A home shrine is the most common Buddhist practice after the precepts, and the one most often skipped by Western practitioners who arrived through meditation and treat the devotional side as optional decoration.

It is worth reconsidering, for a reason that has nothing to do with belief: a shrine changes a room, and a changed room changes what happens in it.

What it is for #

It marks a space. A corner that is for practice is a corner you sit in. The habit of practice is substantially environmental, and a shrine does more of that work than its cost suggests.

It gives you something to bow to. Prostration or a simple bow before sitting is a physical act that interrupts the ordinary run of the day. Practitioners who find this uncomfortable at first — and many Westerners do — generally find the discomfort itself informative.

It makes the practice visible. A shrine in a room is a daily reminder, and being seen by household members to have one is a small public commitment.

It provides a practice for days when sitting does not happen. Lighting a candle, offering water, and bowing takes ninety seconds and is not nothing.

What goes on it #

The image #

The centre. Traditionally a Buddha figure — Shakyamuni, Amitabha, or Medicine Buddha are common — or a bodhisattva, a lineage teacher, or in Tibetan practice a thangka.

On the image being an object of worship: the tradition’s position is that it is not. The Buddha is not present in the statue, is not receiving the offerings, and cannot grant favours. The image is a representation, and the bowing is directed at what it represents — the possibility of awakening, and one’s own capacity for it. This is stated explicitly across traditions, and it coexists with a great deal of devotional practice that looks otherwise. See Avalokiteshvara and the Bodhisattvas.

A photograph, a simple statue, a printed image, or — for practitioners uncomfortable with figurative images — a text, a bowl, or a stone all work.

The three supports #

Tibetan practice organises a shrine around three representations:

Body — an image or statue. Speech — a text, placed above or beside it. A sutra, a practice text, or a Dharma book. Mind — a stupa, a bell, or a vajra.

This is a useful framework even outside Tibetan practice, because it prevents the shrine from being only a picture.

The offerings #

Simplicity is traditional and preferable. The standard elements and their meanings:

Water — the most common offering, and pointedly the cheapest. The traditional reasoning is that water is freely available, so offering it cannot be contaminated by attachment or by the wish to impress. Tibetan practice sets out seven bowls, filled each morning and emptied each evening.

Light — a candle or lamp, for wisdom dispelling the darkness of ignorance.

Incense — for the fragrance of ethical conduct, said to spread in all directions.

Flowers — for impermanence. They are not there to be pretty; they are there to fade, and they should be left long enough to do so rather than replaced at the first droop.

Food — fruit, rice, or a portion of one’s own meal.

The offerings are not for the Buddha, who does not eat. They are a practice of generosity, performed daily, at negligible cost, on something that gives nothing back — which is precisely the training.

Setting it up #

Location. A quiet corner where the shrine will not be in the way and will be seen daily. A bedroom, a hallway, a corner of a living room.

Height. The image should be above seated eye level. The consistent convention across traditions is that sacred objects are not placed on the floor or below the practitioner.

What not to put it on or near. Not on the floor. Not in a bathroom. Traditionally not directly facing a bed, and not somewhere it will become a shelf for keys and post.

Scale. A shelf is enough. A small table, a windowsill, a cabinet top. The elaborate multi-tiered shrine is not a requirement, and a shrine that is too much trouble to maintain is worse than a small one that is.

Cleanliness. The one non-negotiable across traditions. A dusty neglected shrine says something, and keeping it clean is itself the practice.

What to do with it #

The traditional daily minimum, which takes a few minutes:

Morning. Fill the water bowls. Light a candle and incense. Bow three times — to the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha, the three refuges. Sit.

Evening. Empty and dry the water bowls, turning them face down or stacking them. Bow. Dedicate any merit from the day.

Practitioners in particular traditions add: recitation of refuge and precepts, a liturgy, mantra recitation, or the offering of a mandala.

If none of that appeals, the minimum useful version is: keep it clean, light something before sitting, and bow once. That is a complete practice.

Objections #

Two are common enough among Western practitioners to address directly.

“This feels like idolatry.” The tradition’s own position is that it is not, and the reasoning is set out above. It is also worth noticing that the discomfort is usually culturally specific — it is a Protestant-inflected reflex, and it is worth examining rather than simply obeying. The practical test the traditions offer: are you asking the statue for things, and do you believe the statue can grant them? If not, the objection does not apply.

“I only want the meditation.” Entirely permissible. It is worth knowing that this preference is recent and culturally located, and that the great majority of Buddhists throughout history have had a shrine and not a meditation practice. The devotional and the contemplative are not alternatives in the tradition; they support each other.

Common questions #

Do I need to be Buddhist? No, and nobody will check. A shrine is a domestic arrangement.

Which Buddha image should I choose? Whichever you find you want to look at. Shakyamuni is the default. If you practise in a tradition, its figures are the obvious choice.

Where should I get one? Buddhist suppliers, temple shops, and — increasingly a consideration — not from sources selling Buddha images as garden ornaments or for placement on floors. The practice around images is that they are treated as representations of something worth respecting, and their commercial treatment as decor sits badly with practitioners in Buddhist countries. Several Buddhist organisations have campaigned about this.

What do I do with a broken or unwanted image? Traditionally it is not thrown away. Options include returning it to a temple, burying it, or placing it somewhere clean and elevated outdoors.

Can I have a shrine in a shared house? Yes, and it need not be conspicuous. A shelf in a bedroom is entirely sufficient.

What about a shrine for a deceased relative? In East Asian practice this is standard — the Japanese butsudan holds memorial tablets and is the site of daily offerings to the ancestors. In Western practice, adding a photograph of someone who has died and dedicating merit to them is a natural extension and is done widely. See Buddhist Funeral Rites.

Sources & further reading #

Thubten Chodron, Buddhism for Beginners (Snow Lion, 2001) — practical on shrines and offerings. Robert Beer, The Encyclopedia of Tibetan Symbols and Motifs (Serindia, 1999) — for the symbolism of the objects. Ian Reader & George J. Tanabe Jr., Practically Religious (University of Hawai’i Press, 1998) — on domestic practice in Japan, including the butsudan. Kevin Trainor (ed.), Buddhism: The Illustrated Guide (Oxford, 2004) — good on the material culture. Donald K. Swearer, Becoming the Buddha (Princeton, 2004) — on image consecration and what images are held to be.