Practices of Veneration and Offering

Abstract This chapter explores Buddhist practices of veneration and offerings. In focusing on the three jewels or gems, the author looks at how the Buddha, the teachings (Dharma), and the monastic community (sangha) are venerated across multiple traditions in Asia through practices of giving and paying homage. It also explores pilgrimage as a form of veneration, as well as the role that emotions and aesthetics play in the process. Finally, drawing on his own research on Malaysian Buddhism, the author uses the Buddhist celebration of Vesak to examine how practices of veneration and offerings may be used as a process of identity formation in a globalized, modern nation-state.