What is the meaning of butter lamp offerings? We do not offer the lamps because enlightened beings need to see them. Rather, the offering of light is a means of dispelling the darkness of our own ignorance, giving rise to clarity and wisdom. We offer them with the wish that their light will illuminate the lower realms and the bardo, relieving the torment of beings who suffer in darkness. We also aspire that all beings will develop greater mental clarity in order to discover the causes of long-lasting happiness in virtuous actions of body, speech, and mind. Finally, we offer them so that the inner light of great knowing will arise in all beings' minds and remove the darkness of ignorance and intellectual obscurations.

-- Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche