Incense is traditionally offered on Buddhist shrines to propitiate the Three Jewels – Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. The fragrant scent of incense is said to resemble and remind us of the perfection of morality. This is because monks who hold their vows perfectly are said to emit a fragrant scent reminiscent of the fragrance of incense.

Duldzin Drakpa Gyaltsen and Lama Tsongkapa are historical monks who are noted to have attained this perfection. Thus, when we offer incense to the Three Jewels, we aspire to create the necessary merit to hold our vows and commitments perfectly, just like these holy and pure monks. The perfection of morality is one of the 6 paramitas (perfections) that form the Bodhisattva path, leading towards becoming a fully enlightened Buddha. Therefore, the offering of incense has grown to be an integral part of formal Buddhist practice.

Duldzin Drakpa Gyaltsen was renowned to have kept his vows so well that he was said to have emitted a fragrant scent

In the Tibetan tradition, incense offering or Sangsol is an outdoor ceremony performed by lay and ordained monks to mark important religious and social occasions. It can be performed individually or in groups during notable events such as Losar (Tibetan New Year), marriages, birthdays and other important occasions.

The offering of incense has a long history and has two references in ancient Indian texts. The first reference is found in Buddha’s life story when he was invited by Bhadri of Magadha to visit her home. To welcome the Buddha, she made offerings of incense smoke to him from the roof of her house. The second reference is found in the Guhyasamaja Tantra, which states that one should know about the three kinds of fragrances.

According to historians, incense offering was first carried out in early Tibet when the ancient Bön master, Tonpa Sherab, first came from Zhang Zhung (Afghanistan/Tajikistan) to spread what would eventually be known as the Bön doctrine.

The earliest incense offering text dates to the period of the 8th Century when Indian master Padmasambhava came to Tibet and established the first Buddhist monastery, Samye. Hidden and rediscovered several centuries later, this text has become the basis for similar incense offering texts composed by many other Nyingma, Kagyu and Sakya lamas.

The incense offering text composed by Yeshe Wangpo, a Gelugpa lama, was written during the period of the Third Dalai Lama Sonam Gyatso. Later, subsequent incense offering ritual texts were written by the 4th Panchen Lama Lobsang Chokyi Gyaltsen (1570-1662) and another by the Fifth Dalai Lama as well. On the other hand, the notable lama Serkong Dorje Chang composed an incense offering ritual to Dorje Shugden, which will be discussed here.

Preparations

One begins by ensuring that the incense to be offered has not been trampled upon by people or animals. By tradition, the incense is then place in a large urn-shaped burner called a Sangpur, which is usually placed on an elevated site, either on top of a hill or a house and in places believed to be inhabited by local deities and nagas.

Incense usually comprises of the fragrant leaves and wood of plants such as ferns, juniper, coniferous tree, rhododendron and red/white sandalwood. In addition, tsampa (barley flour), butter, sugar, and other medicinal herbs that are free from alcohol, onion and garlic are often mixed with the incense and burned.

A large Sangpur – outdoor Tibetan incense burner

Performing the Incense Offering Ritual

One begin the incense offering ritual by setting the intention that the merits from offering incense to the lineage Lamas, Yidams (meditational deities) and host of Dharma Protectors are dedicated towards all sentient beings. Specific requests such as prayers for longevity or the removal of obstacles to the spreading of the Dharma can be made at this point. In the Sangsol (incense offering) prayer, it says that we are purifying the deities with incense. In actual fact, we are not purifying the deities themselves but instead are purifying our karma through the deities.

Next, one takes refuge by reciting the refuge formula, contemplating on the Four Immeasurables and for those who have received Tantric initiation, to visualize themselves as the yidam/deity. The incense is then blessed with the recitation of the Sangsol prayer and the mantras OM AH HUM, three times. While reciting the prayer, one asks the deities to forgive and purify any transgressions of samaya, and to fulfill one’s spiritual and worldly endeavors. The deities are then requested to return to their respective abodes and auspicious verses are then recited to conclude the sangsol ritual.

If the Sangsol is performed by a group or during a festival, a handful of tsampa or roasted barley flour is thrown into the air after the ritual is completed. This is usually a happy celebration and a folk dance normally ensues right after. It is common practice for Tibetans to offer sangsol during mountaintop picnics along with the hanging of prayer flags on trees and tall poles. This is usually performed on the third day of Losar or on other auspicious days.

