The Shrine Room
There are so many reasons, both gross and subtle, for why we have a shrine and the objects within it. We could spend years contemplating the meanings. So rather than write a book-sized explanation, this article will cover a few of the mundane and super-mundane points.
A Buddhist shrine represents two very important elements. The first element is the Three Jewels, which are the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha (or the Enlightened Ones, the teachings they have given, and the community that practices these teachings). The second is the absolute perfect aspects of the Enlightened Ones’ body, speech, and mind. A shrine also serves as a reminder or a pointer to the whole goal of practicing Buddhism: to become fully enlightened ourselves and to benefit all sentient beings. Unless we purify and perfect our own body, speech, and mind, we will be unable to be of any true benefit to others because our own ego and attachments will always get in the way. Because the shrine reflects or represents these perfect qualities, only the best items are used to set up a shrine. It kind of plays on the whole “what you think, you become” statement from Shakyamuni Buddha though in this case it is more of “display the qualities you wish to awaken”. Thus we would not want to depict our Buddha-nature with cheap quality items that have been poorly made or even worse, made by people working in very terrible conditions such “slave-labor”. Thus, items that have been carefully crafted and made with the intent to be beautiful and pleasing to look upon are best suited to reflect our innate Enlightened-nature.
With this understanding, a shrine is not set up as a display of wealth or to impress, but rather to be a focal point for the practitioner to look upon and collect their mind. It should be something that calms the practitioner and reminds them of their true nature and be a thing that inspires awakening.
Another purpose for the quality of the items used for a shrine is that it represents aspects of the “three kayas” or “trikaya”. Just as in all things, we should understand the concept of shunyata or ‘emptiness’. This ‘emptiness’ does not mean “voidness” in terms of “nothing-ness” but rather shunyata refers to the full or maximum potential nature of things. In other words, all things (objects) are devoid of an innate self or a specific ‘thing’ that would limit that thing (object). If we say this is such and such, we negate what it is also or its full potential. This is exactly what dualistic thoughts create – a very limited and poverty-minded point of view. Whereas non-dual thought promotes the openness and space for the full and unlimited potential of all things. This is called “the emptiness of dharmakaya” – the unseen full potential. When our senses are enlightened, we can perceive these objects in their purest and most perfect manifestations which are radiant, beautiful, spontaneous, and free from duality or discrimination. Generally speaking, this perfect form is what is depicted in our art, the statues and paintings; or in our minds in the form of visualizations. This form is called sambhogakaya. Lastly, it’s the physical manifestations that take place here in our normal everyday realm of experience – the mundane appearances. Though ‘things’ contain the essence of dharmakaya and sambhogakaya, they do still appear as either something perceived by our eyes, ears, nose, tongue, or mind. Nirmanakaya is the term for the mundane manifestation. Therefore in setting up a shrine, we have the physical items – bowls, flowers, lamps, etc. which represent the nirmanakaya; the quality of these items, both craftsmanship and actual materials symbolically represent the sambhogakaya; and the underlying nature of the items is the dharmakaya. Thus the shrine is a reflection of our own ‘trikaya’.
