I had the priviledge of joining the hotel I was staying at in Pattaya in giving alms to monks. Every morning a group of monks arrives in a ratty mini-van. They are clad in orange robes and are mostly young men with a few senior monks accompanying them. In Thailand young men take time to spend as monks to prepare them for their life ahead. Some stay for only short times, some for longer, some their entire lives. They eat and drink only what they are given by others.
And so every morning, seeing orange clad monks walk through the street of towns and cities in Thailand is a familiar sight. I had never been part of that simple act of grate and gratitude. The hotel had a manager stand behind a table with simple food and water offerings. He had taken his shoes off and placed the food into the copper bowls each monk held out, one after the other. I place the food into the bowls of 2 young monks. The monks then prayed and chanted a blessing for us and the hotel. We bowed and accepted their payers - a solemn attitude of blessings lying over our small group. The manager then poured sacred oil into a small bowl which was blessed and dripped onto the roots of a large tree. Besides a sacredness, I noticed that normalcy of that exchange and the lightness and joyfulness.
Imagine a society where young men and women would spend time living with what is bewtowed onto them from others and giving blessings in return. Imagine a life of parenthood, partnership and spiritual guidance and guiding after having spent time in prayer, silence, learning from and with others in a temple however long or short that time would be. I relished how normal it was for the monks and the manager and how special to me. Every morning since then, I have remembered that moment and smiled as I greet my day and those monks from far away.
And so every morning, seeing orange clad monks walk through the street of towns and cities in Thailand is a familiar sight. I had never been part of that simple act of grate and gratitude. The hotel had a manager stand behind a table with simple food and water offerings. He had taken his shoes off and placed the food into the copper bowls each monk held out, one after the other. I place the food into the bowls of 2 young monks. The monks then prayed and chanted a blessing for us and the hotel. We bowed and accepted their payers - a solemn attitude of blessings lying over our small group. The manager then poured sacred oil into a small bowl which was blessed and dripped onto the roots of a large tree. Besides a sacredness, I noticed that normalcy of that exchange and the lightness and joyfulness.
Imagine a society where young men and women would spend time living with what is bewtowed onto them from others and giving blessings in return. Imagine a life of parenthood, partnership and spiritual guidance and guiding after having spent time in prayer, silence, learning from and with others in a temple however long or short that time would be. I relished how normal it was for the monks and the manager and how special to me. Every morning since then, I have remembered that moment and smiled as I greet my day and those monks from far away.
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