Author Topic: Food offering prayers  (Read 28030 times)

Dondrup Shugden

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Re: Food offering prayers
« Reply #15 on: June 28, 2015, 03:52:12 PM »
There are 3 ways of making food offerings:

1. Hinayana: Food should be offered without the 3 poisons of the mind, ignorance, attachment and anger. With the motivation of liberating yourself from Samsara, you offer the food to the 3 Jewels, then you eat the food.

2.  Mahayana Sutra: Dedicate every spoonful of food and mouthful of drinks to all sentient beings including living beings inside of our body. The motivation is of bodhicitta.

3. Mahayana Tantra: Seeing yourself, guru and deity as one, all food and drinks taken are viewed as tsog offerings. This is a powerful way of purifying your negative karma, broken samaya, and collecting a huge amount of merits.

When I started my Buddhist practice I was surprised that Buddhist do food offering prayers before a meal. I had always know that the Christians and Muslims do that.

What is more now, I learn that there are different ways that the Buddhists do so.  Amazing how much to learn from this forum.

Thank you all.

cookie

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Re: Food offering prayers
« Reply #16 on: July 17, 2015, 07:13:35 AM »
In the text, Liberation in the palms of your hands by the great Pabongka Rinpoche, It is mentioned that we should offer the first portion of all our food - but only the best portions. We should not offer the whithered parts of our vegetables or if you are rich, the moldy parts of your "tue"(tibetan sweet).
We must not save the best part for ourselves and set aside the worst parts. This negative thought and action tentamounts to seeping away our merits.
However, if you are poor, there is no need to be intimidated by your poor offerings. As Atisha said :-

     "The water of Tibet has 8 properties, and so one need only offer water bowls in Tibet. If there
       were any of these wildflowers in India, we would pay gold for them ."

So you may have nothing else to offer, but you still can have great force behind your accumulation of merit if you offer only water bowls.

Midakpa

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Re: Food offering prayers
« Reply #17 on: July 18, 2015, 02:44:39 PM »
The following are gathas or verses recited by Chinese Mahayana monks and nuns as part of mindfulness training. These verses are adapted from "The Essential Vinaya for Daily Use" by Master Duti and "The Summary of the Novice Vinaya" by Master Yunqi and updated by Thich Nhat Hanh:

Before eating:

The Buddha advises us to be mindful
while we eat,
to be in touch with the Sangha and the food.
Brothers and sisters, when you hear the bell,
meditate on the Five Contemplations:
This food is the gift of the whole universe -
the earth, the sky, and much hard work.
May we be worthy to receive it.
May we transform unskillful states of mind,
especially the habit of eating without moderation.
May we take only foods that nourish us
and prevent illness.
We accept this food to realise
the path of understanding and love.

Before eating:

Beings all over the Earth
are struggling to live.
I aspire to practice deeply
so all may have enough to eat.

Beginning to eat:

With the first taste, I offer joy.
With the second, I help relieve
the suffering of others.
With the third, I see others' joy as my own.
With the fourth, I learn the way of letting go.

Looking at your plate or bowl after eating:

The meal is finished,
and I am satisfied.
The four gratitudes*
are deeply in my mind.

*the four gratitudes - gratitude to parents, teachers, friends, and all beings.
(from "Stepping into Freedom" by Thich Nhat Hanh)


Rinchen

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Re: Food offering prayers
« Reply #18 on: September 03, 2015, 11:44:06 AM »
I remembered apart from that, another reason that it will be good for us to do food offering before consuming the food is also because when we offer up the food, if for example the food has been cursed by black magic, the power of the prayers will be able to remove the curse so that when we consume the food it is alright.

Not only that by doing the prayers it will help us to generate merits and be grateful for the food that we have on our plates. It helps us to cleanse the food that we consume.

The powers of mantras that we do are very powerful that we are not able to understand. The mantras help us with things that we do not know. They help us purify our karma and also collect merits for our future.

angelica

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Re: Food offering prayers
« Reply #19 on: September 23, 2015, 04:47:26 PM »
Thank you everyone for sharing the benefits on Food Offering Prayers. It never come to my mind that such a simple act but have so much benefits for us and also is a mindfulness training. The one that most amazed me is that the power of the food offering prayers can remove curse on our food. The food offering that I use is

I make this offering to you, Buddha Shakyamuni,
Whose Mind is the synthesis of all Buddha Jewels,
Whose Speech is the synthesis of all Dharma Jewels,
and whose Body is the synthesis of all Sangha Jewels. 
Oh Blessed One, please accept this and Bless my Mind.         
OM AH HUM (x3)

Extract from Joyful Path of Good Fortune.

Geraldine Sarie

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Re: Food offering prayers
« Reply #20 on: April 13, 2017, 10:59:05 AM »
This is my first time hearing of food offering prayers in Buddhism. All this while I thought only in other religions have it. Thank you RedLantern for sharing Tibetan version of Tsongklapa food offering prayers.  Right now, I get to know another food offering prayers to Dorje Shugden which I currently reciting it.
Om Ah Hung(3x)
GANGSHIG DRENPA TSAMGYI CHINANGI
PARCHE KUNSEL LESHEY TRINLEY NAM
TSOL-ZE GYALCHEN SHUGDEN RIG-NGA TSEL
TANSUNG KORDANG CHELA CHOPARBUL

Vajra10

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Re: Food offering prayers
« Reply #21 on: July 10, 2017, 12:36:32 AM »
I always recite the mantra to purify our fault of eating meat (the non-virtous action, killing) this mantra blesses  the sentient beings which we are eating and provide them a good rebirth

Om Abira Khe Tsara Hung (× 7)
before reciting any prayer because no matter what we eat, sentient beings are going to be sacrifice , intentionally or unintentionally, such as eating veggie, the farmers are going plough the land, spray pesticide and more.

As a Buddhist we should always set priorities for our Guru, Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha before us because they are the ones that are going to pull us out from the hell of samsara. When we take our meals, we should always think of offering them to our Guru and Buddhas, no matter what type of food we are taking, good or bad, we should offer them before eating, because a guru and Buddhas will not choose what to accept when a student offer the offering with a sincere heart without any sense of ego. The guru and Buddhas  will only bless us.

christine V

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Re: Food offering prayers
« Reply #22 on: August 19, 2017, 07:07:33 PM »
I did food offering prayer
- To thanks Dorje shugden to protect me
- On behalf on those people who deliver and serve the food, may they have connection to Dorje Shugden.
- To remind myself that i am a Buddhist.