Butter Lamps on:
[Wikipedia]
[Google]
[Amazon]
Butter lamps or butterlamps (; ) are a common feature of Khandro
/ref> Pilgrims also supply lamp oil to gain
Butter lamps or butterlamps (; ) are a common feature of Tibetan Buddhist
Tibetan Buddhism (also referred to as Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, Lamaism, Lamaistic Buddhism, Himalayan Buddhism, and Northern Buddhism) is the form of Buddhism practiced in Tibet and Bhutan, where it is the dominant religion. It is also in majo ...
temples and monasteries
A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which ...
throughout the Himalayas
The Himalayas, or Himalaya (; ; ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the planet's highest peaks, including the very highest, Mount Everest. Over 10 ...
. The lamps traditionally burn clarified yak butter
Yak butter (also known as "Dri Butter" or "Su oil" bo, འབྲི་མར།, zh, 酥油) is butter made from the milk of the domestic yak (''Bos grunniens''). Many herder communities in China, India, Mongolia, Nepal, Gilgit-Baltistan Pakis ...
, but now often use vegetable oil
Vegetable oils, or vegetable fats, are oils extracted from seeds or from other parts of fruits. Like animal fats, vegetable fats are ''mixtures'' of triglycerides. Soybean oil, grape seed oil, and cocoa butter are examples of seed oils, or f ...
or vanaspati ghee.
The butter lamps help to focus the mind and aid meditation
Meditation is a practice in which an individual uses a technique – such as mindfulness, or focusing the mind on a particular object, thought, or activity – to train attention and awareness, and achieve a mentally clear and emotionally calm ...
. According to the ''Root tantra
Tantra (; sa, तन्त्र, lit=loom, weave, warp) are the esoteric traditions of Hinduism and Buddhism that developed on the Indian subcontinent from the middle of the 1st millennium CE onwards. The term ''tantra'', in the Indian ...
of Cakrasaṃvara Tantra'', "If you wish for sublime realization, offer hundreds of lights"./ref> Pilgrims also supply lamp oil to gain
merit
Merit may refer to:
Religion
* Merit (Christianity)
* Merit (Buddhism)
* Punya (Hinduism)
* Imputed righteousness in Reformed Christianity
Companies and brands
* Merit (cigarette), a brand of cigarettes made by Altria
* Merit Energy Company, ...
. The monks in the monastery manage the actual lamps, taking extreme care to avoid starting one of the devastating fires which have damaged many monasteries over the years. For safety, butter lamps are sometimes restricted to a separate courtyard enclosure with a stone floor.
Externally, the lights are seen to banish darkness. Conceptually, they convert prosaic substance into illumination, a transformation akin to the search for enlightenment. Esoteric
Western esotericism, also known as esotericism, esoterism, and sometimes the Western mystery tradition, is a term scholars use to categorise a wide range of loosely related ideas and movements that developed within Western society. These ideas ...
ally, they recall the heat of the ''tummo
In Tibetan Buddhism, ''tummo'' (; sa, चण्डाली, caṇḍālī) is the fierce goddess of heat and passion. Tummo is found in the Mahasiddha Krishnacarya and the '' Hevajra Tantra'' texts.
Tummo is also a tantric practice for in ...
yoga'' energy of the Six Yogas of Naropa
The Six Dharmas of Nāropa (, Skt. ''ṣaḍdharma'', "Naro's six doctrines" or "six teachings"), are a set of advanced Tibetan Buddhist tantric practices compiled by the Indian mahasiddhas Tilopa and Nāropa (1016-1100 CE) and passed on to th ...
, an important text for Kagyu, Gelug
240px, The 14th Dalai Lama (center), the most influential figure of the contemporary Gelug tradition, at the 2003 Bodhgaya (India).
The Gelug (, also Geluk; "virtuous")Kay, David N. (2007). ''Tibetan and Zen Buddhism in Britain: Transplantati ...
, and Sakya
The ''Sakya'' (, 'pale earth') school is one of four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism, the others being the Nyingma, Kagyu, and Gelug. It is one of the Red Hat Orders along with the Nyingma and Kagyu.
Origins
Virūpa, 16th century. It depic ...
schools of tantric Buddhism
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religions, Indian religion or Indian philosophy#Buddhist philosophy, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha. ...
.
See also
*List of light sources
This is a list of sources of light, the visible part of the electromagnetic spectrum. Light sources produce photons from another energy source, such as heat, chemical reactions, or conversion of mass or a different frequency of electromagnetic ener ...
*Chotrul Duchen
Chötrul Düchen, also known as Chonga Choepa or the Butter Lamp Festival, is one of the four Buddhist festivals commemorating four events in the life of the Buddha, according to Tibetan traditions. Chötrul Düchen closely follows Losar, the ...
(Butter Lamp Festival)
*Nachiarkoil lamp
The Nachiarkoil lamp, also called Annam lamp or Nachiarkoil Kuthuvilakku, is an ornamental brass lamp made of series of diyas, a handicraft product which is exclusively made by Pather ( Kammalar) community in Nachiyar Koil town in Tamil Nadu, I ...
*Sky lantern
A sky lantern (), also known as Kǒngmíng lantern (), or Chinese lantern, is a small hot air balloon made of paper, with an opening at the bottom where a small fire is suspended.
In Asia and elsewhere around the world, sky lanterns have bee ...
References