Offering Food to the Monks

About Offerings

Details of breakfast & lunch dāna, how we offer food & allowable requisites.






HOW SHOULD WE OFFER FOOD?

(Extracted from the article "How to Interact Respectfully with Bhikkhus - Basic Etiquette in Theravāda Buddhism")


1. One should not offer food to bhikkhus after noon time. This is because bhikkhus have to abide by the precept to refrain from eating at the disallowed hours (ie. after noon till the break of dawn). Bhikkhus are also not allowed to store their food. Hence, one should offer food to bhikkhus during the period of time that they are allowed to take their meals ie from break of dawn till the time of the midday sun. However, there is no time restriction to the offering of medicine.
      The Buddha had laid down rules for the bhikkhus, such that bhikkhus are not allowed to partake any food not offered in the proper manner to bhikkhus. Therefore while performing dana, one should stand or kneel before a bhikkhu within reachable distance of his arm, meaning one should avoid standing/kneeling too far away; he could then place the food into the bhikkhu's hands, alms bowl or plate.


2. In accordance to the Vinaya (precepts), after a bhikkhu has eaten and turned down further food offerings, he is not allowed to partake food that is not leftover. As such, when offering food, please do not ask whether the bhikkhu "wants or doesn't want" food, or whether he has "had sufficient" food.
      If one were to hold food in his hands with the intention of offering to a bhikkhu, but notice that the bhikkhu did not respond, or if the bhikkhu were to cover his alms bowl, then one should not be insistent in making the offering.


3. When offering fruits or vegetables containing seeds (ie. plants with the residual potential to grow), such food needs to be made allowable first. The bhikkhu would hand the fruits and vegetables to the offerer, and say to him thus: "Kappiyaṃ karohi", meaning "Make this allowable”. The person should then reply “Kappiyaṃ, bhante", meaning "Venerable Sir, (this is) allowable".

There are five methods of making allowable such food, namely:

Point to note:

All food to be made allowable should be in contact with one another, or linked by contact. By making allowable one of the fruits/vegetables, the rest of the fruits/vegetables on the same plate will then be considered to have been made allowable together. After this, one can then offer the fruits/vegetables by hand to the bhikkhu.


OFFERING OF REQUISITES

(Extracted from the article "How to Interact Respectfully with Bhikkhus - Basic Etiquette in Theravāda Buddhism")


ALLOWABLE REQUISITES

Theravāda Sangha members can only accept offerings of allowable requisites (such as robes, food and drinks, medicine, and daily necessities.) They cannot accept and possess money in any form (such as in the form of cash, "ang baos" (red packets), cheques, credit cards etc). If a bhikkhu were to accept monetary offerings, he would be considered to have transgressed his precepts. One should also not offer inappropriate items such as cigarettes, liquor, disallowed meat, cosmetics, weapons, gold, silver and precious stones.


HOW TO OFFER ALLOWABLE REQUISITES
Bhikkhus cannot request for any items from any lay person (except blood relatives) who have not initiated his or her invitation for offerings (the exception being a bhikkhu who is ill and is requesting for offering of medications). If one is keen to make offerings but is uncertain about what a bhikkhu requires, he could invite the bhikkhu and ask if he (the bhikkhu) needs any allowable requisites.

Alternatively, he could seek help from the bhikkhu's kappiya (attendant). As the kappiya would have a better idea of what requisites the bhikkhu requires, the donor could seek his assistance in arranging (purchasing) allowable requisites to offer to the bhikkhu. After the donor has passed the money to the kappiya, he would need to extend a verbal or written invitation to the bhikkhu, stating thus:

How to offer Allowable Requisites to the bhikkhu


Note: 

If you know who is the kappiya (kappiyakāraka) of the bhikkhu, please mention the name in the ............. (kappiya’s name). If you don't know who is the kappiya of the bhikkhu, then please ask the bhikkhu first ''Who is your kappiya?'' and mention this name in the ............. (kappiya’s name). (The bhikkhu must answer only the name of his kappiya: must not say ''to give to whom''.)


Sayadaw/Bhante,

I/We wish to offer bhante allowable requisites to the value of $xxx. If you need any allowable requisites, please request them from your kappiya ........................ (kappiya’s name).


(*The centre would collect the money for purchasing of bhikkhu's requisites on behalf of the kappiya and the kappiya will extend the verbal invitation to the bhikkhu regularly with the cumulated amount)


If both the donor and the kappiya failed to extend the invitation to the bhikkhu, then the bhikkhu could not request for any items even if he has a need. In such a circumstance, both the bhikkhu and the donor would not benefit from the arrangement.



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Offering Food To Monks


A Bhikkhu in this Dhamma-vinaya abstains from accepting gold and silver. He abstains from accepting uncooked grain. He abstains from accepting and eating raw meat. He abstains from eating ten types of unallowable meat.


