As a devotional act, one bows to the Buddha's likeness in a statue, to a stupa (a pagoda that enshrines bodily relics of the Buddha) or to the Bodhi tree. Some instructions would be to generate a certain visualization or thoughts in our mind, such as making offerings to the Buddhas & Bodhisattvas etc.Generally, through performance of pujas, one accumulates merits.
Pujas and Prayers for the benefit of others are performed at Kopan Monastery every day.Pujas are performed to avert and clear the three types of obstacles which arise due to the lack of merit, which prevent us from achieving our worldly and spiritual goals. How to request a Puja or Prayers. This photo shows nuns at Dolma Ling Nunnery offering 1,000 butter lamps and saying prayers as part of a sponsored puja for someone who was ill. Photo courtesy of Brian Harris.You don’t have to be a Buddhist to request prayers by the Tibetan nuns.Tibetan Buddhist nuns prepare tormas for a puja. But most importantly, making offerings to the different manifestations of enlightened beings, and to the sangha community generates and increases merit, our positive potential. Merit is needed to have success in all activities. A puja is a special ceremony in which prayers are offered to the Buddhas to request their blessings or invoke their help.Order a Gift of Prayer Puja (valid for one or more years) as a gift for a friend or someone in need of support.While some prayers are of universal benefit, there are others that help with specific problems. The best known face of Tibetan Buddhism is the Dalai Lama, who has lived in exile in India since he fled Chinese occupation of his country in 1959. Through a virtuous and pure motivation to offer, the puja participant accumulates great merits, pacifies negative conditions and removes obstacles.Different pujas require different types and amount of tormas, hence the monks will always refer back to the prayer text to ensure that the correct tormas are being prepared.
Past harmful actions create unhappy results and skillful actions create happy results. It contains the King of Prayers, the Prayer to Maitreya Budda, Prayer for Rebirth in a Pure Land and othersYou might you already know the kind of puja you would like to request, as you have already asked your teacher or a lama for advice on what pujas are beneficial for your purpose.The recitation of any of these texts bring great merit and as such it helps to overcome big obstacles for health or wealth, and specially if one has life obstacles.This sutra is very powerful to clear away heavy hindrance to health such as spirit harm black magic and other non human harms and any kind of health related issues.The King of Prayers is a well know prayer composed by Shantideva. Vesak is the day that celebrates the birth, enlightenment and final enlightenment (after death) of the Buddha Gautama. Pujas are an integral part of Tibetan Buddhism, and are strongly recommended by Lama Zopa Rinpoche, the spiritual guide of the FPMT, to which Buddha House is affiliated. Personal pujas are done twice on a daily basis (except Mondays, which is rest day for the monks).Participating in pujas will also have a positive influence on the spread of Dharma and increases conducive conditions for a practitioner’s development on the paths to liberation and enlightenment.Rejoice in the great benefits that we all receive from participation of the many great and skilful Tantric pujas which the monks perform for us.Newcomers need not be worried about being unfamiliar with the pujas, or not knowing what to do during the pujas, as the pujas are guided. Devotion is developed through several practices, expressed through physical movement, speech, and mind.
Kopan offers different ways of requesting a puja, from requesting an observation for your problem or question to a simple prayer request. Through prayer, Buddhists request blessings from the Buddha and sometimes ask for help. It is a belief that is shared by many of the world’s religions.Tibetan Buddhist nuns at Dolma Ling Nunnery offering prayers for someone’s health during a sponsored puja. The funds given to the nuns to sponsor pujas are used to purchase supplies and also help to support the nunnery as a whole.Prayers have power. At one time it was thought that 1 in 6 Tibetan men were Buddhist monks. Buddhism regards inner devotion as more important than outer ritual. This puja will be performed one time only, with the special dedication as requested by you.The Medicine Buddha Puja can be performed extensivly, with the requests to Medicine Buddhas donseven times to each of the Buddhas. Here is a sound recording made by Olivier Adam in 2013 of the nuns chanting the Tara Puja.Nuns at Dolma Ling Nunnery polish butter lamps.