Butter Lamp

When you travel to Tibet. you will often find a butter lamp as an offering of the light in personal alter in the home, temples, and Monastery. Offering the light to the statue of buddhas and bodhisattvas are said to bring us a positive virtue to wash the ignorance and brings in the wisdom.

As lamp offering is associated with the good fortune, Tibetan butter lamp is offered for any individual or family events, such as the celebration of childbirth, marriage, examination, graduations, birthdays and any anniversaries.

It is also offered during the time of difficulties or uncertain transitions. Accompanying with prayer, the lamp offers helps to bring less suffering, greater happiness at the time of illness, loss, and death. The lamp can be offering for the friends facing operation, for a spouse changing careers, student facing an exam or for the family member facing stress. Especially at the time of someone’s death, It is our tradition after death rituals to offer lamps for the next 49 days to help the deceased pass through the Bardo.

The prime intention for the lamp offering is to dispell the darkness of ignorance and help him/ her to pass through the changes and difficulties with the light of wisdom and compassion.

As a Buddhist, we believe all beings are circulating in the endless circle of life and death. We are in this circle of samsara due to our ignorance. As the lamp brings the light in the darkness, the teaching of Buddha, wisdom, and compassion is the light in the darkness of samsara.

In Sutras, it is mentioned, that making an offering of light and incense. We generate immense merits. It is believed to make tens of thousands of light, incense and flower offering, you will be born during the time of the future Buddha. What could be more holy and precious than getting teaching from the enlighten teacher himself?

The lamp is also used in mediation as the object of meditation in the initials stage of the training.

Here are the few items we would need to begin making the butter lamp.

1. Chunk of Butter
   The two most prominent lifestyle of Tibetan in Pleatue is either of the Nomad or the Farmer. In both cases, all the family has some animals in House to get the milk. This is why in many cases Tibetan family would have more butter than oil. You can use oil if it is a better option in your locations.
2. Container to melt the butter
   All the Tibetan family has a dedicated container to melt the butter for the Butter lamp. Like all the ritual items we would keep is authmost clean and kept it separate from the rest of the kitchen wares. The most commonly used container to melt the butter for the Butter lamp would be in shape of the kettle as it does not require to open it to pour the melted butter. We would usually make a paper fan to close the spout of the kettle.
3. Stove
   We need the place to heat the butter to melt it. Normally in Tibet, we use the yak dung heath to make food and melt butter for the lamp. You can use any source of heat to melt. But please keep in mind, if you melt the butter in very hot heat, you might burn the butter which is not good for the butter lamp.
4. Wick
   Wick of the butter lamp can be made with both wool or cotton. Nowadays we use more cotton for it, as it is better available in the market. Yet you can use wool too. In the middle of the wick, we will use a piece of straw. we will use the very thin straw if you need a thin wick and vice visa. We will have to roll the fiber around the straw to make the wick. Yet in Lhasa, we don’t make it, rather we would buy it from the old people in Barkhor who makes it for a living.
5. Lamp
   The final requirement is the lamp. the lamp can be of any materials. The most common are made from the brass and copper. Yet for some ritual, we would make it from a dough of Tsampa or wheat.

1. Clean the lamp
   The first step is to make sure the lamp is clean for reuse. Many time we would pile up the lamp and would clean many lamps together rather than doing it separately. So it is wise to check and reclean the lamp.
2. Putting the wick on the lamp
   Before you will heat the butter, it is always better to begin putting the wicks on the lamps. Tibet is very cold in the winter and we have a very short time to pour the melted butter into the lamp.
3. Melt the Butter on heat
   While melting the butter, you will have to minimize the heat of the fire to prevent the butter from burning. You don’t want to overheat the butter. Once all the solid form of butter turns into a transparent and liquid form that is the time you will have to stop heating.
4. Pouring the butter on the lamp
   When you pour the butter into the lamp, don’t miss pouring it on the wick. If you don’t pour it on the wick, the lower wick will become loose in the liquid butter. If you over poured it on the wick, it will become heavy and falls right in the butter. So the best way is to start pouring on the top of the wick in the beginning and let it hard by the cooling butter while you will be pouring the butter on the rest of the lamp.
5. Let nature do it cooling
   It is just to cool off the butter lamp before storing it away.

When you are offering the butter. In your mind, you must feel that you are making this offering to the real Buddha himself or your master in person.

• So the first thing is to make sure all the areas around a clean.
• Then wash your hand.
• Burn the lamp with the specially designated lighter or matches only for the butter lamp.
• Place the lamp on a safe flat surface with no handing Khatas around.
• Sprinkle a clean water lamp with saying a prayer. or this Mantra (Aum Ah Hum)
• You can bring an additional offering like the offering of water, incense to the altar too.

During your travel to Tibet, your Tibet tour would lead to some monasteries. We would really recommend you to at least try to make an offering of the butter lamp to any monastery or the temples. Yet each monastery would have different regulation of the Butter to use in the lamp. Please check with your tour guide about buying butter for the lamp or Light offers.

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