A Manual of Ritual Fire Offerings

The Ritual fire Offering, which is derived from Indian tradition, plays an important part in Buddhist Tantric practice. The Ritual Fire Offering for Peace is commonly performed at the conclusion of the prescribed meditation retreats associated with specific meditational deities, in order to compensate for any errors that may have occurred during the practice. It can also be done to pacify hindrances such as illness. The Ritual Fire Offering for Increase may be performed to increase merit, wealth, life span and so forth. This manual contains translations of texts required to perform the Ritual fire Offering for Peace associated with six meditational deities: Thirteen deity Vajrabhairava, Solitary Heor Vajrabhairava, Guhyasamaja, Heruka, Vajra Yogini, and cittamani Tara, according to the Gelugpa tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. It further includes a description of the changes required to convert the ritual for peace to the ritual for increase in association with Guhyasamaja. The texts have been clearly presented in English to enable people who are qualified by initiation, but who do not know Tibetan, to understand the stages and procedures of Ritual Fire Offerings so that they may perform them effectively.