H.H. Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche, H.E. Gangchen Rinpoche and other high lamas tossing tsampa into the air after a Sangsol offering in Switzerland

Incense Offering Prayer

At the time of wanting to make a bsang offering, collect the incense substances; repeat the refuge and bodhi mind generation verses three times. Below is the Dorje Shugden Sangsol offering written by Serkong Dorje Chang:

HUM, visualising myself as the yidam, from the heart,
Light emanates clearing all faults from incense,
Scent having the five desirable qualities complete in perfection,
Granting uncontaminated bliss fills the extent of awareness.

OM AH HUM (repeat as many times to bless)

HUM, Root and lineage gurus, Three Jewels,
Dakas, Dakinis and Dharma Protectors,
Especially Dorje Shugden and retinue,
By boundless magical power come here.

Also, birth, warrior and patron deities,
Local deities, spirits and guardians with the eight classes,
Assembly of guests worthy of offering please come here.

Each happily dwelling on their seats
For the sake of fulfilling the yogi’s entrusted activities,
Outer, inner clouds of offerings, commitment substances and presents,
Accept these and accomplish the entrusted activities.

KYE! Agar, sandalwood, six medicinal ingredients and plants,
By the smoke cloud from the burning wisdom fire
Completely filling the sky,
Purifies the root and lineage Lamas, Yidams and Three Jewels.
Purifies the Dakas, Dakinis and Dharma Protectors.

Purifies especially the Chief Dharma Protector of Conqueror Manjunatha
Dorje Shugden and four cardinal emanations.
Purifies birth, war and five patron gods.
Purifies local deities, spirits, guardians and the eight classes.

By the power of offering incense to worthy guests
May all obscurations of quarrel and samaya be purified.
May lifespan, merit and power all increase.
Pacify all diseases to humans and animals, famine, war and dispute.

May the crops be good and the rain be timely.
Conquer classes of demons of the dark side, increase the positive,
And having befriended spontaneously and effortlessly,
Attain all goals just as wished.

KI KI SO SO, LHA GYEL LO!

HUM! Being pleased and satisfied, guests return to their abodes,
Returning again upon request for activities.
By this virtue may I myself and all mother beings
Have perpetual auspiciousness of happiness and benefit.

This Sang offering bestowing excellence was composed by the yellow hat lineage holder bearing the reincarnation name Ganden Serkong.

A representation of a wrathful flower as visualized
during a kawang recitation

Dharma Protector practice may appear to the untrained eye to be shrouded in the mist of mystery rendered thicker by the passage of time. However these practices accord tremendous benefits to the practitioners and by all written accounts, these practices are originated by and descend from the greatest of Buddhist masters.

Time has not diluted the efficacy of the practice and to the ancient practitioner as it is to the modern one, the noble role of a Dharma Protector remains that of alleviating obstacles and creating favorable conditions in the mental constituents and physical environment of the practitioner so that his training in Dharma may grow and flourish.

At the heart of a Protector kangsol or puja, lies the recitation of the kawang otherwise known as kangshak, which literally means the ‘clearing of obstacles’. This is a special confessional prayer which is based on tantric visualizations, the recitation of which is to purify what may be significant accumulated negative karma threatening to obstruct one’s practice. Therefore, corresponding to the amount of obstacles that need to be removed, the actual visualization becomes particularly graphic. However, one should dwell on its true and subtle meaning and not on its apparently aggressive language that appears vicious, until the meanings are revealed. It follows that if the negative karma that blocks one’s practice is forceful, then the puja to counter it has to be equally intense.

The practitioner approaches the recitation of the kawang by visualizing the Three Poisons – Ignorance, Hatred and Desire which altogether encompass a myriad of other poisons such as delusions, negative karma, habituations and so forth. These negative elements are visualized in the form of a very large man or a woman. Then as the visualization continues, a dakini who is an emanation of Vajrayogini appears and she wields a cemetery chopper to slay that being who is the personification of our negativities. Then, she takes her chopper and slices the body in such a way that uncovers the inner organs.

