Question asked by wan sek choon
Dear Pastor,
Why do we still need to hold memorial prayers such as Jangchub our deceased loved ones after years of their passing? Tibetan Buddhism explained that normally a deceased person will take rebirth after 49 days after their passing,
And some hard core buddhists say we do not burn things offerings as what the Taoists do, but we Tibetan buddhist also have fire puja right ?
Thank you for your time and effort in reading and answering the above.
Dear Wan Sek Choon,
Thank you for your question. You have asked a very intelligent question which means you think about things carefully, which is very good. The Buddha taught that we must not follow a religious path blindly but examine the things we practice.
Within Buddhism we do not pray to our deceased loved ones because we only pray to and take refuge in the Buddhas who are free from samsara. This is one of the major points in keeping our Buddhist refuge. You are correct that we can hold memorial services/ceremonies for the deceased. However, unlike some other religions we do not pray to the deceased during these rituals. Rather we make offerings and prayers to the Buddhas to generate spiritual merits that are dedicated to our loves ones in which ever form they may have taken rebirth in. Buddhists believe in karma, in essence if you do good actions then good things will happen to you, and if you do bad actions, bad things will happen to you. But there is also merit, which is necessary to gain enlightenment and cannot be used up like karma is. Merit is generated when we make offerings and prayer to the enlightened Buddhas.
You are correct that 49 days after a person’s passing away, they would have taken rebirth in one of the six realms of existence. As such they are still under the influence of karma and can benefit from spiritual merit. So when we hold these ceremonies and services for the deceased they benefit not because we pray to them, but because we pray and make offerings to the Buddhas to generate merit, which is then dedicated to our loved ones, which benefits them wherever they are.
Fire pujas are burnt offerings, known as ‘jinsek’ in Tibetan, not to the spirits or the gods but to the enlightened Buddhas. You can read/hear a teaching by His Eminence the 25th Tsem Rinpoche here: https://www.tsemrinpoche.com/tsem-tulku-rinpoche/buddhas-dharma/what-is-fire-puja.html. Within tantric Buddhism fire pujas are a very powerful method to generate merit, overcome obstacles, or to create the energies needed to achieve a particularly positive goal. The Buddhas do not need or require us to make offerings to them in any way, but making offerings is a way for us to generate merit and clear our obstacles. I hope this helps.
Thank you.