Ritual of Buddha Worship (Li fo)

Publish Date:2020-10-23

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Upon entering a temple hall, Buddhists,lay Buddhists and believers will typically perform the ritual service of Buddha worship in the temple hall. When there’s already an assembly of monks, join them after performing solutation (called Wenxun in Chinese, the ritual service with palms together at the chest level), so as not to disturb the order.

The ritual service is illustrated as following:

 


         Stand before the mat and keep pressed palms in front of chest, slanting upward;

 

 

         Move the right palm downward and place it near the center of mat, while bending down with knees apart;

 


         Move and place the left palm near the upper left of mat;

 

         Move the right palm from the center to the upper right of mat, on a parallel with the left palm;

 

         Touch the head to the middle space between two palms on the mat; turn both palms up, like holding Buddha’s feet;

 

         Bend fingers and then turn them over; lift up one’s head from the mat;
 
         Move the right palm back to the middle section of mat; lift the left palm up to the front of chest;

 

         Stand up and draw the right palm back to the front of chest; press palms and pay homage to Buddha. Repeat three times;

 

The service of Buddha worship ends with a common ritual of salutation in Buddhism. While standing with pressed palms in front of chest, place the right palm over the left one, folded up and slowly raise them up to the eyebrows; then move hands downwards and rest the right hand over the left one, palms up and thumbs touching to form a circle (this is a typical hand gesture called The Gesture of Meditation or Samadhi Mudra). After that, one bows the head slightly down to the statue of Buddha and quietly leaves the place.

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