Uncooked grains:


The Vibhanga defines this as seven types of uncooked grain, but there is disagreement on the identity of some of the seven. They are sali (BD translates this as rice; the Thais, wheat); vihi (BD again has rice, and the Thais agree); yava (BD has barley; the Thais, glutinous rice or sticky rice); godhuma (BD has wheat; the Thais, tares); kangu (both BD and the Thais identify this as millet or sorghum); varaka (BD doesn't identify this beyond saying that it is a bean; the Thais are probably right in identifying it as Job's tears); and kudrusaka (the Commentary states that this term covers all forms of grain that come from grass -- rye would be an example in the West).


Raw meat:


Bhikkhus are not allowed to eat the flesh of any biped, quadriped, or any animal living in the water or sea such as fish, crab, shrimp and shell if raw or not well done cooked. Thus bhikkhus may not eat steak tartare, sashami, oysters on the half-shell, etc. This includes soft boiled eggs, sunny side up or medium fry eggs, pickled fish, salted crab, shrimp paste etc. Raw flesh and blood are allowed at Mv.VI.10.2 only when a Bhikkhu is possessed by non-human beings. Furthermore, even cooked fish or meat of an allowable kind is unallowable if the bhikkhu sees, hears, or suspects that the animal was killed specifically for the purpose of feeding bhikkhus (Mv.VI.31.14).


Ten types of unallowable meat:

The following types of meat are unallowable: the flesh of human beings, elephants, horses, dogs, snakes, lions, tigers, leopards, bears, and hyenas (panthers). Human beings, horses, and elephants were regarded as too noble to be used as food. The other types of meat were forbidden either on grounds that they were repulsive ("People were offended and annoyed and spread it about, 'How can these Sakyan contemplatives eat dog meat? Dogs are loathsome, disgusting'") or dangerous (bhikkhus, smelling of lion's flesh, went into the jungle; the lions there were offended and annoyed and attacked them).


To eat human flesh entails a thullaccaya; to eat any of the other unallowable types, a dukkata (Mv.VI.23.9-15). If a bhikkhu is uncertain as to the identity of any meat presented to him, he incurs a dukkata if he doesn't ask the donor what it is (Mv.VI.23.9).

Source: Ven. Thanissaro Bhikkhu

http://www.nku.edu/~kenneyr/Buddhism/…/modern/bmc/ch8-4.html

https://goo.gl/MGrZTh_



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Offering Cooked Allowable Food To Monks

Bhikkhus in this Dhamma-vinaya are not allowed to cook. They also abstain from accepting uncooked grains and raw meat. The Commentary says that they should not touch them even. Some bhikkhu does not eat food which contains meat at all even though it is cooked, allowable kind.


Vinaya...


Now at that time Vesālī was well off for food, crops were good, almsfood was easy to obtain, and it was easy to keep oneself going by gleaning and by favour. Then as the Lord was meditating in seclusion a reasoning arose in his mind thus: “Those things which were allowed by me to monks when food was scarce, crops bad, and almsfood difficult to obtain: what was cured indoors, cooked indoors, cooked by oneself; receiving (formally) what was picked up; what was taken back from there; what was accepted before a meal; what grows in a wood, what grows in a lotus-tank—do the monks still make use of these things today?”


Then the Lord, arising from his meditation towards evening, addressed the venerable Ānanda, saying: “Those things which were allowed by me to monks when food was scarce … do the monks still make use of these things today?”


“They make use of them, Lord.”


Then the Lord on this occasion, in this connection, having given reasoned talk, addressed the monks, saying: “Those things, monks, allowed by me to monks when food was scarce, crops bad and almsfood difficult to obtain: what was cured indoors … what grows in a lotus-tank—these things I object to from this day forth. Monks you should not make use of what is cured indoors, cooked indoors, cooked by yourselves; of (formally) receiving what is picked up (by you). Whoever should make use of (any of these things), there is an offence of wrong-doing.


Nor should you, monks, having eaten, being satisfied, make use of food that is not left over if it is brought back from there; if it is accepted before a meal; if it grows in a wood, grows in a lotus-tank. Whoever should make use of (any of these things) should be dealt with according to the rule.”

https://suttacentral.net/en/pi-tv-kd6



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In Samaññaphala Sutta, the Buddha says: "a bhikkhu in this Dhamma-vinaya abstains from consuming stored-up goods such as these — stored-up food, stored-up drinks, stored-up clothing, stored-up vehicles, stored-up bedding, stored-up scents, and stored-up meat. This is part of his virtue."

