Puja

[Randolph1809]

Hello,

I'm getting back into my practice and have set up a shrine. I'm trying to do puja, but concerned about incense harming my cats.

Does anyone else have cats and either skip the incense or offer an alternative instead?

[Ontheway]

Hello,

I'm getting back into my practice and have set up a shrine. I'm trying to do puja, but concerned about incense harming my cats.

Does anyone else have cats and either skip the incense or offer an alternative instead?

You don't need to offer incense if you think is not convenient. You can try alternative such as water and flowers etc. I think flower offering is the best when there is a pet around. Just make sure purchase the flowers that are not causing allergy to pet animals.

Pujas in Theravada is not really a ritual but rather just showing veneration to the Buddha (the Buddha image is just a representative).

[mikenz66]

I agree. I wouldn't use incense inside my house, any more than I would tolerate people smoking. It's a health and fire hazard. In Asia, places where incense is offered are typically outside or extremely well ventilated and there is no flammable material. If you want something that represents fire, you can buy electric candles that have an realistic flicker...


Mike

[DNS]

I'm getting back into my practice and have set up a shrine. I'm trying to do puja, but concerned about incense harming my cats.

It's not just bad for cats, it's also bad for humans. I've heard some monks who never smoked have gotten lung cancer from too much exposure to incense.

https://www.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/asiapcf/ ... index.html

[TRobinson465]

In a lot of modern indoor shrines I see. They use LED candles and I think they even have LED incense. Try that instead.