Erica and I decided
to offer alms to the monks bright and early on a Friday morning, the day we
were going to Laos. It was a Buddhist holiday and the university offers the
campus for students to offer alms. Holy Buddha there were a LOT of students
there! There had to be well over 2,000. Erica and I were so shocked! We thought
man the monks could live off this amount of food for years! We couldn’t figure
out how they were going to do this. The monks walked with silver pots barely 6
inches deep. How? After chanting and blessing the day the monks began walking.
Erica and I waited a while and then we saw people running towards the middle of
the road…wait what? was all I could think. We got in the middle of our section
(one of the first few people) and looked up the street and realized the running
was to make 4 lines. YES 4! We had 4 lines of students shoulder to shoulder
cradling food to give to the monks. Traveling at a very slow speed behind the
monks were 2 large dumpster trucks, yep dumpster trucks. Volunteers held trash
bags for the monks, as the bowl was filled, the bag was filled. Bags were tied
up and left in the middle of the 2 middle lines of students. As students ran
out of food they departed leaving room for the trucks to come by and pick up
the bags. No idea how many bags, it didn’t matter to me. What mattered to me
was celebrating a Buddhist holiday for the first time in a country where
Buddhism thrived. Cool! Minds open, hearts close, bellies full.
-The foodie and
nature enthusiast
To the left To the right.....
And with the middle crowds
Erica (chaikha)
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