The most important reason for setting up a tantric shrine is to dedicate an area for peaceful and uninterrupted daily cultivation.
One should practice before the tantric shrine at least once, and ideally twice, each day. The tantric shrine is both for personal cultivation and for making offerings to the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas.
An elaborate and solemnly adorned tantric shrine can induce joy and reverence in the practitioner, and inspire cultivation. Making offerings inside a tantric shrine is equivalent to "offering to the Triple Jewels above, and aiding the Four forms of birth below," and magnifies in subtle ways one’s fortune and wisdom.
Master Lu knows the great importance of locating the shrine in a room capable of "storing spirit and concentrated energy"; therefore, the statues of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas should be installed against a sturdy wall which has neither windows nor openings. Moderate lighting should be used.
To begin with, the main deity at the center should be one’s own personal deity, i.e., the primary focus of one’s daily cultivation. This signifies that the personal deity yoga is the main practice, and the fruition of the practice is transformation into this personal deity. Central placement of the personal deity also facilitates "visualization."
According to tradition, the number of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas in the shrine is an odd number (such as one, three, five, or seven).
The arrangement of the statues should be, in descending order, Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, Diamond Protectors, and heavenly Gods. The principal deity should be in the middle, the higher ranked among the rest should be at the right, and the lower ranked at the left. If there are numerous deities, they can be arranged into two, three, or even five separate tiers. For the object of offering, one may use statues of Buddhas or Bodhisattvas, or pictures (mandalas), or mantra wheels.
As previously mentioned, the principal statue in one’s tantric shrine should be one’s personal deity. For example, if one practices Avalokitesvara (Kuan-yin) Yoga, that should be the principal deity of the tantric shrine. If one practices Padmasambhava Yoga, then the principal deity should be Padmasambhava. A statue may be sculpted out of wood, clay, gold, or copper. Alternatively, a photograph or even a drawing of the assembly of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas may be employed.
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