The Offerings  

Apart from the Buddha-image in the place of honor, one may have other Buddhist objects round or on the shrine, such as scroll-paintings, Buddhist symbols such as the lotus-bud, wheel of Dhamma or the Bodhi-leaf, or miniature stupas, and so on. But three things are certainly needed on the shrine for making the usual offerings: candlesticks (lamps for oil, etc., in some traditions), an incense burner and vases or trays for flowers.

In Asian countries one may see many other things offered: food, water, drinks, fruit, etc. The idea behind this kind of offering is gratitude to the Teacher, and the consideration that one should not partake of good things without first having offered something, symbolically, to Lord Buddha. The word "offering" rather suggests that one expects those things to be "accepted" but of course the Buddha having attained Nibbana is beyond acceptance and rejection. The Pali word for these things makes this matter clearer: sakkara is that which should be done properly and means firstly, honor and hospitality given to guests and so by extension, to a symbol of one's Teacher.

Regarding the incense-burner, though various patterns are used in the East, the cleanest method is to part fill an open-mouthed bowl with clean sand and to place this on a saucer or other flat vessel. This should collect most of the ash. Some Buddhist traditions do not use vases but as in Sri Lanka arrange the flowers in patterns on trays or platters. This method, of course, requires time, while the flowers quickly demonstrated their impermanence.

People quite often ask why these three things in particular are offered. The offering of flowers is a bridge to the contemplation of the body's impermanence. An ancient Sinhalese Pali composition may be translated like this:

These flowers, bright and beautiful,
fragrant and good-smelling, handsome and well-formed —
soon indeed discolored, ill-smelling and ugly they become.

This very body, beautiful, fragrant and well-formed —
soon indeed
discolored, ill-smelling and ugly it becomes.

This body of mine too is of the same nature,
will become like this,
and has not escaped from this.

Candles or lights are lit to symbolize the light of Dhamma which one should find in one's own heart, driving out the darkness of the defilements there. In the Dhammapada (verse 387) there is a suitable verse for recitation while making this offering:

The sun is bright by day,
the moon lights up the night,
armored shines the warrior,
contemplative, the brahmana,
but all the day and night-time too
resplendent does the Buddha shine.

Incense having a good smell is lighted to remind one that the Dhamma-light can only be found with the aid of good moral conduct (sila) which has been so many times praised by the Buddha, as in these Dhammapada verses (56, 54, 55):

Slight is this perfume
of tagara and sandalwood,
best the perfume of the virtuous
blowing even to the devas.
The perfume of flowers does not go against
 the wind,
neither that of sandalwood, jasmine, or tagara:
but the perfume of the virtuous does go
 against the wind.
The good man suffuses all directions,
Sandalwood or tagara,
lotus or the jasmine great —
of these perfumes various,
virtue's perfume is unexcelled.

If these offerings are made with mindfulness of their meaning then they are not without good results.[1] Also, they act as objects for focusing the mind, which in the morning may still be sleepy, or in the evening may be distracted by the events of the day. These offerings lead one to concentrate the mind when reciting the Refuges and Precepts, the recollections and during meditation. So we can see that these actions agree with that quality of the Dhamma called "leading inward" (opanayiko). However, before we come to these aspects of practice a few words should be said on the traditional gestures of respect.