First, she drains the blood into an offering vessel. Then, she cuts out the organs of the five senses – the tongue, nose, ears, eyes and heart and arranges them neatly into a skullcup thus resembling a grisly floral arrangement. Then, she pulls the bones out, arranges them into a vessel and burns the bones like stacks of incense sticks. Next, she extracts the human fat from the corpse and pours it into bowl, inserts a wick made of the human hair and lights it. Then she collects the rest of the bodily fluids like the bile, urine and so forth into an offering vessel. Then, she chops the flesh and mixes it with barley flour and places it into another vessel as food. Finally, she pulls the thighbones, cleans it and fashions it into a trumpet before placing it into a vessel as well.

While appearing grotesque at first, this part of the visualization is indeed a beautiful and meaningful gesture of transforming what is foul and turning them into sublime offerings. The blood represents the Water offering, the arrangement of sense organs represent the Flower offering, the crushed bones represent the Incense offering, the human fat set alight represents the Light offering, the bile and urine are transformed to represent the Perfume offering, the human flesh becomes the Food offering and finally the thigh bone becomes a trumpet to represent the Music offering.

Wrathful offerings for Dorje Shugden

These make up the wrathful sensory offerings which the dakini then offers to Dorje Shugden on the practitioner’s behalf. Huge amounts of negativities are purified when the dakini makes the offering to Dorje Shugden. In the Dorje Shugden kawang text, it is also said that we offer up various other sensual objects, seven royal emblems, various animals like horses, elephants, frightful yaks, sheep and dogs as mounts. Then, we also offer saffron robes, armor and shields. Along with the sensory offerings, we offer arrows, spears and various types of sharp weapons to Dorje Shugden. Essentially these are to request and create the conditions and causal karma for the Protector to come to our aid and fight our negativities, which are responsible for the obstacles and problems manifesting.

Although not entirely necessary, it would be even better if the kawang recitations were accompanied by the symbolic physical representation of each sensory object offered on the altar. The row of wrathful sensory offerings begins with tea to represent blood, a wrathful flower, incense sticks that are stacked and crossed to represent the stack of burning bones, a candle to represent burning fat, beer to represent bile, urine and other bodily fluids, a fruit (or other representations) to represent the flesh and a conch shell or any musical instrument to represent the thighbone trumpet.

Numerous recitations of the kawang are recommended especially for practitioners who are engaging in large projects and in particular those who are involved in activities that lead to the growth of the Dharma like the construction of a temple, monastery or Dharma center. Recitations of the kawang are also particularly effective to purify huge amounts of bodily karma of those who are going through an obstacle year and old age. Kawang is also particularly effective in clearing and stabilizing the mind when doubts and confusion arise. Finally, the kawang is also excellent as part of a daily sadhana. The bare minimum for a daily sadhana is the recitation of Nyirtoe (Trijang Rinpoche’s Praise, kawang, serkyem (Golden Drink offering) and the Protector mantra.)

Kawang is not just a powerful confessional practice to purify our negative karma but also a way to develop a closer spiritual bond with Dorje Shugden. The clearing of obstacles makes it effective for Dorje Shugden to help us since it is our own negative karma that blindfolds the Protector. Kawang is also recited to invoke the Protector to create the necessary conducive conditions for our practice, and hence it is a very important practice for any Dharma practitioner.

Kawang

HUM!
Heart’s blood drinking offerings set out like the flow of the Ganges,
Flowers of the sense organs blossoming and clouds of smoke gathering,
Human bile perfume, flesh and blood, and the sound of thigh bone trumpets,
Please accept these as well as an ocean of undefiled nectar!
Also sensual objects and the seven royal objects,
The intelligent horse, elephants, frightful yaks, sheep, and dogs,
Saffron robes, strong, hard armour and shields,
Arrows, spears, swords, and outer, inner, and secret bases,
With these clouds of offerings, both supramundane and worldly,
O Dorje Shugden and all your wrathful entourage,
May your heart commitment be fulfilled and degeneration restored!
Especially, each accumulated faulty deed of body, speech and mind
We have committed under the influence of ignorance,
Which goes against your mind, protector,
We confess with a mind of remorse and regret.
Furthermore, transgressions of our commitments to the protector
And entourage, neglect or degeneration of retreat practice,
Tormas, offerings, and so on,
We practitioners confess all of these
Within the unobjectifiable emptiness of the three spheres.

This video highlights some of the beautiful enlightened imagery in Serpom Monastery. There are also many scenes of adult and younger monks in the Gompa performing prayers.

The video shows literally a mountain of offerings piled up in front of the altar. It is really inspiring to see this thriving monastery still spreading the Ganden Lineage and upholding the Dorje Shugden practice.