The Seven Water Bowls Offerings

The seven water bowls offering

The seven water bowl offerings are traditionally presented on a Buddhist altar each morning. These seven bowls represent the 'seven limbed practice' for purifying negative tendencies and accumulating merit.

The seven limbed practice

The seven limbed practice consists of:

1. prostrations
   
2. making offerings
   
3. confession of non-virtuous actions
   
4. rejoicing in the positive actions of oneself and others
   
5. requesting the Buddhas to reach
   
6. requesting the Buddhas to remain in this world
   
7. dedication of merit

Genesis of offering water

1. Arrange the bowls to form a straight line from your left to right.
   
2. The space between each bowl should approximate to the thickness of one barley grain.
   
3. Fill the bowls with water from your left to right.
   
4. The poured stream of water, which is described as being poured 'like a barley grain', should be thin or slow at the beginning, thick or fast in the middle, and tapers off to a narrow stream at the end.
   
5. The bowls should be filled to within a barley grain's thickness of the top of each rim.
   
6. One should not directly breathe upon the water bowl offerings, as this creates defilement in one's offering to the deities.        
   
7. At the end of the day, empty the bowls from right to left.the bowls are wiped clean and stacked upside down in readiness for the next morning.