Heart sutra obstacle-clearing puja

I rearranged my bedroom's furniture and repacked my stuff today. I have the habit of shifting my furniture around sometime. I do not like a "fixed" look for too long, and most importantly, I must feel good with the arrangement, else I will shift the items till I am satisfied and if I have a good sleep as well. I love weekends, because it's the only time I can rest and relax.

In the evening I went Drophenling for the Heart Sutra obstacle-clearing puja. No one is obstacle-free all the time, hence it's good to go for this puja, whether you are facing any obstacles or not at the moment. The 12 monks and Geshela conducted this special puja. As usual, before the prayers started, I offered light to Buddha, as well as wrote on the small card to dedicate the merit of the puja to whoever I wished to. I normally scribbled down those names of people, family and friends close to me. In addition, today I put down the name of an uncle who has just passed away from cancer to have a good rebirth, and another cousin who has been possessed by the supernatural, to be able to rid the forces asap.

For this puja, we needed to bring a worn tshirt and some coins, and we had to bite half a piece of biscuit for this ritual. The worn tshirt symbolises our obstacles and whatever bad karmic debts we have accumulated in the past and present life, because it has our energy (an alternative to the tshirt, is the cutting a few strands of our hair). Before the prayers, we were given a small piece of dough, which we could rub on any part of our body which was having pain, or we could visualise our problems and obstacles being absorbed into the dough. Then by blowing onto the dough, our bad energy was purged out of us,into the dough. All these with our visualisation. All the items: tshirt, dough, biscuits, coins were then presented on the altar of Buddha Shakyamuni and through the lamas' prayers, they helped us pray to Shakyamuni Buddha with the Heart Sutra sadhana, and also with the huge offerings of torma etc..

Yes, it felt good after the puja. Tayatha Om Gate Gate Para Gate, Parasamgate Bodhi Soha!