Altar in Bedroom

General discussion, particularly exploring the Dharma in the modern world.
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Dave The Seeker
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Altar in Bedroom

Post by Dave The Seeker »

I have a question about this.
As I have now finished remodeling the house my girl and the kids are home, hence I lost the room I had my altar in. Now the altar will be in our bedroom, same wall as the head of the bed, I am making a new altar. I am planning on making the sides high enough so that there will be a partition between the bed and the altar. In respect of the Buddha not "seeing" the bed, if that makes sense. I have no where else in the house to put the altar so I'm hoping this will be ok. I'd appreciate any comments from all my friends here.

Thanks

Kindest wishes, Dave
Everyday problems teach us to have a realistic attitude.
They teach us that life is what life is; flawed.
Yet with tremendous potential for joy and fulfillment.
~Lama Surya Das~

If your path teaches you to act and exert yourself correctly and leads to spiritual realizations such as love, compassion and wisdom then obviously it's worthwhile.
~Lama Thubten Yeshe~

One whose mind is freed does not argue with anyone, he does not dispute with anyone. He makes use of the conventional terms of the world without clinging to them
~The Buddha~
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PadmaVonSamba
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Re: Altar in Bedroom

Post by PadmaVonSamba »

It's stuff.
.
.
.
EMPTIFUL.
An inward outlook produces outward insight.
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Wesley1982
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Re: Altar in Bedroom

Post by Wesley1982 »

I "built" and arranged a prayer corner.
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Adamantine
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Re: Altar in Bedroom

Post by Adamantine »

Sounds like a fine plan to me...
Contentment is the ultimate wealth;
Detachment is the final happiness. ~Sri Saraha
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Dave The Seeker
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Re: Altar in Bedroom

Post by Dave The Seeker »

Thanks for the replies.
Padma, I thought that the statues and stupas, as well as the Dharma text were to be considered Holy objects that deserve respect. I take it as it is stuff, in a store until you purchase it and it has been placed in a place of respect.
But then again, that's just a new comers understanding I guess. :shrug:

Adamantine, thank you :namaste:


Kindest wishes, Dave
Everyday problems teach us to have a realistic attitude.
They teach us that life is what life is; flawed.
Yet with tremendous potential for joy and fulfillment.
~Lama Surya Das~

If your path teaches you to act and exert yourself correctly and leads to spiritual realizations such as love, compassion and wisdom then obviously it's worthwhile.
~Lama Thubten Yeshe~

One whose mind is freed does not argue with anyone, he does not dispute with anyone. He makes use of the conventional terms of the world without clinging to them
~The Buddha~
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PadmaVonSamba
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Re: Altar in Bedroom

Post by PadmaVonSamba »

The Seeker wrote:Thanks for the replies.
Padma, I thought that the statues and stupas, as well as the Dharma text were to be considered Holy objects that deserve respect. I take it as it is stuff, in a store until you purchase it and it has been placed in a place of respect.
But then again, that's just a new comers understanding I guess. :shrug:

Adamantine, thank you :namaste:


Kindest wishes, Dave
Yes, you are right.
It depends on you, what you feel about it in terms of respectfulness
:smile:
EMPTIFUL.
An inward outlook produces outward insight.
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catmoon
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Re: Altar in Bedroom

Post by catmoon »

Everyone goes at it a little differently. Some have no altar at all, some get pretty elaborate. I seem to recall Lama Zopa having a setup that occupied pretty much his whole living room, and I'm sure it was all just so.

What you describe seems just fine to me. If you have valuable books on your altar, you might consider wrapping them in cloth, especially if they are near a window. Direct sunlight can make cornflakes out of a book in a few years.
Sergeant Schultz knew everything there was to know.
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Dave The Seeker
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Re: Altar in Bedroom

Post by Dave The Seeker »

Thank you cat, and I'll bet Lama Zopa did have it just so.
As to the Dharma texts on the altar they will be wrapped in a yellow cloth, in the book I got from FPMT on setting up an altar and water bowl offerings, it says that the texts should be wrapped as such.


