General Buddhism > General Buddhism

Substances

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triesa:

--- Quote from: Positive Change on June 11, 2011, 06:16:08 PM ---
--- Quote ---I understand that we make offerings to collect merits, but why yogurt, oats, milk, tea, beer?

Whats the significance of such offerings? Its said that they were difficult to come by in the past thats why they were so special. To a non buddhist it may just look like voodoo or black magic.
--- End quote ---

Why indeed does one use these substances and what is the significance of this? In my limited knowledge these i know signify the 5 commitment offerings but what I do not understand is if offerings come from the heart (or the mind - as in visualization) so to speak, why can't we just offer whatever we deem special instead? I have been told we can 'substitute' these offerings with water and visualize it as the specific offerings. Would certainly be helpful if someone could give an insight into this.

--- End quote ---

Yoghurt, oats, milk, tea and beer are considered rare, precious and hard to obtain items in Tibet. I would reckon that by offering something so rare and precious to the three jewels, it hows how much one values the dharma.  Since the offering traditions originate from Tibet, so the use of these subtances as offerings are more of a cultural influence than otherwise, in my opinion.

In the event and for whetever reasons, that one cannot get these committment substances as offerings, I believe we can substitute these with water and visualize it as the specific oferings.

Positive Change:

--- Quote from: triesa on June 20, 2011, 09:19:00 AM ---
--- Quote from: Positive Change on June 11, 2011, 06:16:08 PM ---
--- Quote ---I understand that we make offerings to collect merits, but why yogurt, oats, milk, tea, beer?

Whats the significance of such offerings? Its said that they were difficult to come by in the past thats why they were so special. To a non buddhist it may just look like voodoo or black magic.
--- End quote ---

Why indeed does one use these substances and what is the significance of this? In my limited knowledge these i know signify the 5 commitment offerings but what I do not understand is if offerings come from the heart (or the mind - as in visualization) so to speak, why can't we just offer whatever we deem special instead? I have been told we can 'substitute' these offerings with water and visualize it as the specific offerings. Would certainly be helpful if someone could give an insight into this.

--- End quote ---

Yoghurt, oats, milk, tea and beer are considered rare, precious and hard to obtain items in Tibet. I would reckon that by offering something so rare and precious to the three jewels, it hows how much one values the dharma.  Since the offering traditions originate from Tibet, so the use of these subtances as offerings are more of a cultural influence than otherwise, in my opinion.

In the event and for whetever reasons, that one cannot get these committment substances as offerings, I believe we can substitute these with water and visualize it as the specific oferings.


--- End quote ---

Thank you triesa... On that same token I assume one can also use the mind to visualise almost anything in one's practice. Which brings us to the meditative aspect of higher practices in the tantras I would assume. It is incredible to have the opportunity and privilege to be in the same room as a highly attained lama and hear this spiritual guide emote and describe in detail visualizations of deities in great detail and the iconography that each nuance/gesture, implements and visage or the deities. No word comes close to describing the feeling of how awe inspiring that can be. Surely we should all strive to achieve that state of clarity and preciseness that will guide us out of our sufferings....

Jessie Fong:
Yes I believe substituting these 5 commitment offerings with water should not be a problem though, but we must try to always obtain the correct offerings.  This way, we make sure that we would have done our best to procure them and only when we are unable to, do we substitute and visualize.

fruven:
Yoghurt, oats, milk, tea and beer can be bought easily from shops in these day and age. Since it is easily available it is more important to do this offering because there is no excuse of having difficulty of getting them as opposed to living in Tibet, or rural areas. Something which is easily done should be done because the merits gained is based on our motivation. The motivation is determining factor of gaining merits or karma. For beginner it is an easy and doable practice. It helps us to practice generosity daily in front of enlightened beings.  :)

buddhalovely:
A very ancient rejection of substance and essence altogether, or their equivalents in Indian philosophy, began in Buddhism. Since the approach of Buddhism to the world is to break attachments, so that one does not suffer because of relationships to things, a simple way to do that is to say, in effect, that there are no things. If nothing is substantial or has any essence, this will do that job. What we get instead are the doctrines of "momentariness," "no self nature," and "relative existence." If everything exists only momentarily, then nothing is durable, and we lose that characteristic of substances. If there is no self nature, then there is nothing in things that makes them what they are, and we lose the existence of essences. If things only exist relative to other things, then (1) nothing exists independently and we lose that characteristic of substance, and (2) nothing has its own character, so we lose that characteristic of essence. So what is actually there? Well, what we see is the "form" of things, the external appearance. Since there is no self nature and things only have relative existence, what are things in themselves when we take away everything else? Well, Emptiness. This is not nothingness (a major heresy), but neither existence nor non-existence nor both nor neither. In other words, we can't say or comprehend what is there. Later, in Mahâyâna Budddhism, we get the doctrine of the Heart Sutra that "Emptiness is Form, and Form is Emptiness."

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