Page 53 - The Buddha‘s Noble Eightfold Path

accompanied, where necessary, with appropriate ritual actions.

First of all Puja or Worship. This consists in the making of
offerings. The making of offerings is, in fact, its essential feature,
and in the simplest form of Puja the offerings consist simply of

flowers, lights — whether lighted candles or lamps — and
burning incense-sticks. There are also what are known as the

seven ordinary offerings, consisting of water for drinking, water
for washing the feet, flowers, incense, light, perfume, food and
sometimes an eighth offering, music. These are, incidentally, the

ancient Indian 'offerings' to the honoured guest. Even today, in
India, if you visit anyone's house as an honoured guest they will

at once give you a glass of water to drink, because it is very hot
in India and you are likely to be thirsty. You will then be given
water for washing the feet, and very often they will wash your

feet themselves, especially if you are a monk, because you have
come over the dusty roads of India and your feet are dusty. After

that, as you may have seen in the slides of my 1966- 1967 tour,
you are presented with a garland of flowers, and then they light
incense sticks to create a pleasant atmosphere and to keep away

flies and mosquitoes. If it is evening they will light a lamp; they
will then offer perfume to sprinkle the body with and, of course,

something to eat. After the meal there will sometimes be a little
music. This is the way in which the honoured guest is
entertained in India, and it was the seven or eight offerings to

the honoured guest which became, in Buddhism, the seven or
eight religious offerings. These offerings are made to the Buddha

because he comes into the world as a guest, as it were, from a
higher plane

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