The Story of Venerable Belaṭṭhasīsa 🍚

...at Sāvatthī in the Jeta Grove in Anāthapiṇḍika’s monastery. Now at that time the venerable Belaṭṭhasīsa, the preceptor of the venerable Ānanda, was staying in the jungle. He, having walked for alms-food, having conveyed boiled rice to the monastery, having had it dried, laid it aside; when he came to need it for food, then moistening it with water, he ate it; after a long time he entered the village for alms-food. Monks spoke thus to the venerable Belaṭṭhasīsa: “How is it that you, your reverence, after a long time enter the village for alms-food?” Then the venerable Belaṭṭhasīsa told this matter to the monks. They said:

“But do you, your reverence, eat a meal that was stored?”

“Yes, your reverences.” Those who were modest monks (..told the Buddha the matter)…

“Is it true, as is said, that you, Belaṭṭhasīsa, ate a meal that was stored?”

“It is true, lord.”

The enlightened one, the lord, rebuked him, saying:

“How can you, Belaṭṭhasīsa, eat a meal that was stored? It is not, Belaṭṭhasīsa, for pleasing those who are not (yet) pleased … And thus, monks, this rule of training should be set forth:

“Whatever monk should eat or partake of solid food or soft food (staple or non-staple food) that was stored**, there is an offence of expiation.”

If he accepts it, saying, “I will eat, I will partake of,” there is an offence of wrong-doing. For every mouthful there is an offence of expiation.

**Stored means: accepted today, it becomes eaten the next day. (Note: A bhikkhu is also not allowed to consume any staple or non-staple food after 12:00 p.m.) https://suttacentral.net/en/pi-tv-bu-vb-pc38

The Four Classes of Edibles in Brief

( Please see the explanation in details at 

http://www.nku.edu/~kenneyr/Buddhism/…/modern/bmc/ch8-4.html )

1. Food - staple and non-staple

The five categories of staple food are 1) cooked grains, 2) a staple confection made out of yava that could form a rudimentary meal in and of itself and would spoil if left overnight, 3) grains dried or roasted and pounded into meal, 4) the flesh of any animal living in the sea which is cooked, and 5) the flesh of any allowable biped or quadriped which is cooked.

🍳 Eggs are not mentioned in the Vibhanga or Khandhakas. Presumably they come under meat. If so, raw eggs are unallowable; and bread, pastries, noodles, and pasta made with eggs are a staple food.

🍲 Conjey, the watery rice porridge or gruel commonly drunk before almsround in the time of the Buddha, is classed differently according to context. If it is so thick that it cannot be drunk and must be eaten with a spoon, it is regarded as a staple food (Mv.VI.25.7; Pacittiya 33). "Drinking conjey" is classed as a non-staple food under Pacittiyas 35-38 & 40, whereas it is considered as neither a staple nor a non-staple food under Pacittiya 41. The Commentary notes, though, that if drinking conjey has bits of meat or fish "larger than lettuce seeds" floating in it, it is a staple food.

🍶 Non-staple food are every edible outside of staple foods, juice drinks, the five tonics, and medicines. Non-staple foods are such as milk, curds, fruits, soy bean drink, drinking conjey, and fruit drink made from a big fruit.

All other dairy products (except for fresh butter and ghee) when used as tonics are non-staple foods.

2. Juice drinks include the freshly squeezed juice of sugar cane, lotus root, all fruits except grain, all leaves except cooked vegetables, and all flowers except liquorice (Mv.VI.35.6). According to the Commentary, the juice must be strained, and may be warmed by sunlight but not heated over a fire.

In discussing the Great Standards, the Commentary says that grain is a "great fruit," and thus the juice of any one of nine large fruits -- palmyra fruit, coconut, jackfruit, breadfruit, bottle gourd, white gourd, muskmelon🍈, watermelon🍉, and squash -- would fall under the same class as the juice of grain: i.e., as a non-staple food and not a juice drink. From this judgment, many Communities infer that the juice of any large fruit, such as pineapple 🍍or grapefruit, would also be classed as a non-staple food.

The Commentary notes further that if a bhikkhu himself makes a juice drink from fruit, etc., he has received, it counts as a non-staple food and must be consumed before noon.

3. The five tonics are ghee, fresh butter, Oil, honey, and sugar/molasses.🍯

4. Medicines...Using the Great Standards, we can say that any edible that is used as a medicine but does not fit under the categories of staple or non-staple food, juice drinks, or the five tonics, would fit here.

Keeping And Consuming Edibles

Each of the four basic classes of edibles -- food, juice drinks, the five tonics, and medicines -- has its "life span," the period during which it may be kept and consumed. Food may be kept and consumed until noon of the day it is received; juice drinks, until dawn of the following day; the five tonics, until dawn of the seventh day after they are received; and medicines, throughout one's life.

