from no food to too much

HIYA!

I left the temple this morning with little to eat. And there were no shops nearby and the area seems like there would be nothing around. But a lady at the temple gave me two mangos and I got a few wild vegetables from the temple.

As I walked on I saw a truck selling vegetables and stuff. I decided on a snack and some cucumbers. I asked the man how much he wanted but he wouldn't take any money. He just gave them to me. I insisted but he wouldn't take it.

So, what I usually do is accept their generosity. A couple of days ago I didn't though. I gave the money to a guy who was standing near the lady who made my food. She told him to give it back to me but I walked away and won! Nice people they were. I didn't walk away rudely or anything.

Later on this morning I saw what looked like a shop. As I got closer I could see that there were a lot of monks sitting down and a lot of people sitting down too. I approached asking to buy water. But the lady who greeted me just gave me some. She and the others were hosting the monks from some nearby temples. This is a way of "making merit" which may be understood as the opposite of commiting a sin. It's an active and intentional thing. They spend money to buy and make food, organize an event for the local villagers and the monks to eat. The monks bless everybody during and afterwards. And the people are happy because they've "made merit", have fed the monks delicious food, have themselves eaten delicious food, and have gotten together for some fun and some merit making.

Well, after getting water the lady who greeted me offered some food. I told them that I didn't want the rice or anything and would be happy with just fruit. They offered so much fruit. Then brought out some durian over rice with sweetened coconut milk. I should have just gone for the bananas but I succumbed to my durian desire. It was sweet and tasted of durian so I liked it but the bananas would have been a much better choice. Then they gave me eight big bananas. From no food to too much food.

A little bit of chanting by the monks while we put our hands in prayer position to accept the monks' blessings, then a monk sprinkled everyone with a bit of "holy water". Then it was all over. Help put things away a little and everyone scatters. Goes home. I only spent about 30 minutes there but they were all there probably about two hours. I left there about 9:30 and continued walking. I was already barefoot by this time.

This blessing thing is one place where Thais largely misunderstand Buddhism and where monks don't do their part in teaching that this is not Buddhism. Monks don't have any supernatural power to "bless" anyone. What does that mean anyway? Monks are just guys dressed differently. A monk may or may not be more spiritually developed but is still just a person and has no power to bless someone anymore than I do. But people like it because they feel that they get something out of it. What they don't seem to realize is the inner work involved in merit making.

Troy.

This thing about generosity, and giving.