OFFERING TO THE BUDDHAS & DEVAS
ABLS held the 2008 Offering Ceremony for Buddhas and Devas on February 10. The ceremony started at 9:00 a.m. in the Grand Hall which had been set up nicely the day before.
Flowers, incense, light, drinks, fruits, tea, food, jewels, Sutra and robe (Ten Offerings), were offered on the main center shrine as well as the specially arranged offering tables where the thirty-nine benefactors were each assigned a position to chant and bow. Images of the Buddhas and Celestial Guardians were also on display. Following is Ven. Tien Yung’s brief explanation of the procedures, advising all participants on how to pray for blessing while making wishes for the year. First session was mainly a ceremony of inviting and welcoming all the thirty nine Buddhas and Devas to enjoy our sincere offering. Pleasant chanting music filled the Grand Hall with joy and peace.
In the second session, Abbess Ven. Tien Inn first sprinkled flowers toward all attending devotees and then introduced the meaning of the offerings, also pointing out the fifteen extra offerings in addition to the traditional twenty-four offerings in our ceremony (a total of thirty nine offerings). We offered to the fifteen Huayen Buddhas and Devas, as illustrated in Avatamsaka (Huayen) Sutra, plus the twenty four Buddhas and Devas from the Suvarna (Golden Light) Sutra (金光明經), Abbess Ven. Tien Inn further encouraged lay buddhists to follow Buddha’s teaching by continuously practicing virtue and attaining wisdom.
The third session before noon was the Offerings to the Buddhas, blessing the present ones and offerings to the deceased. The half day ceremony ended after distribution of vegetarian lunch boxes to attendants. Volunteers stayed to help to clean up and rearrange tables back to the original arrangement.
