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. We believe by Offering said to bring us a positive virtue by washing the ignorance and bringings in the wisdom.

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

We also offer during times of difficulties or uncertain transitions. Accompanied by prayer, the lamp offering helps to bring less suffering and greater happiness at the time of illness, loss, and death. You can offer the lamp for friends facing operations, a spouse changing careers, a student facing an exam, or a 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 of the lamp offering is to dispel the darkness of ignorance and help people pass through changes and difficulties with the light of wisdom and compassion.

As Buddhists, 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 light in the darkness, the teaching of Buddha, wisdom, and compassion is the light in the darkness of samsara.

In Sutras, it is mention that making an offering of light and incense. We generate immense merits. We believe that as a result of making tens of thousands of light, incense, and flower offerings, you will be born during the time of the future Buddha. What could be more holy and precious than getting teaching from the enlightened teacher himself?

In the initial stage of meditation training, the lamp will be use as the object of meditation.

Here are a few items to begin making the butter lamp.

Chunk of Butter

The two most prominent lifestyles of Tibetans in the Plateau are Nomads and Farmers. In both cases, all the families have some animals in the House to get milk. This is why, in many cases, Tibetan families have more butter than oil. You can use oil if it is a better option in your location.

Container to melt the butter

All the Tibetan families have a dedicated container to melt the butter for the butter lamp. We would keep all the ritual items almost clean and separate from the rest of the kitchen wares. The most commonly used container to melt the butter for the Butter lamp would be in the shape of a kettle, as it does not require opening to pour the melted butter. We would usually make a paper fan to close the kettle’s spout.

Stove

We need a 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 butter. But please keep in mind that if you melt the butter in very hot heat, you might burn the butter, which is not good for the butter lamp.

Wick

Wool or cotton are use for making the wick of the butter lamp. Currently, we use more cotton, which is more readily available in the market. Yet you can use wool too. We will use a piece of straw in the middle of the wick.  Roll the fiber around the straw to make the wick. Yet in Lhasa, we don’t make it; instead, we would buy it from the old Barkhor people who make it for a living.

Lamp

The final requirement is the lamp. The lamp can be made of any material, but the most common are brass and copper. For some rituals, 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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