A Brief Summary of my Daily Buddhist Practices as an Aspirant Mexican Buddhist ☸️
By: Aléph Lon
Tags: Yoga, Buddha, Mindfulness, Buddhism, Meditation

Paying Respects to my Homemade Latin-Flavored Buddhist Altar

This, although it may sound kind of complex or unattainable at the beginning, it’s actually the simplest and the most compelling for me; simplest in the sense that in only consists in the following:

I Light up an incense or a pair of candlelights if I have some available (it also works with one candle)

or a if I have some available (it also works with one candle) I dedicate some minutes of my thoughts to the well-being of my beloved ones and everyone else in their afterlives.

The first point of this activity, as the previously mentioned bullet states, consists in me lighting up an incense and also, if I have a pair at home, or even if I have only one, light a pair of candleS at my homemade altar.

Here is a photograph of the right side of my altar. As you can see, it’s ostentatious nor seems expensive at all. Since I’ve had difficult times money wise recently, all the depictions I own I made myself.

I would like to elaborate further in the How I Made My Altar Part, therefore I will leave any other detailed explanation about the process or the basis I took into making it for a more suitable and detailed Entry later in this blog.

Well, if you have yourself a home altar already, I’ve been told it’s okay (and some people have actually told me it’s the best) for you to just add Buddhist depictions of your worshipping, such as Buddha figures, iconography, or anything crafted that represents him, just making sure the depiction or form of iconography you choose always has a close spot to the center (or has most spots as in my case) so that it don’t seem less important than your other items on the altar.

It won’t cause you any hurt or bad fortune to put it somewhere else, though, but it is considered disrespectful for the Buddha for it to be positioned as less or below the other icons and deities you have put in your altar, since altars serve as a way to connect with those ones who are asleep in the afterlives (as well with those ones who are awoken during theirs), they should represent or pose a point of unique respect and dedication in the household.

Tip: I suggest you put the Altar in the same room you meditate indoors, since that way your worships and the spiritual energy from their realm will benefit your meditation (if done correctly, thoughtfully and in a honest way)

In my case, as mentioned in the photo captioned, since I haven’t had much money to buy something worth putting there besides candles and incenses, I’ve pasted all the drawings and crafts I’ve made by hand on my altar, which along them being iconography depictions of the Buddha, they also have imbued some of my essence imbued in them, invisible to the eye but present through the devotion I put into making them (the last one is the rosé one, I chose to called it “Serenidad”, which means serenity in Spanish).

I do this as soon as I get downstairs from my bedroom after waking up! I light up the incense, then dedicate some of my time to the people in the photos and the portrait, as well as to the Buddha and the “everything”.

For me it turns out to be extremely soothing and relaxing just before having all my responsibilities and chores thrown on my face! I hope you feel the same way!