The burning of incense is generally practiced as a ritual of offering. Every morning at sunrise, billows of smoke ensue in front of every Bhutanese village house to mark the offering of incense and smoke. In all temples and shrine rooms, incense is also burnt regularly in specially designed censers and incense stick holders.

Smoke from burning incense and fresh branches also mark the reception of holy and important persons and a sacred ceremony. A ceremonial procession is led by a person bearing a censer with fragrant incense.

Incense-smoke is not only an offering of fragrant smell but it forms a medium for visualization of a much greater and multifarious offering. The incense and other substance to be burnt are first purified through a deep meditative dissolution into the state of Emptiness. Then, the billows of smoke, which illusorily arise from the expanse of Emptiness, are transformed through a meditative projection into immeasurable clouds of wonderful items of offering.

The clouds of offering are then multiplied to cover the entire universe and presented to the various objects of veneration and offering. Buddhist literature classifies the recipients of the offering into four categories of guests:

1. The enlightened beings such as the Buddhas who are objects of veneration.

2. The celestial deities such as the dharma protectors who possess noble qualities.

3. The sentient beings of six realms, who are suffering in the cycle of existence and thus worthy of compassion.

4. The evil spirits who cause harm to people in order to repay the negative karmic debt accumulated in the previous lifetimes.

The incense smoke is visualized as innumerable kinds of congenial items of enjoyment and presented to these recipients in whatever forms and shapes they wish to have. The offering of incense-smoke is thus an exercise of charity and meditative visualization.

Used with permission from http://nadopoizokhang.com