(source: 

http://www.nku.edu/~kenneyr/Buddhism/…/modern/bmc/ch8-4.html)

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Offering Fruit To Monks

A number of suttas (D.1, D.2, etc.), the Buddha said that the recluse Gotama and a bhikkhu abstained from damaging seed (Bijagama) and plant life (Bhutagama) such as these - plants propagated from roots, stems, joints, buddings, and seeds This is part of their virtue. Therefore, bhikkhus in this Dhamma-vinaya refrain from harming both bhutagama and bijagama. The Commentary states that to damage bhutagama entails pacittiya while damaging bijagama entails a dukkata.

The Buddhist Monastic Code
The Patimokkha Training Rules
Translated and Explained by
Thanissaro Bhikkhu
(Geoffrey DeGraff)

Making Fruit Allowable

Since fruit seeds are bijagama, the question arises as to how bhikkhus should go about eating fruit. The Commentary to this rule discusses in detail two passages, one each in the Mahavagga (VI. 21) and the Cullavagga (V.5.2), dealing with precisely this question. The Cullavagga passage reads, "I allow you, bhikkhus, to consume fruit that has been made allowable for contemplatives in any of five ways: if it is damaged by fire, by a knife, by a nail, if it is seedless, and the fifth is if the seeds are discharged." https://suttacentral.net/en/pi-tv-kd15
The Mahavagga passage reads, "Now at that time there was a great quantity of fruit at Savatthi, but there was no one to make it allowable....(The Buddha said,) 'I allow you, bhikkhus, to consume fruit that is seedless or whose seeds are discharged, (even if) it has not been made allowable." https://suttacentral.net/en/pi-tv-kd6

According to the Commentary to the Mahavagga, "seedless fruit" includes fruit whose seeds are too immature to grow. As for fruit whose seeds have been discharged, the Sub-commentary states that this means, "Fruit, such as mangoes or jackfruit, which it is possible to eat having removed the seeds and separating them entirely (from the flesh)."

Who may remove fruit's seeds?

The question sometimes arises as to whether bhikkhus may remove the seeds themselves before eating fruit of this sort (fruit whose seeds are discharged), or whether an unordained person has to remove them first, but given the context of the Mahavagga passage and the wording of the Sub-commentary's explanation, it seems clear that the bhikkhus themselves may discharge the seeds before or while eating the fruit. As the Commentary notes, both these kinds of fruit (fruit that is seedless and fruit whose seeds are discharged) are allowable in and of themselves, and need not go through any other procedure to make them allowable.

Other kinds of fruit, though, such as those with numerous seeds (such as tomatoes and blackberries) or whose seeds would be difficult to remove undamaged (such as grapes) must be damaged by fire, a knife, or a fingernail before a bhikkhu may eat them. The Commentary's description of how to do this shows that the damaging need only be symbolic: An unordained person draws a hot object or a knife across the skin of the fruit, or pokes it with a fingernail, saying "allowable" (kappiyam) either while doing the damaging or immediately afterward.

If a heap of fruit, such as grapes, is brought to a bhikkhu, he should say, "Make it allowable," (Kappiyam karohi,) either to the donor or to any other unordained person who knows how. The unordained person need only make one of the grapes allowable in line with the above procedures for the entire heap to be considered allowable, although he/she should not remove the grape from the heap while doing so.

Does a monk have to be in the presence when an act of making fruit allowable is performed?

The Sub-commentary claims that the ceremony of making fruit allowable must always be performed in the presence of a bhikkhu, but the Commentary mentions this factor only in connection with this last case -- making an entire heap of fruit allowable by "damaging" only one piece -- and not in its basic description of how the procedure is done.

In Communities that follow the Sub-commentary, the custom is as follows: When a donor brings grapes, tomatoes, or similar fruit to a bhikkhu, the bhikkhu says, "Kappiyam karohi (Make it allowable)." The donor damages the fruit in any of the three specified ways and says, "Kappiyam bhante (It is allowable, sir)," while doing the damaging, and then presents the fruit to the bhikkhu. In Communities that do not follow the Sub-commentary, the donor may perform the act of damaging the fruit beforehand, and simply inform the bhikkhu that the fruit has been made allowable when presenting it to him.

In either case, the act of making a heap of fruit allowable by damaging only one piece must be done in the presence of a bhikkhu. And we should note again that seedless fruit or fruit whose seeds may be removed entirely from the flesh of the fruit are allowable in and of themselves, and do not have to go through any procedure before a bhikkhu may accept and eat them.

http://www.nku.edu/~kenneyr/Buddhism/…/modern/bmc/ch8-2.html

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In Samaññaphala Sutta, the Buddha says: "a bhikkhu in this Dhamma-vinaya abstains from consuming stored-up goods such as these — stored-up food, stored-up drinks, stored-up clothing, stored-up vehicles, stored-up bedding, stored-up scents, and stored-up meat. This is part of his virtue."
https://goo.gl/amo2LD