Lamp Offerings

Since Buddha Shakyamuni attained enlightenment 2,500 years ago and dispelled the darkness of ignorance that obscures the mind’s true nature, lamp offerings in Buddhist practices have symbolized this realization. Each lamp offering celebrates the Buddha’s enlightenment and thus is associated with great good fortune.For Tibetan Buddhist practitioners, a lamp offering also carries the wish to attain buddhahood and the aspiration to recognize the clear light at the time of death, thereby experiencing liberation in that moment. In this way lamp offerings are associated with transitions in one’s life.Lamp offerings are best made before consecrated representations of fully awakened wisdom, loving-kindness, and compassion. Lamp offerings are made for any individual or family life event that is celebrated, such as the birth of a child, the marriage of a couple, the graduation of a son or daughter, the birthday of a friend, and the anniversary of one’s parents.Lamp offerings may also be made in