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At Chinese Buddhist temples, offering three sticks of incense is a way to honor the Three Jewels: the Buddha, his teachings, and the community that carries them on. Do you need three sticks for your first visit? You can go empty-handed. If the temple offers you three sticks, use those three. If it offers one, one is enough. Some temples ask you simply to put your palms together in prayer.
What the three sticks mean at Xiyuan Temple in Suzhou
Ahead of Lunar New Year in 2022, Xiyuan Temple described how monks and volunteers would greet worshippers with three sticks of incense. The temple asked visitors to leave bundles and extra-long sticks outside. If you arrived for the festival, the three sticks handed to you at the entrance were all you needed. [1]
Why three? The temple gives two answers. The first has to do with whom you honor. In Buddhist terms, the Three Jewels are the Buddha, the Dharma (his teachings), and the Sangha (the monastic community that practices and passes on those teachings). Offering the sticks together is a way to pay your respects to all three in a single gesture.
The second answer has to do with how you live. Xiyuan connects the three sticks with three forms of Buddhist training: ethical conduct, concentration, and wisdom. In everyday terms, that means taking care with what you say and do, learning to steady a wandering mind, and developing sound judgment. Understood that way, the offering is a reminder you take home with you. Adding a handful of extra sticks does nothing to deepen it.
If incense is burning at Taipei’s Lungshan Temple, should I light some too?
At Lungshan Temple, you may see smoke rising from the incense burner dedicated to Guanyin even though visitors are asked to pray with their palms together. The temple’s 2020 notice explains how the custom changed. Worshippers once offered a total of 21 sticks across seven burners. Over time, that came down to one stick at one burner. From March 13, 2020, the temple stopped handing out incense and asked visitors to leave their own sticks at home. Temple staff continued to offer incense daily at the Guanyin burner. [2]
That explains the apparent contradiction when you stand in front of the burner. The smoke comes from an offering made by temple staff. As a visitor, you can put your palms together and say your prayer, even with smoke rising in front of you.
Should you buy incense outside the gate?
I’d go inside first. Look for the place where incense is handed out and the signs showing where visitors can offer it. Even at a temple that gives you three sticks, you needn’t buy three more for every hall. At Xiyuan, three sticks made up a complete offering. At Lungshan, the same temple changed its practice over time. If you’re visiting somewhere new and the signs leave you wondering, ask a volunteer, “Should I light incense here, or just put my palms together?” That tells you more than counting the sticks in someone else’s hand.
Sources & notes
These two temples describe their own incense customs in Chinese.
- Three sticks of incense for Lunar New YearXiyuan Temple, Suzhou
The temple explains the Three Jewels and the three trainings, and describes the sticks offered to festival visitors.
- Visitor notice on incense offeringsLungshan Temple, Taipei
The temple traces its change from seven burners to one and explains who tends the Guanyin burner.
Quiet Xiang Editorial conducted an internal source review of the two temple notices. The illustration shows the Three Jewels. Our editorial approach.