On several occasions, I have been asked about doing the Thrice Yearning Ceremony in one's own home. Having received another email about this, I though it might be helpful to post an entry on it here. I asked a senior monastic who had been Venerable Master Chin Kung's secretary for several years to address the question as follows.
About Thrice Yearning Ceremony, it is a matter of sincerity. I once heard a layperson ask Teacher a question about the Thrice Yearning Ceremony.
Question: If where we live, there are no Buddhist temples conducting the Thrice Yearning Ceremony, is it appropriate that laypeople practice the ceremony in their homes by following a DVD of the ceremony?
Answer: Yes, it is said in Buddhism that sincerity makes everything possible. If you practice it with sincerity, you will receive a wonderful response. When you dedicate merits to someone, he or she can truly receive benefit from your practice.
Of course, we will suggest layperson practice the Thrice Yearning Ceremony at a Buddhist temple or center. But if there are no centers conducting the ceremony and they feel the need to practice it to dedicate merits to someone, they can do it by reading or following the DVD. They need to do it sincerely enough to make sure those beings can benefit from their practice.
If you invite them to join the ceremony, yet those beings receive nothing from your practice. They will feel unhappy and cause trouble for you.
If people want to practice the Thrice Yearning Ceremony as their personal practice, I suggest they do it simply by reading. When they read the first session of the ceremony, they must skip food offering mantra, water offering mantra, and universal offering mantra, and read only the rebirth mantra (read 7 times). Because if you read those offering mantras, you must prepare the food. You must make sure they have enough food, otherwise, those beings will not leave. When you offer packaged or canned food, you must open the package or the can. Make sure those beings can suck or inhale the smell of the food.
Therefore, it is a matter of sincerity. If, with the mind truly wanting to benefit those beings we do the ceremony wholeheartedly and sincerely, and they really benefit from our practice then we can do it in our home.
If we do it with too many wandering thoughts and worries, then it is better not to do it at home. For our practice will bring benefit to none.