What is Candle (Lamp) used for?
Many people again have this thinking of Deities need Candles as their food, in-order to give them energy, etc, actually this is very in-accurate and mis-leading. Why shall a Deity be fed on Candles and Incenses since he/she is already out from the 6 Realms Reincarnation?
Candle (Lamp), a significant of Brightness.
When a devotee offered his/her Candles (Lamp) to the Deities, he/she will be somehow blessed by the Deities for “brightness” in his/her future and the most important – smoothness on whatever he/she does.
This may sounds a bit superstitious, but according to records and practices from other Religions all over the World, Candles do have such a meaning.
So what type of Candles shall we offered?
For Chinese (Taoism), usually we will prefer RED color, a color of Prosperity and Luck and also to represent Happiness and Reunion. Whereas for Buddhism, people tend to offer Yellow or sometime White for purity.
Nowadays, we can see lots of new form Candles on the market. Such as Lotus, Pineapple, Ingots shape, etc, all are fine, as long as we have the sincerity and beware of the safety-ness during the using of such Candles.
'liandeng'
As for the offering of incense, what is the significance?
Is there particular importance on the quality of the incense being used, meaning medicinal incense for example versus plain low quality?
Does deity partake the incense or do their attendants enjoy the incense?
Thanks
Chow