Burning Little Houses without a Buddhist altar

Question #19:

Dear Master Lu, how should I burn Little Houses if I do not have a Buddhist altar in my home?

Answer #19:

• It is best not to burn Little Houses in Buddhist temples.

• If you do not have a Buddhist altar in your home, you can burn the Little Houses on your balcony, near the window in your living room, or in the backyard.

• You should offer the “Heart Incense” and say, “I express my sincere gratitude to the Greatly Merciful and Greatly Compassionate Guan Yin Bodhisattva” three times. You can then recite the Great Compassion Mantra once and the Heart Sutra once.

• Raise the Little Houses slightly above your head, visualise yourself kneeling down and bowing, and say the following prayer: “May the Greatly Merciful and Greatly Compassionate Guan Yin Bodhisattva protect and bless me, <your full name>, help me to give these Little Houses to <name of the recipient>”; the recipient can be your karmic creditor, a deceased person, an aborted or miscarried child, or the karmic creditor of someone’s house.

• When you are burning Little Houses (it is best to burn them from top to bottom, starting from the upper right-hand corner where it says, “Offer To”), you can say the following prayer: “May the Greatly Merciful and Greatly Compassionate Guan Yin Bodhisattva protect and bless me with your compassion.” You can then light the Little Houses using a lighter or matches. While you are burning Little Houses, simply say, “May the Greatly Merciful and Greatly Compassionate Guan Yin Bodhisattva protect and bless me with your compassion.” Do not recite or say anything further.

• After you have finished burning Little Houses, you can say the following, "I bow in gratitude to the Greatly Merciful and Greatly Compassionate Guan Yin Bodhisattva for helping me give these Little Houses to <name of the recipient>. I express my sincere gratitude to the Greatly Merciful and Greatly Compassionate Guan Yin Bodhisattva for protecting and blessing me." (Visualise yourself kneeling down at the altar and performing a full bow so that your forehead touches the floor.)
You could also say corresponding prayers. For example, if you give Little Houses to the karmic creditor of <someone’s full name>, you could pray to Guan Yin Bodhisattva to grant this person good health, safety and good fortune. If you use a Little House to resolve X’s karmic conflicts, you could pray to Guan Yin Bodhisattva to help resolve the negative karmic affinity between X and Y.

• Ensure that the entire piece of paper is thoroughly burnt. You can use metal tweezers to hold the Little House while burning it.

• The best times to burn Little Houses are 8am, 10am and 4pm. Any other time during the day on a sunny day would also be fine. Generally speaking, the period between 6am and sunset is suitable for burning Little Houses if the weather is good. For more details please refer to another Master Jun Hong Lu’s publication: A Guide to Reciting the Combination of Buddhist Scriptures: Little Houses.

Source: Buddhism: Your Questions Answered

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