Symbolism of Rituals in Lay Buddhist Practices: Oil Lamp Offering

Abstract

Introduction. Relations between religious and social everyday life are always close enough — lifestyles influence approaches to religion, and religious norms influence lifestyles. Mundane activities of lay Buddhists — regardless of whether the latter have taken any religious vows or not — comprise a number of obligatory practices to be performed accompanied by certain ritual actions. Oil lamp offering is one such traditional and definitely important rite integral to virtually all types of religious activity. The preparation and offering of an oil lamp is accompanied by recitation of the traditional well-wishing prayer. Goals. The article introduces a text of the well-wishing prayer and analyzes the symbolism of oil lamp offering, seeking to reveal hidden meanings behind the ritual action and prayer. Methods. The study employs the historical-philosophical and comparative analysis methods. It is noteworthy that despite oil lamp offering has long become workaday, the ritual and accompanying prayer have never been duly explored. Results. The symbolic meaning of Buddhist oil lamp offering proves based on fundamentals of Buddhist doctrine, and the prayer contains a hidden level aimed at cultivating compassion within the stream of consciousness. Finally, the ritual action and prayer together facilitate detachment from everyday life, and emphasize the need to observe the Refuge vow. Conclusions. So, the analysis reveals the symbolic and hidden levels of the oil lamp offering rite and its prayer.