Alms-round in North East Thailand
Tradition East to West
When Ajahn Sumedho said he was first invited to come to England and establish a monastic community in the Thai Forest tradition, he expressed doubts as to whether they would ever receive enough support. His teacher Ajahn Chah asked him if he thought there were kind and generous people in England, to which he had to answer ‘yes’.
“You should be alright then” came Ajahn Chah’s reply. This was in 1976.
In a television interview in 1979, when establishing Chithurst monastery in rural West Sussex, Ajahn Sumedho was asked if the monks were still going to wear their very strange robes in England. It was suggested that such an appearance might repel people, perhaps they should modernize or adapt to more easily fit into the western style. Ajahn replied that this was still just an opinion, it has to be tried first, which is exactly what he did!
This edited version of the program describes the kind of reception the Sangha had at that time
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Since that time there have
been surprisingly few noticeable changes to the discipline followed by the
monks, except for perhaps the additional long sleeved ‘jacket’ worn in the
monastery. Various attempts at sticking to the basic three robes by earlier monks
living in the West had left them fleeing the country in winter, getting very
sick and disrobing, or the monks insisted their supporters maintain nice
super warm residence and rarely went outside! Which seemed hardly in the spirit
of the mendicant life. It was also considered that religious persons in this
part of the world are conventionally well covered, which means half-dressed men
would probably challenge the western perceptions of a celibate monk.
This dress convention seemed an an appropriate change. This and then and the alms-round.
The tradition in Thailand is that the monks walk out of the monastery and approach the towns and villages just as dawn arrives with alms bowls discreetly tucked inside their robes. After generations of Buddhist monasticism in the country the entire society lays in readiness for their arrival, for the lay persons’ opportunity to offer support to the Sangha, to make merit and establish some clear good intentions to begin their day, before going off to work (see picture at the top of this page).
The monks then swiftly walk through collecting rice and other food offerings and return to the monastery very early. Their one meal of the day being consumed at about 8.30am. I recall one time when living in Thailand I was traveling on a bus and arrived in the town at about 9.30 in the morning. Having not eaten I decided to take out my bowl and go pindapat (alms round) and met with a lot of surprised people in the market who seemed to be saying that it was all over, or at least that they are obviously unprepared, assuming this foreign monk doesn’t understand how to do things here!
Therefore when the monks came to England and established a monastery at Chithurst, West Sussex, it was obvious they were not going to expect the local people to be kneeling there on the side of the road in large numbers, eagerly waiting to feed their new neighbors!
But they were making regular trips to supporters’ homes who lived within walking distance. Enough to support a couple of monks calling once a week to a handful of homes. By invitation only.
When opportunities arose, monks and nuns started to visit the nearby towns with their alms bowls at the ready. This became known as going ‘on faith’ alms-round. Naturally there would be no point in visiting the town at dawn as there wouldn’t be anyone there! So we would go later in the morning when the shops are open and stand waiting for something to happen.
And we didn’t have to wait for long!
Then once the confidence arose the Sangha ventured off on tudong, in England, and in much the same way as they have done for over 2,500 years.
This dress convention seemed an an appropriate change. This and then and the alms-round.
The tradition in Thailand is that the monks walk out of the monastery and approach the towns and villages just as dawn arrives with alms bowls discreetly tucked inside their robes. After generations of Buddhist monasticism in the country the entire society lays in readiness for their arrival, for the lay persons’ opportunity to offer support to the Sangha, to make merit and establish some clear good intentions to begin their day, before going off to work (see picture at the top of this page).
The monks then swiftly walk through collecting rice and other food offerings and return to the monastery very early. Their one meal of the day being consumed at about 8.30am. I recall one time when living in Thailand I was traveling on a bus and arrived in the town at about 9.30 in the morning. Having not eaten I decided to take out my bowl and go pindapat (alms round) and met with a lot of surprised people in the market who seemed to be saying that it was all over, or at least that they are obviously unprepared, assuming this foreign monk doesn’t understand how to do things here!
Therefore when the monks came to England and established a monastery at Chithurst, West Sussex, it was obvious they were not going to expect the local people to be kneeling there on the side of the road in large numbers, eagerly waiting to feed their new neighbors!
But they were making regular trips to supporters’ homes who lived within walking distance. Enough to support a couple of monks calling once a week to a handful of homes. By invitation only.
When opportunities arose, monks and nuns started to visit the nearby towns with their alms bowls at the ready. This became known as going ‘on faith’ alms-round. Naturally there would be no point in visiting the town at dawn as there wouldn’t be anyone there! So we would go later in the morning when the shops are open and stand waiting for something to happen.
And we didn’t have to wait for long!
Then once the confidence arose the Sangha ventured off on tudong, in England, and in much the same way as they have done for over 2,500 years.
