| The objective of this 100 page booklet is to acquaint the Buddhist laity on the origin and significance of the various types of Buddhist shrines in existence. In this way they will be able to appreciate the historical basis and role of shrines in Buddhism. This is because the shrine plays an integral role in their spiritual life. Most Buddhist households would have a shrine-room for the devotee to seek solace whenever the need arises. For the majority of lay followers, a shrine is a place or an object to remind them of the Buddha and by which they remember to observe their religious obligations through the taking of the Three Refuges and Five Precepts on a regular basis. In Buddhism, unlike other religions, the shrine is not the place to ask for favors or appease the Buddha but to renew our pledge to follow his instructions to train ourselves − “not to do any evil, to cultivate good, and to purify one’s mind.” It is a sanctuary, far from the maddening crowd, where the ordinary lay follower can still connect in a symbolic sense, with the Omniscient Buddha in order to gain the inspiration to practise the Dhamma. |