Kindest wishes, Dave
Everyday problems teach us to have a realistic attitude.
They teach us that life is what life is; flawed.
Yet with tremendous potential for joy and fulfillment.
~Lama Surya Das~

If your path teaches you to act and exert yourself correctly and leads to spiritual realizations such as love, compassion and wisdom then obviously it's worthwhile.
~Lama Thubten Yeshe~

One whose mind is freed does not argue with anyone, he does not dispute with anyone. He makes use of the conventional terms of the world without clinging to them
~The Buddha~
Malcolm
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Re: Altar in Bedroom

Post by Malcolm »

The Seeker wrote:Thanks for the replies.
Padma, I thought that the statues and stupas, as well as the Dharma text were to be considered Holy objects that deserve respect. I take it as it is stuff, in a store until you purchase it and it has been placed in a place of respect.
But then again, that's just a new comers understanding I guess. :shrug:

Adamantine, thank you :namaste:


Kindest wishes, Dave
You should put your alter in your living room, not in your bedroom.
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Bonsai Doug
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Re: Altar in Bedroom

Post by Bonsai Doug »

Sometimes, we don't have the opportunity to place an altar in the most advantageous spot.
My wife is a Roman Catholic, and I have taken my Refuge Vows first from a Theravadan Monk,
and again from a Tibetan Monk. We respect each others spiritual views, so I would not impose
my altar on her by setting it up in, if you will, a "public" area of our home.

So I have placed my altar in my home-office, where I also sit meditation. You just do whatever
works for you and your situation. I know a few people who do not even have the space for an
altar, and use a simple travel altar when they practice/meditate.
Now having obtained a precious human body,
I do not have the luxury of remaining on a distracted path.

~ Tibetan Book of the Dead
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PadmaVonSamba
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Re: Altar in Bedroom

Post by PadmaVonSamba »

I used to live in a one room apartment (3 if you count the tiny bathroom and kitchen), so everything was in one room. These days i also keep a shrine (altar) in a place in the house that is my personal area, rather than in the general living area, as my spouse is not a dharma person, and neither of us wants to have to explain to everybody who comes over, or cause anyone to feel uncomfortable.

Some people keep their shrines in cabinets with doors that close.
You might want to explore that option.

If you MUST engage in more 'intimate' activity, in a room where Buddha sits,
at least make sure he's got a good seat.
:woohoo:
EMPTIFUL.
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Rinchen Dorje
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Re: Altar in Bedroom

Post by Rinchen Dorje »

Namdrol,
I have heard that before from other teachers. Why is that?
"But if you know how to observe yourself, you will discover your real nature, the primordial state, the state of Guruyoga, and then all will become clear because you will have discovered everything"-Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche
Malcolm
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Re: Altar in Bedroom

Post by Malcolm »

Fa Dao wrote:Namdrol,
I have heard that before from other teachers. Why is that?

It is because people screw in their bedrooms.
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conebeckham
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Re: Altar in Bedroom

Post by conebeckham »

:rolling:
དམ་པའི་དོན་ནི་ཤེས་རབ་ཆེ་བ་དང་།
རྟོག་གེའི་ཡུལ་མིན་བླ་མའི་བྱིན་རླབས་དང་།
སྐལ་ལྡན་ལས་འཕྲོ་ཅན་གྱིས་རྟོགས་པ་སྟེ།
དེ་ནི་ཤེས་རབ་ལ་ནི་ལོ་རྟོག་སེལ།།


"Absolute Truth is not an object of analytical discourse or great discriminating wisdom,
It is realized through the blessing grace of the Guru and fortunate Karmic potential.
Like this, mistaken ideas of discriminating wisdom are clarified."
- (Kyabje Bokar Rinpoche, from his summary of "The Ocean of Definitive Meaning")
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Rinchen Dorje
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Re: Altar in Bedroom

Post by Rinchen Dorje »

yeaaaah...ok..I get that. I was just wondering why that is considered bad?
"But if you know how to observe yourself, you will discover your real nature, the primordial state, the state of Guruyoga, and then all will become clear because you will have discovered everything"-Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche
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Konchog1
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Re: Altar in Bedroom

Post by Konchog1 »

Try and get doors to your altar. If you can't, it should be fine I would think.
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-Paraphrase of Khensur Rinpoche Lobsang Tsephel citing the Guhyasamaja Tantra

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Without attachment, self-liberating, like a snake in a knot.
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Adamantine
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Re: Altar in Bedroom

Post by Adamantine »

Namdrol wrote:
Fa Dao wrote:Namdrol,
I have heard that before from other teachers. Why is that?

