Flowers and fruits are usually offered in front of the Buddha, and lamps and incense are burned. What’s the point of this? Is it for decoration, or for Buddhas and Bodhisattvas to smell and eat? That would be a big mistake. Common basic offerings include incense, lamps, candles, flowers, fruits, water, etc.
Incense
represents the incense of faith, and its true meaning is the true incense of precepts and concentration and the five-point incense of Dharmakāya (i.e. incense of precepts, incense, incense of wisdom, incense of liberation, incense of liberation and knowledge) that Buddhism often talks about. When people see this smoke, they smell it. This fragrance should remind you that you need to cultivate precepts, concentration, and wisdom.
Lamp
represents light, and all light represents wisdom, so when we see all light, we must think of walking on the road of wisdom.
Candle: It means burning yourself and illuminating others like a candle. This is what Buddhism teaches people. If you want to seek wisdom, you must be able to sacrifice yourself for others, use your own wisdom, your own physical strength, and your own skills to serve the society and help all sentient beings without asking for reward.
Flower
represents cause and cultivates virtue. Flowers are offered for people to see, reminding people that they must pay attention to their moral cultivation. Only after the flowers bloom can they bear fruit. Only when the flowers bloom well can the fruits bear well. Therefore, only by always practicing good deeds can you get good results in the future.
Fruit
Indicates results. Fruits are not provided to Buddhas and Bodhisattvas to eat. They teach us that when we see the fruits, we can remember “what kind of results we hope to get, what kind of causes we should cultivate.” From a Buddhist perspective, fruit represents virtue and is the fruit of perfect wisdom.
Water
Represents the state of mind. Water is very pure, which means the heart should be pure. Water without waves is flat, representing equality. So offer this cup of pure water, and when we see it, we think that our hearts should be as pure and equal as water. A pure mind and an equal mind are the Buddha mind and the true mind.
Therefore, these offerings always remind ourselves to let our six sense organs contact with the complex society, so that we can achieve awareness without confusion, righteousness without evil, and purity without pollution. This is to achieve this goal!
