Mountain Smoke Offering – Riwo Sangcho རི་བོ་བསང་མཆོད
Riwo Sangcho or literally ‘Mountain Smoke Offering རི་བོ་བསང་མཆོད ’, is a terma that was hidden by Guru Rinpoche and revealed in the seventeenth century. It is the most famous practice of sang offering in Bhutan Buddhism.
Riwo Sang Cho practice is a mind-treasure or space message hidden in basic space almost 1,000 years ago by the legendary enlightened being, Padmasambhava (Guru Rinpoche). Today, Bhutan practitioners of almost all lineages revere this ritual for its profound blessings and rapid effectiveness in generating peace, harmony, fulfillment of all wishes and generation of deeply permeating blessings and realization wherever it is performed.
From the many ways, elaborate or condensed, of doing this practice, Dudjom Rinpoche composed an abbreviated version for daily practice, this is what is followed by the Rigpa sangha.
The actual practice involves the making of a fire; anything from a large fire to a few discs of charcoal. As in all Vajrayana rituals—the highest level of Tibetan spiritual practice—the practitioner abandons his/her normal form and takes on a light-body identity that represents enlightened form, sound and mind. Many special offering substances are then offered in the sacred fire. Through the use of special mantras (sacred sound vibrations) the offerings are increased and transported by the smoke and dedicated to the four classes of guests in order to accumulate vast merit, remove hindrances to enlightenment and generate limitless blessings.