If you have the space, place the offerings a little lower than the objects of refuge on your altar. When you awaken in the morning, it is customary to wash at least your hands before approaching the altar to offer prostrations and then place new offerings. This is a sign of respect for the object represented there: one is making offerings as if one is accepting a dignitary or a great being into one's home and it is important to be gracious and respectful. To offer water on your altar, you should have a minimum of seven bowls. Start with fresh water every day. The bowls should be clean. Pour a little water into each bowl before placing it on the altar. Place the bowls in a straight line, close together but not touching. The bowls should be filled up to the space of a grain's width from the top - neither too little nor too much. Try not to breathe on the offerings. If you have a butter lamp, you can place it on your altar between the third and fourth water bowls. Lamps or candles symbolize wisdom, eliminating the darkness of ignorance. In Tibetan monasteries hundreds of lamps are lit as offerings. There is really no limit to the quantity of either water bowls or lamps.

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