Daily Rituals of Lho Pos

In Sikkimese Bhutia custom, a Lhakhang/De yang is an prayer room where objects of worship are set to make daily offerings to the deities. Lhakhangs are generally allotted highest and the purest space. Lhakhangs are designed beautifully with specific motifs with certain prescribed instructions from the religious texts. The walls inside a Lhakhang are decorated with paintings, thankas and pictures of various deities in a more affluent household however, in a humble household Lhakhangs are relatively managed.

In the altar/Chodsham statues of Shakyamuni Buddha is kept at the centre, Chenrizig (Avalokiteshvara) to the right side and Guru Rinpoche to the left. The conglomeration of the three is called “cho long trul sum”. Alternatively, one can also place the statue of Buddha in the centre, a scripture (pecha) to its right and a small stupa to the left side. The statue of Buddha symbolizes the body of Buddha; scripture symbolizes the speech of Buddha and stupa symbolizes the mind of Buddha. The trinity also signifies the three jewels of Buddhism i.e. Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha.
The most important thing is that the altar has to be kept pure.

The offerings to the deities start early in the morning by any member of the household, preferably by an elder person. The main objective of the offering is to gather merit to one’s own life and accumulate it for the next life (rebirth).  Prayers are recited for the wellbeing and benefit of all the sentient beings. Water is offered in a set of seven bowls (Ting) and a lamp (Chimi) is lit, making eight-fold offerings symbolizing eight virtues. Starting from the left, the first two bowl of water symbolizes water for drinking and washing feet, the third bowl of water symbolizes a bowl of flowers, the fourth one symbolizes a bowl of incense. Then a lamp or Chimi is placed and lit, symbolizing elimination of darkness and ignorance within all of us followed by the fifth bowl signifying a bowl scented water. The sixth bowl represents a bowl of food and the last or the seventh one represents a bowl of musical instrument such as a pair of small cymbals. These seven bowls of water and a lamp signify the offering and the faiths of the household towards the gurus, Buddhas and Bodhisattvas and the deities of all directions.

Puay/Incense is burnt every morning and evening to purify and cleanse the atmosphere of all the direction in the house and more particularly the areas surrounding the Lhakhang. The water offered in the morning needs to be emptied before dusk and then cleansed, as it is believed to be an act of offering food to a guest and then doing the dishes. In case failing to do so before dusk for any reasons few grains of rice in each seven bowls of water are offered to be cleansed early in the morning before the daily rituals of the day begins. However, the emptying process should begin from the right side unlike the filling which starts from the left. In addition to water offering, one can also offer milk, tea, flowers, fruits and food every morning and on more quantity on some important days of a month like 8th, 10th, 15th, 25th & 30th.

As per Buddhist tradition every day is significant and some days are even more significant and meritorious. These are:

8th of every month (che gyad)