How Do We Go About Decorating the Sacred Shrine?

There are a lot of differences amongst the four types of Mandala. Described below is the arrangement of the sacred shrine at the True Buddha Tantric Quarter. At the center of the wall hangs a mandala picture of Buddha Shakyamuni, accompanied by the mandala of Bodhisattva Maitreya and Thousand-Armed Avalokitesvara on both sides respectively.

Statues: the center icon is Amitabha Buddha (porcelain make), the right Jade Pond Golden-mother (wooden craft) and the left Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara (wooden craft). Other statues include Guru Padmasambhava, Ksitigarbha, Achala, Four-Armed Kuan Yin, Cundi Mother-Buddha... these are placed below Amitabha Buddha, and arranged in order.

A stupa is placed on the right side of the altar, within which are two vajra relics and four other relics.
A rice mandala and some scriptures are placed on the left.
In front of the Buddhas and the Bodhisattvas are the Five-Offerings, which could otherwise be Eight-Offerings, or Thirty-Seven-Offerings.
The Five-Offerings are flower, incense, lamp, tea, and fruit; the lamp may be replaced by a candle.
The Eight-Offerings, from right to left are conch, fruit, fragrance (incense powder), candle, unlit incense (three sticks), and plain water. The offerings must be contained in clean vessels or bowls. The eight items of offerings in the True Buddha Sacred Shrine are arranged into two rows:
the upper row is offered to the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, and the lower row the root-deity. The significance of the Eight-Offerings are as follows:

Two types of water: Merit water

Incense: Observing the precepts

Fruit: Meditation

Conch: Wish-fulfilling

Flower: Offering

Candle: Endurance

Fragrance: Diligence

Ever-lit lamps must be installed in the sacred shrine. In front of the altar is a table, on top of which are the incensory and implements. This is roughly how the True Buddha Sacred Shrine is decorated. Apart from this, colorful banners, canopies and hattha are also used for decoration to increase the solemnity of the shrine.

Which should be the main image of worship in a sacred shrine?

The main image is the one which is placed in the center of the sacred shrine. This varies, based on individuals. In the opinion of Living Buddha Lian-Sheng, it is best that you place your root-deity in the center, whom you emulate daily (the one closest to your heart). There are two reasons for this: our personal cultivation aims to achieve enlightenment and transformation into our root-deity one day. The root-deity is placed in the center in order to facilitate our visualization.

In addition, it is better to have an odd number of images, e.g. one, three, five, seven etc.; for an odd number will give rise naturally to a central image. Another explanation is that odd signifies positivity, and even negativity. Moreover, odd numbers give a better presentation than an even number of images. (Note: "images" do not include pictures).

The order of arrangement should be from high to low in terms of the level of enlightenment: from Buddha to Bodhisattva, to Vajra and god. The main image will always occupy the central position, the next important images of the right, and the less on the left. If there are too many images, they could be arranged into two tiers, three tiers, or even five.