traditionally burn clarified yak butter, but now often use vegetable or vegetable ghee. Each morning Tibetan Buddhists
offer butter lamps to represent the illumination of wisdom, along with 7 offering bowls
containing pure water(or symbolic offerings of washing water,drinking water,flowers,scent,perfumed water,food and sound) before the images on their household shrine. The butter lamp is usually placed between the fourth and the fifth bowls. At funeral ceremonies or when visiting temples and going on pilgrimage to sacred sites, Tibetan Buddhists
often light a large number of butter lamps together at one time.
The butter lamps help to focus the mind and aid meditation. According to the Root Tantra of Chakrasamvara, "If you
wish for sublime realisation, offer hundreds of lights". Pilgrims also supply lamp oil to gain merit. The monks in the
monastery manage the actual lamps, taking extreme care to avoid starting one of the devastating fires which many
monasteries fires which have damage any monasteries over the years. For safety, butter lamps are sometimes
restricted to a separate courtyard enclosure with a stone floor.