It is because people screw in their bedrooms.
Yeah but he said he was building a partition. . . anyway, don't Buddha's pervade space? Can we really hide our screwing from them? This kind of orthodoxy gets a bit dualistically fixated. . .
Contentment is the ultimate wealth;
Detachment is the final happiness. ~Sri Saraha
Malcolm
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Re: Altar in Bedroom

Post by Malcolm »

Fa Dao wrote:yeaaaah...ok..I get that. I was just wondering why that is considered bad?
It is considered part of sexual misconduct to screw in front of a shrine of a Buddha.
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PadmaVonSamba
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Re: Altar in Bedroom

Post by PadmaVonSamba »

If nobody had ever mentioned it to you, it wouldn't have mattered.

It's just stuff, but we impute stuff with meaning, because in our minds, some stuff is more important to us than other stuff.
If you have a dharma book, or a rupa (statue) or Buddha image or your teacher's picture, or something like this,
you have already sort of 'invested' a kind of meaning to it, a special regard for what it is.
That is the frame of mind you are using, and that frame of mind is the tool you are using.
So, there has to be some consistency in your attitude about things.
What that consistency looks like to you, is up to you.

There is nothing bad bout sex, but some people feel that, for instance, the dining room table is not an appropriate location, because we associate that space with eating food. So, it is sort of like this.

Things are relative. This reminds me of something I encountered a couple of years ago.
I was in a bookstore in Taiwan and the floor in the kids book section was raised up a little bit, and the floor was different. people took off their shoes before stepping up into that section. I asked my friend why people did this, since they were already inside the bookstore wearing shoes anyway.

He explained that this section was "inside the inside", meaning that relatively compared to that kids book section, the rest of the store was "outside". And you always take off your shoes when going from outside to inside.

So, maybe the bedroom is not the best place to set up a shrine,
but having a shrine in the bedroom is different than making out in a shrine room.
But then , getting mushy in a shrine room is different than getting shiny on a mushroom.
.
.
.
EMPTIFUL.
An inward outlook produces outward insight.
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Dave The Seeker
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Re: Altar in Bedroom

Post by Dave The Seeker »

PadmaVonSamba wrote:If nobody had ever mentioned it to you, it wouldn't have mattered.

There is nothing bad bout sex, but some people feel that, for instance, the dining room table is not an appropriate location, because we associate that space with eating food. So, it is sort of like this.

So, maybe the bedroom is not the best place to set up a shrine,
but having a shrine in the bedroom is different than making out in a shrine room.
But then , getting mushy in a shrine room is different than getting shiny on a mushroom.
.
.
.
What????? The dining room table is off limits?
And yup, mushy is different than shiny :rolling:
Thanks for your insight on this whole matter though. You've made me think about things in different aspects.
Namdrol wrote:People screw in their bedrooms
Umm if the kids ain't around then anywhere seems to work well, especially the really big comfey couch :lol:
Adamantine wrote:don't Buddha's pervade space? Can we really hide our screwing from them? This kind of orthodoxy gets a bit dualistically fixated.
Great point, thanks for mentioning that.

I'll add doors to the altar I'm making as I am still in the process of constructing it. Also I really have no other place in our house but the bedroom. My girl is not a Dharma person either, but respects what I do and I also agree that in the living room may make others feel uncomfortable.

Thanks for all the replies and some good laughs.

Kindest wishes, Dave
Everyday problems teach us to have a realistic attitude.
They teach us that life is what life is; flawed.
Yet with tremendous potential for joy and fulfillment.
~Lama Surya Das~

If your path teaches you to act and exert yourself correctly and leads to spiritual realizations such as love, compassion and wisdom then obviously it's worthwhile.
~Lama Thubten Yeshe~

One whose mind is freed does not argue with anyone, he does not dispute with anyone. He makes use of the conventional terms of the world without clinging to them
~The Buddha~
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