Chapter 13 Section 1 Offerings and Offerings

The term "offering utensils" is originally inherent in Chinese and was very popular in the Han Dynasty.It roughly means "preparing for wine and food, with tableware and food".For example, "Historical Records Biography of Fan Ju and Cai Ze": "Fan Ju's big offerings, all the princes and officials are invited to sit in the hall, and there are even food and drinks." For offerings." It seems that this word belongs to the juxtaposed structure, that is, "offering" and "tools", both have the meaning of "arranging a banquet for a big event".Later, Buddhists used it, but there was a new development.

First of all, "offering" became the abbreviation of "supporting". Although "support" is also an inherent word in Chinese, which means "support and enshrinement", in Buddhism, since the word Puja (its verb is transformed into Pujana, which is also translated into Chinese as support) in Sanskrit, it has been used in Buddhism. It has become a technical term for sacrificing and offering sacrifices to Buddha and Buddha's dependents.The so-called retinue of the Buddha, in a broad sense, includes all people who have attained Buddhahood, such as Bodhisattvas, arhats, gods, and good people who have been reborn in the Western Paradise of Ultimate Bliss (and other Buddha worlds). of. As for "tool", as a parallel word, it has almost the same meaning as "offer". When used together, it means "offer" when used as a verb word; The meaning of "offering utensils" can also be collectively referred to as "offering objects", which is actually the abbreviation of "objects of offering utensils".

Furthermore, "offering utensils" has become the abbreviation of "props for offering".It must be explained that "props" refer to the necessary utensils for the practice of Buddhism, from the three clothes and six things that monks and nuns carry to the vajra pestle and three feet that must be used for worship and worship. There are many names, and there is no unified category and quantity statement.Buddhists believe that it is wrong for lay people to call stage equipment also props.In order to distinguish it verbally from the offering utensils in the former sense, that is, offerings, the utensils used by Buddhists for offerings can also be called "offering utensils".

In short, the "offering utensils" we talked about in this section refers to both offerings and offering utensils.It must be further explained that the meaning of the so-called offering in Buddhism is quite extensive and has developed in history.It is said that in the era when Sakyamuni Buddha himself taught the Dharma, the offerings received by the Buddhist group, that is, the Sangha, mainly refer to the four types of items that are necessary for the daily life of the Buddha and the monks. Refers to clothing, food, bedding, decoction, which is obtained from the records in Volume 13 of "Zeng Yi A Han Jing"; the other refers to clothing (possibly including bedding), food, decoction, housing The giving is obtained from the records in volume 13 of "The Law of Good Views Viposa".We use the latter argument, because at the time when the Falun first turned, establishing a base for the Sangha was a matter of life and death for the spread of Buddhism. Even now, the monks have nowhere to live if the temple is destroyed.Therefore, these four items are called "four things to support".In terms of nature, these all belong to the category of "financial support".However, the poor people have no money to make offerings, and the monks themselves have no money left. How can they make offerings?It doesn't matter, you can use "dharma offerings", that is, spiritual offerings such as "respectful offerings", "admiration offerings", "worship offerings", etc. These are all called "dharma offerings".After the Buddha's Nirvana, financial offerings and dharma offerings appeared again with pagodas as objects, especially called "pagoda offerings". At the beginning, it was limited to the pagodas where Buddha's relics were buried. On the other hand, it has also developed to support the general deceased from the perspective of Buddhism, and can carry out "return", that is, to return the blessings obtained from the offering to the designated person or sentient beings.Tracing back to the source, these are all passed down from the pagoda offering.

According to the connotation of support, it can be divided into two categories.One category belongs to the broad sense, that is, it includes some "solemn objects" and spiritual offerings in Buddhist temples. The representative ones are the "ten kinds of offerings" mentioned in "Miaofa Lianhua Sutra - Dharma Master Pin". They are "One flower, two incense sticks, three necklaces, four powdered incense sticks, five painted incense sticks, six burnt incense sticks, seven banner covers, eight clothes, nine tricks and music, and ten folded palms in respect." The saying is the "five kinds of offerings" mentioned in the second volume of "Su Xidi Jiela Sutra", plus one supplemented by "Da Nikhing · Predestined Products", which is used to cooperate with the six paramitas (six paramitas). It is called "six kinds of offerings", also known as "six kinds of offerings", that is, "painting incense" means "keeping the precepts", and "huagarland" means "giving" (according to Volume 2 of "True and Common Buddhist Affairs", then "Flower" means "forbearance"), "burning incense" means "hard work", "diet" means "meditation", "burning lamp" means "wisdom", plus "阏嘉" (water, especially clean water) means "Patience" ("Zhensu Buddhist Affairs" thinks it means "giving").Added: "Yanjia" is the transliteration of the Sanskrit Argha, and the transliteration is also "Aga", "Yijia", "Yilajia", and the free translation is "gongde water", and the phonetic and free translation is "Yanjia water, Yanjia water". "Gas water, fragrant flower water", specifically refers to the scented water of internal scriptures used for offerings in front of the Buddha.Purified water is often used in daily worship in contemporary Sinicized Buddhism.Tantra must use special perfume.The offerings in modern and contemporary Sinicized Buddhist temples and families are mainly the development of the "six kinds of offerings" in a narrow sense, that is, "painting incense" and "burning incense" are combined into one category of "incense", and they are divided into lines according to the situation in China. Incense and sandalwood.As for the offering utensils, according to this situation, a Sinicized arrangement is adopted, with the "three feet" as the main one, and then surrounding the three feet with other utensils.