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SANG-SOL SMOKE OFFERING CEREMONY
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Explanation of the Tibetan SMOKE OFFERING Sang-sol, is a ceremony performed by Tibetans from all walks of life to mark important
events in their lives. A widespread national custom, it can be preformed individually or in groups, on occasions
such as the Dalai Lama's birthday, marriages, third day of the Tibetan New Year, or preceding other important events.
ORIGINS It is not clear whether the Tibetan custom of offering incense originated in India
or not, as only two references to such practice can be found in the Indian texts. It is mentioned in the Guhyasamaja
Tantra that one should know about the three kinds of fragrance. The other reference is to be found in the story
of Bhadri of Magadha, which tells of how she invited the Buddha to her house and made offerings of smoke to him
from the roof. According to the writings of various scholars, it seems that incense offering was carried out in
Tibet from the very early times when the teacher Tonpa Sherab, founder of the Bon religion, first came from Zhang
Zhung to spread his doctrine in Tibet. The oldest extant text on incense offering, dates back to the eighth century, when
the Indian master Padmasambhava came to Tibet and built Samye monastery. This manual, containing detailed instructions
on how to preform the ritual, was then hidden by him to await discovery at some appropriate juncture in the future. Several centuries later, two Treasure masters (tertons), one from northern Tibet
and another from the south, discovered and revealed it. based on this Treasure (terma) text many Nyingma, Kagyu
and Sakya lamas composed the incense offering. Later at the time of the third Dalai Lama, Sonam Gyatso, a lama by the name of Yeshe
Wangpo, wrote a text on the incense offering from the Gelugpa point of view. Subsequently, three works were written
on the subject by Panchen Lobsang Chogyen (1570-1662) and another by the fifth Dalai Lama.
THE RITUAL The Incense offering should be done in the morning on a clean and elevated outdoor
site, free of insects, either on a hill or the top of a house and inhabited by many local gods and nagas. If performed
during a festival, all the inhabitants of a locality may assemble and, at the end of the offering, stand in a row
and throw a handful of tsampa (roasted barley flour) in the air. As this is usually a happy occasion, a dance often
follows. In the summer, incense offering is often associated with picnics on top of mountains.
Transcribed from "ME-LONG, The Newsletter of the council for
Religious and Cultural Affairs of H.H. the Dalai Lama", N0.6, April 1990
~ OM MANI PADME HUNG ~ OM MANI PADME HUNG ~ OM MANI PADME HUNG ~ OM MANI PADME HUNG ~ OM
MANI PADME HUNG ~ OM MANI PADME HUNG ~ OM MANI PADME HUNG ~ OM MANI PADME HUNG ~ OM MANI PADME HUNG ~ OM MANI PADME
HUNG ~ OM MANI PADME HUNG ~ OM MANI PADME HUNG ~ May all sentient beings, benefit.
Ratnashri
Sangha of Tampa
Bay, Florida
Saturday, February
9, 2008
10 AM - 12 Noon
SANG-SOL SMOKE OFFERING CEREMONY
Lama Konchok Sangyas
to celebrate the
Tibetan New Year 2135:
The Year of the Earth Mouse
Losar Smoke Offering Ceremony with Drupon Sangye
Rinpoche, February 2008 in Clearwater FL
It is closely linked with the hanging of prayer flags from trees or tall poles, especially on the third day of
the new year, but also on other auspicious days. The incense should be burned in a large urn-shaped burner (sang-
khun) and should not have been trampled by people or animals. Wood, not coal, should be used as fuel and the substance
to be burned as incense should be fragrant, such as the leaves of fern or juniper, or the branches of coniferous
tree, rhododendron, and red or white sandalwood. In addition, tsampa, butter, sugar, and medicinal plants, and
other substances free from the taint of alcohol, onion or garlic are burned.
When offering incense, people should examine their motivation and reflect that by making this
offering to lamas, meditational deities and religious protectors, they will accumulate merit, which they should
dedicate to the benefit of all sentient beings. If they have any specific requests, such as prayers for longevity
or the removal of obstacles to religious practice, they should be made at this point. Next the practitioners take
refuge, meditate on the four immeasurable wishes, love, compassion, joy, equanimity, and visualize themselves as
deities.
The objects to be offered are then blessed, rid of their ordinary appearances and transformed by meditation, gestures,
and mantras into an inexhaustible source of great bliss which will please those to whom they are offered. The offering
ends with the practitioners asking the deities to forgive them for any mistakes in the performance of the ritual,
such as improperly or incompletely reciting the words of the text. the deities are then asked to return to their
abodes and auspicious verses are recited.
Incense offering can thus be preformed as an elaborate religious ritual, an offering of a fragrant purified of
its ordinary qnalities and appearance to lamas, meditational deities, religious protectors, nagas and local worldly
gods. The offering is intended to please the deities, who rejoice at the merit of those making the offering. However,
incense offering can also be preformed simply because it is an ancient custom, and a traditional means of purifying
the atmosphere. Incense offering is also done to mark the passing away of important people, lamas or officials
and in these ways it is a practice common to both Buddhists and Bonpos.
and forwarded by Tibetan Meditation Center in Frederick MD, Jan. 2008
