Just what's in those bowls?

BonsaiDoug

Okay... kind of a silly question, but I'm curious... I see photos of Monks with their begging bowls, and people kindly putting stuff in, but just what and how? Money for food? Food itself? I'd think that by the end of begging rounds all the food in the bowl would be quite a mess.

Anyone know just how begging rounds work out for the Monks?

TIA

vinlyn

In Thailand it's food. Can be almost any type. Often the food -- for example a curry -- is in a small sealed plastic bag.

blu3ree

Interesting thread!

BhanteLucky

BonsaiDoug said:

I'd think that by the end of begging rounds all the food in the bowl would be quite a mess.

Sometimes the monks make it even less appetizing by mixing and mushing it all together, so they can focus on the food as nutrition/fuel, and less as delicious sensory pleasure.

vinlyn

One of the Thai temples I used to take food to didn't have monks do the alms routine in the morning. People bought food directly to the temple and to the monk of their choice, and would usually sit with the monk and chat while he was eating. Perhaps sloppy food was one of the reasons!

Invincible_summer

BonsaiDoug said:

Okay... kind of a silly question, but I'm curious... I see photos of Monks with their begging bowls, and people kindly putting stuff in, but just what and how? Money for food? Food itself? I'd think that by the end of begging rounds all the food in the bowl would be quite a mess.

Anyone know just how begging rounds work out for the Monks?

TIA

I'm pretty sure most monks that do alms rounds (almost exclusively Theravada if I'm not mistaken) would also be forbidden from receiving or handling money, so probably no money. There may be some exceptions in this day and age though.

I've also read that monks are not allowed to look or speak to the laypeople who are offering them stuff during bindabat. The laypeople can't even touch them.

vinlyn

Invincible_summer said:

...

I've also read that monks are not allowed to look or speak to the laypeople who are offering them stuff during bindabat. The laypeople can't even touch them.

Not sure, but in most Theravada temples it is tradition for a male to hand something to a monk on behalf of a woman, and always with the right hand, usually with the forearm being held by the left hand. The other option is for the woman to place the object on a surface and then an assistant to the monk will retrieve the object.

When I have given food to the monks, we did not talk during the exchange, but did talk immediately afterward...and I was with Thai people who taught me that tradition.

lobster

It varies, I once had a meal at Chithurst monastery and the food had been cooked and provided by a gourmet chef. Extreme Yum.

Ajahn Sumedho told us the story of the monks alms round in the UK. They went to the nearest town. One monk stood outside the supermarket, begging bowl ready. The bemused shoppers were not quite sure what this placid looking baldy was up to. Looked harmless, they ignored him.
Finally a weekly shopper approached the monk and enquired. The monk explained. The bemused shopper listened and put a tin of Heinz tomato soup in the bowl. The hungry monk had food but no tin opener and no food, it was the end of the alms round.

Luckily an understanding local meditator was visited. A tin opener and saucepan was available. Soup of the Day.

vinlyn

And of course there's the famous Thai story of the monk who ate part of a finger which fell into his alms bowl when food was contributed by a leper. Of course, in recent years, more and more historians have said that story is little more than an urban legend.

BhanteLucky

I went on alms round once, with a monk in a western country.
No begging, just standing with an open bowl.
We got a lot of subway sandwiches, soda, and candy.
Not too healthy, but it was proof a mendicant monk can survive even in a county that has no tradition of monks.

It was really quite humbling.

misecmisc1

as far as what i have heard from Ajahn Brahm's dhamma talks, i would say that the laypeople provide cooked food in the begging bowl of monks of Thai Forest tradition - as monks are not allowed to even cook their own food - so at the end of alms round, all food goes into the same bowl.

lobster

as monks are not allowed to even cook their own food

or grow it . . . they might molest or sever a worm . . . and be yet more karma ridden . . . sometimes these old sanghas are overly traditional . . .

ThailandTom

I can only comment on what I have seen here in Thailand and as @vinlyn stated it is simply food. It can be pretty much anything including meat. If somebody gives them food, they will give a blessing and recite some things whilst you are on the side of the road or wherever you may be.

I was walking home one day from a spontaneous trip I took that brought me back on a train at 6am, and of course at this hour many monks were walking around. I went into a 7/11 and started talking to one after I had come outside again, I gave him a pretty cheap sandwich because I bought 2 and popped one in his bowl, if I am not mistaken it was pork but I cannot be sure now. We had a good little conversation and I went home to find my bed!

BonsaiDoug

vinlyn said:

One of the Thai temples I used to take food to didn't have monks do the alms routine in the morning. People bought food directly to the temple and to the monk of their choice, and would usually sit with the monk and chat while he was eating. Perhaps sloppy food was one of the reasons!

In all of the temples I've visited here in the USA, the sangha provides the food and the cooking for the monks; that includes the Theravada traditions.

BhanteLucky

@BonsaiDoug, just a little correction: the word "sangha" in Theravada refers to the community of monks, not the laypeople.
Sorry to correct you.
In the west we use it to refer to any buddhist community but that's not the way the monks use it.

Cinorjer

Don't forget, because of the extreme attitudes against beggars in China, Korea and Japan, the monks quickly switched to having donations brought to the temple and growing their own food instead of wandering the streets with begging bowls. So, even traditions such as this can change when circumstances force it.

vinlyn

lobster said:

as monks are not allowed to even cook their own food

or grow it . . . they might molest or sever a worm . . . and be yet more karma ridden . . . sometimes these old sanghas are overly traditional . . .

Well, not really...I've visited a number of Thai temples where the monks were gardening.

vinlyn

BonsaiDoug said:

In all of the temples I've visited here in the USA, the sangha provides the food and the cooking for the monks; that includes the Theravada traditions.

Yes, the Thai Theravada temples I've been to here -- you arrive at about 10:30 with your food, usually already cooked (although there usually appears to be a "den father" who takes care of food that is not, and prepares the plates and silverware). The monks usually eat at 11, and then at noon or so, if there is leftover food, the laity eat.

BonsaiDoug

JamestheGiant said:

@BonsaiDoug, Sorry to correct you

No problem. Good to know. :thumbsup: