8.8 Notes on Paying Respect to Bodhisattvas at Two Locations

Teaching Videos for Sutras and Mantras

Eng Audiovisual Book [Journey to Heaven & Hell]

Eng Audiovisual Book [Buddhisum in Plain Terms]

 Words of wisdom in English

Setting Up an Altar

How to worship the Bodhisattvas when you have no fixed residence?

Excerpt from Wenda 20130111 59:06
(Master Jun Hong Lu’s call-in radio program)
Caller:
My second question is how to pay respect to the Bodhisattvas if I do not have a fixed residence?

Master Lu:
You better have Bodhisattva’s images at both places. You should at least set up an altar at the place where you spend more time. You may take a photo of this altar and put this photo on the temporary altar at the other place where you temporarily stay. If you truly have difficulty offering incense at your temporary address, then you can perform prostrations to the photo and offer Heart Incense. If conditions allow, you should offer at least one cup of water and one incense stick on the temporary altar.

Caller:
This practitioner’s job is building houses and he moves to different places very often. What should he do?

Master Lu:
He can carry the photo of the altar in his home wherever he goes and pay respect to this photo.

Caller:  
Sure.

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Questions regarding worshipping Bodhisattvas while living at two places alternately.

Excerpt from Shuohua 20131108 15:08
(Master Jun Hong Lu’s call-in radio program)
Caller:
I have an altar in Nanjing but I’m living in Australia now. I will go back to Nanjing in January and come back to Australia after two or three months. I want to bring Bodhisattvas’ images to Nanjing, but I’ll be absent again for several months once I return to Australia, can I bring the images to Nanjing?

Master Lu:
It’s quite simple, I’ll teach you how to do it. You can ask your child to take a photo of your altar in Australia, print an A4-sized picture, frame it and put it on your altar in Nanjing. Offer incense, water and fruit as usual, and put away all those Buddhist instruments such as the oil lamp before you leave Nanjing. Carefully wrap up the picture and keep it in Nanjing. After you return to Australia, you can keep paying respect at your altar here.

Caller:
Do I need to take the picture back to Australia?

Master Lu:
No, you can leave it in Nanjing as you’ve already got an altar here. When you pray to the Bodhisattvas with that picture, it’s just like you are paying respect to the Bodhisattvas on the altar in Australia.

Caller:
Do I need to recite sutras when wrapping the picture?

Master Lu:
There’s no need. You should lay it down flat, don’t keep it upright.