Where to Place the Altar
The best place for an altar is in a separate shrine room, but if you live in a small place and cannot set aside a separate room for worship, any room can be used. The size of the altar is not mportant, but it should be in a clean and respectful place, higher than the level of your head as you site facing it. If it is in your bedroom, the altar should be placed near the head of your bed, never at the foot, and it should be higher than the bed. The altar should be either on a separate shelf or on a table set aside for this purpose that does not double as a coffee table or night stand.How to set up an Altar
The most basic shrine consists of a statue or picture of a deity or lama elevated above a set of seven offering bowls and one butter lamp. The offering bowls are placed in a straight line along the front of the shrine table, and are spaced apart no more than the length of a grain of rice. Do take care also that the bowls are not too close together or touching; a neat and regular order and spacing is auspicious. A butter lamp, tea light, or decorative electric candle or light is set in the middle of the row of bowls between the fourth and fifth bowl, as the sequence of the offerings represented by the bowls and light are, from left to right: argham, fresh water for drinking; padyam, perfumed water for bathing; pushpe, flowers; dhupe, incense; aloke, light; gendhe, perfume; nevidya, celestial food; and shapda, music.
Offering 1 – A bowl filled with water representing clean water for drinking is offered to the Buddha. It symbolizes all auspicious, positive causes and conditions.
Offering 2 – A bowl filled with water represents clean water for bathing the Buddha’s feet. It symbolizes purification.
Offering 3 – A bowl filled with flowers represents the beauty of the Buddha’s Enlightenment. It symbolizes an open heart and the practice of generosity. (The bowl can be filled with rice and topped with a silk flower. If fresh flowers are used, the bowl is filled with water.)
Offering 4 – A bowl of rice with incense placed on top symbolizes moral ethics and discipline.
Offering 5 – Light of some kind, a candle or butter lamp, is offered to the Buddha’s eyes and is symbolic of patience and a stable mind that dispels ignorance.
Offering 6 – A bowl of scented water symbolizes joyful, enthusiastic effort and perseverance. (Or a bottle of fragrance can be placed on top of a bowl of rice.)
Offering 7 – A bowl filled with rice with delicious food on top represents the precious nectar of the Path that leads to Enlightenment.
How Close an Altar
At the end of the day, before or at sunset, empty the bowls one by one, dry them with a clean cloth and stack them upside down or put them away. Never leave empty bowls right side up on the altar. The water is not simply thrown away but offered to the plants in your house or in the garden. Food and flowers should also be put in a clean place outside where birds and animals can eat them. Bowls of fruit can be left on the altar for a few days and can then be eaten when they come down-there is no need to put them outside.
