obtain maximum results from the ritual, the devotees make it a point to purify themselves completely before attending the ceremony by bathing and wearing fresh, clean clothes. Coconut oil used as an illuminant is specially prepared for the purpose and taken separately from the coconut oil used for household purposes. Wicks are prepared from a clean, white, fresh cloth. Sometimes the inhabitants of an entire village co-operate in holding a mass-scale lamp offering. For instance, they may offer 84,000 lighted lamps in memory of the 84,000 elements of the Dhamma (dhammakkhandha) comprising the Buddha's Teaching.
This important Buddhist ritual was practiced even in ancient Sri Lanka. King Dutugemunu (2nd century B.C.) is recorded to have lit one thousand lamps with ghee as the illuminant and with white wicks burning perpetually in twelve sacred places in Anuradhapura (Mhv. xxxii,37). King Vasabha (1st century A.C.) is also said to have lit one thousand oil lamps at Cetiyapabbata, Thuparama, Mahathupa (Ruvanweli-dagaba), and the Bodhi-tree (Mhv. xxxvi,80).
Today, this ritual has become so popular and elaborate that the annual Vesak festival commemorating the birth, Enlightenment, and Parinibbana of the Buddha has become more or less a festival of lights. Vesak lanterns of various kinds and shapes are lit in Buddhist homes on this day. Pandals well illuminated with multi-colored electric bulbs, depicting various scenes from the Master's life and from the Jataka stories, also constitute a type of light offering to the Buddha.
Yet another aspect of the ritual of light offering is the burning of camphor near the object of worship like dagabas, Buddha statues, etc. Camphor gives out a fragrant smell as it burns, and is also regarded as having a very pure flame, although its smoke has a strong blackening effect. Camphor-burners have been found in ancient temples, showing that this was an ancient practice.[6] The offering of food and drink is still another aspect of the ritual of worship. When food is offered to the Buddha in a religious place it is usually done in front of a Buddha-image. If it is the morning meal that is offered, it would be something suitable for breakfast, usually milk-rice (kiribat). If it is lunch, it would be the usual rice-and-curry meal and is invariably offered before noon. At the Dalada Maligawa in Kandy and the Sri Mahabodhi in Anuradhapura, these rituals are performed regularly and with meticulous care and also somewhat elaborately, accompanied by other subsidiary rituals like the beating of drums. It is an important part of this ritual that whatever food is offered in this manner should be separately prepared with special care and should not be tasted before the offering. The stanza that is popularly used for the offering of food runs as follows:
Adhivasetu no bhante
bhojanam parikappitam
Anukampam upadaya
patiganhatumuttama."O Lord, accept with favor this food which has been ritualistically prepared. Receive it, O Noble One, out of compassion."
As regards the offering of drinks and beverages, it is customary to offer these prepared from fruit-juices. Unlike the solid foods, these may be offered in the afternoon, in keeping with the meal habits of the Buddhist monks. Offering of incense generally consists of joss sticks, these being the most easily available. Otherwise this offering is made by putting certain kinds of sweet-smelling powders or incense into glowing charcoal so that it smokes well. A kind of resin, known locally as sambrani, is the variety generally used.
The chew of betel (dahat-vita) is yet another item of offering. This is mostly for consumption after meals, and consists of betel leaves, arecanut, and certain other items like cloves, nutmeg, cardamons, etc. which give a pleasant smell and a pungent taste when chewed. For every kind of offering there are separate stanzas like the one quoted earlier for food. These stanzas are composed in Pali, which is supposed to be the language in which the Buddha preached his doctrine.
When visiting the temple the object of worship that ranks first is the dagaba enshrining the bone-relics of the Buddha. There are three categories of worshipful objects: (i) bodily relics, consisting of the bones collected after cremation (saririka); (ii) those articles the Buddha used, e.g., the alms-bowl, Bodhi-tree, etc. (paribhogika); and (iii) those memorials that have been erected on his account as a mark of remembrance (uddesika), e.g., images, paintings, etc. The devotee is expected to worship these in due order, reciting the appropriate stanzas and making at least an offering of a few flowers.
An important aspect of the worship of the dagaba and the Bodhi-tree is the custom of circumambulation (padakkhina) as a mark of respect. Usually three rounds are done, always keeping the object of worship to the right side and with the hands clasped together in adoration. As regards dagaba worship in Sri Lanka, the local Buddhists have a separate stanza for worshipping each of the sixteen sacred places hallowed by the Lord Buddha on his three visits to the island. There is also a popular stanza that covers in a general manner all the three categories of worshipful objects mentioned above:
Vandami cetiyam sabbam
sabbathanesu patitthitam,
saririkadhatu mahabodhim
buddharupam sakalam sada."Forever do I worship all the dagabas situated all over, all the bodily relics, the Mahabodhi (tree), and Buddha-images."
The worship of the dagaba or stupa is an important merit-acquiring act of devotional Buddhism in Sri Lanka as also in other Buddhist lands. The first such dagaba to be constructed after the official introduction of Buddhism into the country by the arahant Mahinda was the Thuparama at Anuradhapura, which enshrines the collar-bone of the Buddha. It was constructed by the first Buddhist ruler of Sri Lanka, King Devanampiya Tissa, in the 3rd century B.C. Since then dagabas have become so popular among the local Buddhists that almost every village temple has a dagaba as an indispensable feature. A special ritual connected with the dagaba is the enshrining of relics, which is done with much ceremony at a specially selected astrologically auspicious moment called nakata (Skt.naksatra). A similar ritual is that of pinnacle-setting (kot-palandavima), which is the concluding stage in the construction of a dagaba.
It should be mentioned here that scriptural sanction for dagaba worship is found in the words of the Buddha himself in the Maha-parinibbana Sutta (D.ii,142), where he has enumerated four categories of individuals worthy of dagabas. These are the Tathagata, a Paccekabuddha, a disciple of the Tathagata, and a universal monarch (raja cakkavattin). The worship and offerings made to the Buddha's body after his passing away may also be cited as an instance in this connection.
The most important item that comes within the uddesika kind of sacred object is the Buddha-image, which is found in every temple in its image-house (viharage). In addition to the central image or images, the inside walls of the temple — and sometimes the ceiling as well — are covered with paintings depicting events from the Buddha's life, as well as from his past lives as a Bodhisatta, recorded in the Jataka stories. An important ceremony associated with the Buddha-image is the ritual of painting its eyes (netra-pinkama), which is performed with much care on an auspicious occasion as the last item of its construction. Until this is done the image is not considered an adequate representation of the Buddha.
发表于 4-9-2014 07:57 AM
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