Buddhism is not a religion based on rituals and ceremonies and when they exist, they appear more created by the local traditions of the Countries where Buddhism has spread.

So, also an official "Buddhist marriage" doesn't exist, if considered as an union between a man and a woman with a religious value of sacrament, with a commitment in front of God, because Buddhism is not based on the cult of one or more gods, like the monotheist religions and the Hinduism.

For the Buddhists, the marriage is a reciprocal commitment of love, respect and careful attention to the need of the partner and it's only based on the moral.

Ceremonies with a clearer Buddhist character exist for funerals (as reported in the article I wrote on the topic "Introduction to Buddhist funeral rites", about Thailandese and Japanese Buddhist funerals), because death involves the problem of reincarnation and the local Buddhist populations adopt particular rituals hoping to help the soul of the dead to have an easy and better reincarnation.

Instead, the marriage is not seen by the Buddhists as a so important passage moment, but only as a particular moment of life.
The couple frequently gets married with a civil rite, even though many couples ask to a Buddhist monk to give them his blessing but also this solution is not obligatory.
So, the Buddhist marriage becomes a simple ceremony in which the couple involves their relatives and friends.
The ceremony takes place in front of an altar with an image of the Buddha.
The couple, together with those present, recites the Vandana ("homage"), the Trisarana ("triple shelter") and the Panchasila ("five precepts"), lights up candles and incense sticks and offers flowers to the Buddha image.

In Japan, where the Zen Buddhist school is very diffused, we even find that the same Buddhists, like the Shintoists, still adopt just the Shintoist ritual for their marriages, because more lively and amusing.

Also the rules about the marriage life are left to the local traditions and to the good sense.

Learn more about this author, Aldo Bonincontro.
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