Lamp Offering - Fo Guang Shan International Translation Center

Offering lamps at Buddhist temples and stupas is a common practice. The Flower Adornment Sutra says,

The lamp of wisdom can break through all forms of darkness.

As such, lamps represent the light of wisdom that pierces through the darkness of ignorance. This empowers sentient beings encumbered by confusion.

The Buddhist practice of offering lamps originates from the
actions of a poor girl named Nanda. Her story can be read in The Prophecy of King Ajatasatru Becoming a Buddha Sutra, which tells us that the merit for offering a lamp can ever lead one to become a Buddha.

The purpose of a lamp offering is to light the lamp of the mind. What is the lamp of the mind? Wisdom, intelligence, loving-kindness, compassion, joy, equanimity, and a sense of shame are all lights for the mind. When the lamp is lit, our Buddha nature, brilliance, and purity all appear.

Merit does not depend on the size of the offering, but rather on the depth of sincerity with which a gift is given.

Everyone can become a lamp that can illuminate the hearts of others. If you are knowledgeable, you can become a lamp of knowledge. If you are deeply ethical, you can become a lamp of morality. If you are especially capable, you can become a lamp of strength and perseverance. If you are deeply caring, you can become a lamp of loving-kindness and compassion. When you shine light in these ways, others will grow closer to you. We should all strive to become lamps for our families, our communities, and the whole world. Through our actions, society will gradually become brighter and more peaceful.

The Different Karmic Effects Spoken to Elder Shoujia Sutra says there are ten merits of offering lamps:

First, they bring light to the world.
Second, no matter where one is reborn, one’s eyes will be undamaged.
Third, one will gain heavenly vision.
Fourth, one will gain wholesome wisdom and the ability to differentiate between wholesome and unwholesome phenomena.
Fifth, the great darkness will be dispelled.
Sixth, one will gain illuminated wisdom.
Seventh, one will receive great merit.
Eighth, one will never be reborn in a realm of darkness.
Ninth, at the end of one’s life, one will reborn in a heavenly realm.
Tenth, one will quickly realize nirvana.

From Ten Paths to Happiness, written by Venerable Master Hsing Yun.

More Featured Articles

Three Levels of Patience

Prajna allows us to truly know how life comes and goes, and it is only with prajna that we can have the strength to face the realities of life. To survive in this world we need both wisdom and power to alleviate our hardships and overcome adverse situations.Patience gives us both wisdom and strength.Buddhism speaks of three levels of patience.The first is patience for life, Read more

Not Lying

Trustworthy WordsIf you lie, you will not be trusted. If you cannot be trusted, you will be ineffective in your own life and useless to other people. Lies hurt others because they damage their trust and their sense of what is right and wrong. This is a very serious kind of damage; it wastes time, frightens people and causes them to doubt their basic intuitions Read more

Diminishing Mental Afflictions

We all have our share of headaches and heartaches. Physically, we all have to face aging, sickness and death. Mentally, we have to deal with problems arising from greed, hatred and ignorance. The Chinese have a saying that aptly describes our predicament: “Heaven and hell sometimes end; the threads of sorrow continue forever.” Our afflictions are as deep as the dark blue sea and are Read more

The Significance of Breathing

In the Sutra of Forty-Two Sections, the Buddha asked his disciples, "How long is one's life?" One of the monks replied, "A few years." The next one answered, "A few days!" Another one said, "Less than one day!" Another responded, "Between meals!" Finally, the Buddha said, "Life lasts for the duration of one breath." Life is extraordinarily precious and yet it is based on a Read more

Do Not Give Arise to Anger

Buddhism says we should see friends and enemies as equal. This means we should learn to tolerate unfriendly people, unideal environments, and language that is hard on the ears. Read more

The Four Contemplations

The first realization of The Eight Realizations of a Bodhisatttva Sutra is concerned with what is generally called the Buddha’s view of this world. This first realization is a description of the basic features of the world we live in. The points made in this realization are made in many other Buddhist sutras.The Buddha emphasized these basic points on many different occasions because it is Read more

Grounding Relationships in Oneness

When we can practice viewing ourselves and others through a lens of oneness, we will no longer engage in meaningless mind games that prevent us from forming positive connections with all beings. Read more

Better Silent than Noisy

The great masters of the Chan School have always been like leisurely clouds and wild cranes, sometimes dwelling in the mountain forests, sometimes living by the water. Read more

The Way to Practice

If your mind is in balance, what need is there to work at morality? If your behavior is correct, what use is meditation to you? If you understand mercy, then you will naturally care for your parents. If you understand faithful conduct, then all of society will be in order.—Platform Sutra of the Sixth PatriarchA Balanced MindMental balance results from understanding that self-respect is a Read more

What is Chan?

Chan is meditation throughout our lives. When we live with Chan, the taste of food and feel of clothes will change. We will not feel difficulty when dealing with our affairs. Any matter can be laughed away. The human world has its ups and down, but when we have a Chan mind it is like the world is ours and nothing is lacking. All human Read more

Inspire and Be Inspired

Do you feel inspired when you see people help each other? Not everyone is. Some people may look at a generous donation and say, “Donating such a small amount of money is nothing extraordinary for such a rich person.” When other people suffer from disasters and pain like the many people killed in the South Asian tsunami and earthquakes, don’t you feel for them? Doesn’t Read more

The Unsurpassed Value of Impermanence

Birth and death are realities of life. Regardless of who we are, we cannot escape either one. While birth is celebrated, death is feared by most. In order to cope with our fear, we often seek comfort in religion. Although each of the world's major religious traditions has its own teaching concerning death, Buddhism is the only one that promotes the doctrine of impermanence as one Read more