WHAT IS A PUJA
The power of prayer is well known over centuries and in all different religious beliefs.
According to Buddhism, the world in which we live and all that happens to us is a result of our past actions. Past harmful actions create unhappy results and skillful actions create happy results. One way to purify obstacles we experience due to our past harmful action is through prayers and pujas. A puja is a special ceremony in which prayers are offered to the Buddhas to request their blessings or invoke their help.
The power of prayers derives from the sincere motivation of the person asking for prayers, as well as the pure mind of the persons performing the prayers. It is said that prayers performed by ordained ones are especially powerful and effective as they are done on the basis of pure morality. But most importantly, making offerings to the different manifestations of enlightened beings, and to the sangha community generates and increases merit, our positive potential. Merit is needed to have success in all activities.
Pujas are performed to avert and clear the three types of obstacles which arise due to the lack of merit, which prevent us from achieving our worldly and spiritual goals. Removing these obstacles will help us to achieve happiness and good fortune in all our activities.