Tsang and Tsaur Puja

Sang is a smoke offering, which is generally made to mountain, river, and local deities.
Sang Offering is the practice of offering fragrant smoke from herbs, incense and other specific substances.

Sur is a “smell” offering, often consisting of grains, dairy, etc. which is burnt as an offering to ghosts, spirits, and the like with whom we have karmic debts. Reciting the prayers and mantra syllables in the sur text, one purifies and consecrates the offering, sprinkles a small amount of it onto a burning coal, and sounds the tingsha (small metal cymbal-like chimes) to summon beings to partake of it. Together, the aroma and the practitioner’s motivation, visualization, and dedication of merit provide an offering that both delights enlightened beings and satisfies all ordinary beings.

In particular, sur offerings nourish those in the bardo, the intermediate state after death. These beings experience hunger and thirst but can be nourished only through their sense of smell. This practice can be done for forty-nine days after someone’s death, with emphasis on dedicating the merit of this virtuous activity for the benefit of the deceased.

The benefits: generating harmony & peace, healing & protecting physical/spiritual bodies, purifying negative karma & other obstacles, creating sacred space, clearing disruptive energies and honoring our protectors, ancestors & loved ones.