Alms Round

Right now I'm on a website called Jetstar. I'm finding too many SEAsian flights under US$50. It's too hard. How on earth is a person supposed to continue functionning when they can go EVERYWHERE for so CHEAPLY? How can a person concentrate? How can a person breathe? (Then again, "The airline does not guarantee that it will be able to carry you and your Baggage in accordance with the date and time of the flights specified. Schedules may change and flights may be delayed or cancelled for a range of reasons including but not limited to bad weather, air traffic control delays, strikes, technical disruptions, network changes and late inbound aircraft (refer to section 8.1 of the Conditions of Carriage for more information)." HAH! Accident waiting to happen. I'm in.)

The following is a bit that I wrote yesterday (March 11) but didn't get to post at that time.



Today was the Alms Round in Bao Loc. Anyone need back story? In the time of the Buddha, all monks and nuns had one meal per day, and it was food gathered by begging local villagers for donations. A few Buddhist traditions still operate this way. However, it is customary to have a celebratory Alms Round every so often, where the monks and nuns carry their bowls around town collecting food in great abundance, later giving most of it to poor and needy families in the area.

Line of nuns

The Alms round today, led by Thay in a black highlander (The Buddha-mobile), was just crazy! 2,000 monks and nuns, walking the streets in a line being mobbed by old women, children, and families with toothpaste, medicine, sweet treats, yoghurt, fruit, the traditional 'rice wrapped in a banana leaf with seasame salt.' It was so powerful and jubilant!

The throng of people, the monks inside

The Western lay delegation stood on the sidelines with the Vietnamese locals, we helped to collect the unbelievable excess of food from the monks and nuns who passed and stuff it in army sacks for later donations.

The crowd

We also played with small children and had our pictures taken by the locals. They love taking our picture. My friends Brant and Ray are both 6'4'' -- they're GIANTS here in Asia. People are always running up to them and measuring themselves. They wave their palms over their heads and match them up with the middle of Brant's forearm. It's pretty hilarious, how novel they become.

Big Brant, little baby.

Baby monks on parade, little tiny children giving donations in order to "collect merit." Fantastic.

Hello, baby monk.

At the end of the day, we met at Ao Quang temple to eat together, the monastics, the Western lay delegation, and a delegation of monks and nuns from Korea!! They're passing through to say "Hey" to Thay! He spoke to them in Korean! I'm sorry, the little Korean in me just died.

Thay!

-- End yesterday, re-commence real time --

We've had lots of free time at home/the hotel because of monastic-only events at the monastery. HOT, sleepy, lots of ice cream and fruit, chocolate, a wonderful book, card games, fortune telling, goofy stories. It's been really lovely, lots of time with people (relatively) close to my own age and happy to be here. However, most of them are leaving on Wednesday or Thursday. And then I start all over, making friends. It's really a downer.

But I have made friends! And we will find each other on the path, someday.

Anyway, it's dinner time, I gotta get a move on. Making travel plans! Info to come.

Until Next Time, smile.