The Land of Medicine Buddha is full of paths and trails to run or walk during our break each day. If you pay attention as you go, it is not uncommon to see interesting statues and iconography along the path. Sometimes there is something placed before the statue as an ‘offering’, as in the photograph above. My mother being Japanese, and having trained in Zen, I am most familiar with the Japanese expression of Buddhism where it is customary to burn incense before a statue of the Buddha as an offering. However, I have never heard of offering cash or trinkets before the Buddha as in the photo above. This made me curious. Is this is customary in other branches of Buddhism? Or, is this simply the spontaneous action of people passing by hoping to garner a little good karma?
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