In the past, people worshipped a Buddha image whenever they were blessed or punished by Heaven and Earth, by their parents, by their brethren or by law. But this practice should not be followed, because all beings in the universe are incarnations of Dharma-kaya Buddha and everywhere one looks one sees incarnations of Truth-Buddha, while everything one does can be considered an offering of worship to Buddha. The actual and successful method of offering worship to Buddha is to be practiced by worshipping Heaven and Earth, when we are being blessed or punished by Heaven and Earth, by worshipping our parents when we are being blessed or punished by them, by worshipping our brethren when we are blessed or punished by them, and by worshipping the law when we are being blessed or punished by it.
As for the period during which one should offer worship to Buddha, to continually offer worship as has been done in the past is improper. Depending on the kind of worship being offered, and in order to make the offering effective, some forms of offering should be practiced for several thousands or millions of lives, while others should be practiced for several decades or for several months or days, while only certain offerings will be effective if practiced for only a short time. Our offerings to Buddha will be realistic and successful when they are practiced for the proper length of time, depending on the results that we wish the offering to achieve.