How to burn incense properly at the Taoist altar? There is a lot of knowledge behind the whole incense burning art. First of all, why shall you burn incense? Many people just think that it is part of their routine to burn incense to an altar, but no one really understands what it is about and what they are actually doing.
Incense is nothing but a container, they are a medium for us to contain things. In the physical world, we Taoist say, that everything is just a container, meaning that you can put "things" into them as if they are all bottles and jars. What can you put into the incense? What did you put into it? Incense itself is nothing but just some wood powder and sticks, it does not have any magical effect and does not do anything for you in terms of energy work... so why do we burn incense?
When you hold onto the incense, your hand touches and the energy of you transfer to the incense, and this "energy" is what we call the pre-heaven energy, which includes your intention, your heart-energy and such. These energies go into the incense and fill the incense up. After that, the incense is burnt and BAM, the magic happens.
When the physical body is destroyed, the no-physical part of it gets released, just like gas escaping from a balloon. When incense is burnt, the stuffings releases. Therefore, when you put the incense on the altar, your energy is released to the altar, and the altar absorbs it, so it is a form of "uploading" your energy into the altar every day, just like accumulating money daily for the future use.
At the end, you might want to see how I do my morning practice at the altar. So here goes a YouTube video again, showing you what's involved in my morning routine, which most people won't even realize how heavily loaded a Taoist cultivation is like when it comes to Taoist magic.
Looking back at the picture on the top, do you realize that the incense is not placed in the center of the pot? Why so? There is a reason behind it! The pot is like a piece of land, and where you put the incense is like planting a tree or flower into the ground, and so where you plant this incense will change the incense's energy and its way of doing work for you. To understand this, you need to watch the lecture on the 5 directions...!
How to burn incense properly? There is a lot of variations, and many ways to burn incense, but there is always a reason behind everything we do, such as incense burning. If you are burning incense and you do not know what is going on, then it is not proper. If you are burning incense and you know what you are doing. then that is at least properly done at the base level. Incense is not "food" for any spiritual beings, it is a tool for you to communicate with the altar, and to transfer things to the altar, etc.
How often should a Taoist burn incense? Our article on the official blog already answered that! A real Taoist must burn incense every day because the altar is being fed while you do so, how can you not feed your own baby every day?
There is a lot to learn, and a lot of theories to understand, in order to really know how to decode everything in the art of incense burning. Even the way of how we hold the incense can vary in many ways. Get ordained today to start learning it yourself, and getting a real altar setup to experience the joy yourself.
