Burning Buddhist Incense In A Non-Buddhist Place Of Residence

[webworldly]

Hi. :-)

For a few years I have been purchasing and burning a particular kind of incense inside my condo. This incense is sold at Foodland alongside what I believe are Buddhism related items. I am not Buddhist.

At my condo, I receive frequent visits from Thai people. I do not know if they are Buddhists, but the odds favor that at least one would be. By burning this particular type of incense, is it likely that I am in any way offending my Thai visitors? I would never have thought the answer to be "yes".....until I typed the question here and read it, at which point I sure do see why my incense burning behavior may be misguided.

Thank you for your reply.

CHEERS!

D

[cdnvic]

I think you will be fine. Thais aren't really the type to go out of their way to find offence where none is intended. In all likelihood they won't even notice.

[TommoPhysicist]

It's not a problem, but why not buy a small Buddha statue, place it on top of the highest shelf and burn the incense anywhere in front of it. That way you can gain yourself some merit at the same time. Belief level (if any) not important, you still earn the merit.

Edited December 24, 2012 by TommoPhysicist

[bina]

just burn three at a time and not one piece as that is for dead people... hubby weis before he lights incense even if he lights it for scenting the house (after cooking sometimes... )... there is no budhist incense, however, there is insense (sorry cant remember how to spell it) that is more identified (by smell) as being used in wats, as opposed to all the wierd scented ones that are used in the west (strawberry or kiwi scented), mostly sandalwood/jasmine and some other ones ....

[webworldly]

Hey cdnvic, TommoPhysicist, bina.......thanks to each of you. This issue was really weighing on my thoughts today, but I feel better now after reading your replies. :-)

CHEERS!

D

[Jawnie]

There are different types of incense for different purposes. If you are buying yours at a supermarket, it's general, all-purpose incense. Seems to me that it's your condo so you should be able to do what you wish. I doubt any Thais would or should be offended by it. It's not necessary to whei when you light incense but you certainly can like a lot of Thais do - whether you whei or not, or do something more elaborate depends on the reason you are burning the incense.

[bankei]

Incense isn't a BUddhist practice, it is just a practice that Buddhists do.

[Brucenkhamen]

I used to do this but always got a negative reaction from Thais, many of them say "pii" and I'm not sure whether they thought it would attract ghosts or should only be done at funerals, my wife would definately kick my butt if I did it now but I think that's mostly about her sensitivity to smoke.

[ChrisB87]

Some may feel uneasy if you believe it invites ghosts.