The memorial tablet is a shared skill in both Han and Tibetan Buddhist rites—using the departed’s name to set a place, so dedication has a focus and longing a resting point. In the Nyingma ritual the tablet is no idol but a "focus of dependent arising": you give the name, the lama consecrates it before the maṇḍala, solemnly entrusting your intention to the lineage.

Many wish to make merit for a distant loved one over the long term, yet cannot often travel to a monastery. Setting a tablet gives that ongoing dedication a steady anchor.

• **Focused dedication.** The tablet directs each ceremony’s merit precisely to the one you name.
• **Lasting steadiness.** While the tablet is consecrated, the lama regularly practices for the dead—not a one-time effect.
• **A resting place for longing.** Knowing the loved one "has a seat before the maṇḍala" brings the living a measure of calm.

Online memorial-tablet ceremony follows the Nyingma tradition:

• **Writing and consecrating.** You provide the name and birth (or memorial) date; the lama writes it properly and sets the liberation tablet before the maṇḍala.
• **Regular practice.** While the tablet is set, the lama recites, mantras, and makes smoke offering on schedule, dedicating to the dead.
• **Final dedication.** At term’s end or on the memorial day, a full dedication is made, that the dead be free of suffering.
• **Record.** Records are provided at each stage and at completion as witness.

You need not be present—the tablet keeps your thought before the maṇḍala in your stead.