Alms Giving & How to Offer Items to Monks

Alms Giving & How to Offer Items to Monks

If we want to gain a good result of merit from alms-giving, we, first of all, should know how to do it correctly. Therefore, we have to inform ourselves to make sure that we understand what ought and ought not to be done in due course.

In order to get a great deal of merit from alms-giving, we first have to prepare things for alms which we must get from the right means of livelihood, so that the alms is morally clean and pure.

Dana or alms-giving in the Suttas is divided into ten types. 

They are almsfood, clothing, vehicle and transportation facilities, flowers, incense / aromatic things, mats and paving material, medicine and light.

PRESENTING FOOD ON THE ALMSROUND

Monks are forbidden to hoard food, and they cannot do cooking. Therefore, alms gathering is the monk's daily routine. Some of them take only one meal a day in the morning, and some have two meals -- in early morning and just before noon. They are not allowed to eat after midday, unless they are severely ill. 

In the morning, the monk is expected to go for alms gathering as his routine. The Buddhist layman personally contributes towards the daily food requirements of the monks and novices as an act of religious merit, as well as a means to support the Buddha Sasana. 

Offering food to the monk on his alms round should be done correctly too. One who wants to do this should prepare the food and get ready. Make it seen that you want to offer alms food to the monk. When the monk comes, he will stop in front of you and open the lid of his almsbowl. Then, we will carefully place the articles of food, one after the other, into the almsbowl. The monk will receive the food peacefully and respectfully. He also will bless us at that moment as well. 

The monk does not wear shoes while going on the almsround. 

Therefore, during this almsround offering we ought to take off our shoes too. 

Otherwise we will be in a higher place that the monk, and this is considered to be improper or impolite. There is an exception for government officials, soldiers and officers in their uniform. 

However, if the monk is standing on a platform or on a mat which is considered to be in higher place than us, taking off one's shoes is not necessary. 

HOW TO OFFER REQUISITES TO MONKS

According to the Vinaya or Monastic Discipline, monks cannot take things without them being first offered. It is an ecclesiastical offense to use unoffered items. Therefore, knowing what to do in presenting things to the monks is necessary for us Lay Buddhists.  

First, the size and weight of the object presented should be manageable by one person. It should not be too heavy, making it inconvenient for both the monk and the donor. 

There is no problem with lighter and smaller things. 

When both the monk and the devotee are ready, he or she should be about an arms length or less than a meter away from the monk, and present the alms respectfully to the monk. The monk has to receive the alms courteously too. 

On presenting the object to the monk, if it is done by two hands it will be received by both hands too. 

The monk cannot receive things from a woman's hand directly. 

He will use a piece of cloth to receive the presented object by placing the cloth in front of him. 

Then the women places the object presented on that piece of cloth. Again, if it is offered by one hand, the monk will receive it with one hand as well. Both the presenter and the receiver have to do this nicely and respectfully too. This makes a correct, nice and beautiful gesture in presenting things to the monk. 

Phra Ajaan Plien Panyapatipo

Wat Aranyawiwake, Mae Taeng District

Chiang Mai Province

【🌷Fabush 🌷】

The Buddha once said: Of all the offerings, the offering of the Dhamma is the most auspicious offering❗

For better living conditions, one must create the right cause❗ 

The right cause is through giving.  Giving does not necessarily involve money.

Do three good deeds every day. Acts of kindness will generate the good results. It is not difficult to do three good things every day- Being kind, seeing only goodness, harbouring good intention, bearing only good thoughts in every single moment, having good intentions arise, all actions done whether through body, speech and mind are for the benefits of others. 

With all these virtues, one can accumulate a lot of good merits in a day. 

Now the most convenient ways of sharing Dhamma are through Facebook, Weibo, WeChat, WhatsApp, LlNE, Viber, etc........ 

It doesn't cost a penny to share and forward the Dhamma to others. The sharing of Dhamma generates great and endless good deed and it is also an act of benefitting others as well as oneself.

❤️🌹🙏❤️🌹🙏❤️🌹🙏❤️🌹