Services - KKBC

Consecration of Buddha Statues

Green Tara Statue

The consecration ceremony first purifies an image in order to make it suitable for habitation by the Buddha or other deity involved. Then it invests the statue with the power and presence of that deity. Unless it has been consecrated, a statue is not considered suitable for use in religious practices.

The consecration ceremony can only be performed by a fully qualified person considered knowledgeable and proficient in all the ritual activities that need to be done; he must be stable, calm, wise, patient, honest, and without pretensions and must have received the required initiations and teachings. The deity is invited to the statue through the power of meditation, the potency of the ritual, and the devotion of the ceremony's hosts. After being invited, a deity is drawn into the statue to be consecrated, and its presence is sealed by the procedures of the ritual. The ceremony can be performed either in a monastery or in a layperson's home. It is repeated, when circumstances allow, once a year. After consecration the image must be kept clean and the spirit of consecration kept alive through the religious study and practice of those around it (Sharpa Tulku and Perrott 1985).

The ritual can be used to consecrate any representation of the Buddha's body, speech, and mind. The Buddha's body is most often represented by statues or paintings, speech by scriptures, and enlightened mind by a stupa (choten). [Extract from JAIC 1991, Volume 30, Number 1, Article 3 (pp. 13 to 34)]

In KKBC, only metal images are accepted for consecration. A qualified lama will help to perform this service. Rinpoche will bless the statues after consecration if he is available. Materials such as incense, medicinal or purifying plants such as saffron are used in consecration, as well as relevant scriptures for the particular statue being consecrated. These incur expense and the consecration therefore needs to be paid for.

The prices for this services are detailed below:

Height of Statue	Fee for Members	Fee for Non-members
6 inches and below	$45	$60
7 to 9 inches	$60	$75
10 to 12 inches	$75	$90
13 to 15 inches	$90	$105
16 to 18 inches	$105	$120
19 inches and above	$8 per inch	$12 per inch