Question asked by Bernard N
Dear Pastors,
I have photos of green tara , zambhala , mahakala etc on the bookshelf in my bed room which I collected from attending pujas mostly.
I thought of disposing them ( sorry to use the word ) for 2 reasons , fear of attracting uninvited soul and "inconveniences" in the bed room .
May I do so and what is the proper way so that I don't offend them ?
Dear Bernard N,
As far as we are concerned, images of the Buddhas and Dharma Protectors do not attract “uninvited souls” and “inconveniences”. They actually bless any beings who perceive the sacred form of the Buddhas and Protectors.
Anyway, I will spell out a few methods that may help you in handling excess of Buddha images. One can give them away to friends and family as a blessing or one can bundle it together to be placed inside large statues or stupas. Worse come to worse, one can burn these images and before one burns these images, one can visualize the Buddha and protector forms dissolved into 3 syllables of Om, Ah and Hum. Then the 3 syllables dissolved into the syllable Ah and the Ah, red in color dissolves into our throats. With that, we visualize that the images are now ’empty’ of these beings and we can proceed to burn.