Angel makes offerings
Angel is a long time student of mine. She is in Bangkok at the moment attending a wedding. She, her sister, cousin and friend went to make traditional offerings of food to monks. Angel dedicated the offerings to my long life and Kechara House’s growth also for the manifestation of KWPC. How generous and kind. Very thoughtful and I deeply appreciate it very much. It is very virtuous to make offerings to monks in general and I encourage people to do so..
Making food offerings to monks is the same in all Buddhist countries. It just the way they go about it is different. Each Tradition has it’s unique cultural method to make offerings…all is beautiful.
In Thailand, early in the morning, the monks will come to specified places and have their alms bowl ready. Then the participants put food inside their bowls as an offering. The monks will recite a blessing prayer for the food giver. It’s done at the crack of dawn daily and I have done it before. It is truly a beautiful experience and I am ADDICTED TO IT.
Thank you so much Angel and family/ friends.
Tsem Rinpoche
Angel on the far left with glasses.
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Since the monks are holding so many vows, serving them is an opportunity for HUGE merit. They are a source of inspiration for others who are seeking spiritual solace. We need to support them and creates the causes for the Dharma to remain , creating the causes for an abundance of spiritual and material wealth for ourselves as well. In Bangkok , its amazing having the opportunity to make offerings to the monks and nuns early in the morning. Giving to the monks and nuns is an incredible thing, we create unbelievable merit if we offer to the monks with the motivation of Bodhicitta. Looking at Angel makes offerings, reminds me of my trip to ChiangMai where I have an opportunity to give packed foods to monks early in the morning. Its truly wonderful indeed. If I have the opportunity again I will definitely love to offer foods to the monks.
Thank you Rinpoche for this sharing.
Offering to the sangha community is a meritorious deed. We can practice generosity and gain alot of merit at the same time because the sangha community are the people who live and hold dharma. Because of them, we are able to meet with Lord Buddha’s precious teaching and be liberated from samsara.
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing these pictures.
Humbly,
Chris
Is good to make offering to Sangha, coz they are the person who turn the wheel of Dharma to benefit others. Support the Sangha = Support the Dharma.
Best Regards : Eric kksiow
when our kids share food with their friends or people around them, we will feel happy as they are good kid and willing to share. Same for us, we know sharing and giving are good acts, we have no objection towards this. This is just part of us, the giving and sharing are part of us and they are just within us.
Making offerings to the sanghas, donating to the needy and the other ways are the expression of our good heart. Making offerings to the sangha is especially good as the sanghas are the one who contribute their lives for the benefit of others. They literally give up the worldly pleasure to bring happiness to others.
Now, there are two ways of making offerings in Kechara!
1. OFFERING OF MONK ROBES!
read here for more info: http://blog.tsemtulku.com/tsem-tulku-rinpoche/buddhas-dharma/new-offering-of-monk-robes.html
2. Dana Offerings For Tsem Ladrang
read here for more info: http://blog.tsemtulku.com/tsem-tulku-rinpoche/etc/dana-offerings-for-tsem-ladrang.html
Anyone can make offerings! Just be part of this good cause and express your giving heart! 🙂
WOW! We did this recently in Bangkok too and prior to this, Rinpoche gave us a short teaching on the merits generated from making offerings and why we should make offerings to the sangha. You can watch the teaching here:
http://blog.tsemtulku.com/tsem-tulku-rinpoche/students-friends/bangkok-monks-and-why-make-offerings.html
Giving dana offerings to the monks is the best way to start the day. You start off your day with generating merit. Rinpoche asked us how many times have we woken up and done this (this meaning generated merit, had the thought for others)? For me that was one of the rare few times. More often than not, we always tend to wake up with a thought related to ourselves (selfish thoughts). So this was a brand new experience for me, and it was worth the early morning and 1hour sleep. Giving dana to the sangha lifts your soul.
And the special thing that you rejoice in is that so many locals do this every morning. And the students often assist the sangha in carrying their Dana. Thailand has a very good balance between spiritualism and modernism. People are materialistic but are spiritual as well. It is a very good mix.
I rejoice that Angel collect this merit to dedicate to Rinppoche’s long life and KWPC. Since Angel is from Penang and Penang is next to Thailand so she is very well versed with the Thai tradition of offering to the monks. Angel is so thoughtful even when she was in Thailand on other business she still went to do Dana (food offerings) to big and small monks. I have not gone through the experience. But I have heard from my sister in law who went to Kelantan to offer food to the monks that they have to get out of the house into the streets where monks will gather to recieve the food in their beggig bowls. The monks will have to eat whatever you offer them even meat. The time for the people to come out to do offering is very early in the morning.
I would to thank H.E.TSEM TULKU RINPOCHE FOR TEACHING US THE PURPOSE OF MAKING OFFERINGS TO THE SANGHA AND GIVING TO OTHERS! It has being a great feelings after making offerings.
In Thailand it is a traditional way of giving food to the Sangha. Every early morning, most of the places near market and around temples, you may see a lot of Sanghas holding a begging bowl and follows by His assistant behind. Thai people will queue up to make offerings. They are very sincere and kind people.
Every trip when I am in Bkk, I’ll make it a point to wake up as early like 6am their local time, to make offering to the Sangha. When you are making offerings to them, Sangha will say prayers for you. It is nice to be there!
Angel
One way of collecting merits is to offer food to the Sangha. This is a tradition that started with Lord Buddha who went on early morning alms round with his Sangha. This is a daily event in Thailand where the people make offerings to monks, an act practiced with great reverence for the Sangha. Anyone with travel plans to Thailand must not miss this. It is so humbling to see the Sangha, young and old alike, with their alms bowl receiving any kind of offering from the public.
Within Kechara, one other way is for us to make offerings to our Guru. Offerings can be in any form, it comes from the heart of practicing giving without thinking of wanting anything in return.
How sweet! No matter where we are, we should always practice humility and love for people around us or whom we respect. Buddha Shakyamuni himself, encouraged his disciples to go out and teach Dharma to the villagers and in return these villagers offer alms to the disciples. Until today, it is still widely practiced in Thailand and other countries. The Sangha community in Thailand earns great respect from the community even if they are not Buddhists. The Sanghas hold their vows and so well respected that it is such an honor to be able to make offerings to them whenever one sees them.
It was very thoughtful of angel to make food offering to monks and dedicated the merit to rinpoche long life. In many years back, Rinpoche stayed in bangkok in Bang Lum Poo area and every morning rinpoche will walk to Kao Sarn Road to make food offering to monks. Rinpoche is very humble. And since then Kao Sarn Road become a place that kecharian go to visit and make food offering to monks when they have a trip to bangkok.
Making offering to sangha, one collect merit as sangha represent buddha who hold the vows, follow and spread buddha teaching. In thai you can make offering everyday as there are so many temples in everywhere.
The tradition of making offerings to the members of the Sangha has a long history spanning to the days of our Lord and Master Budddha Shakyamuni himself, whom even with the highest attainment of Buddhahood showed everyone the practice of humility by going out with his disciples seeking alms.
In the advent of Buddhism, this was the first form of generosity which we can show our gratitude to the Buddha and His saintly disciples. Making offerings to monks coming out to receive alms was a big affair. Members of the royal family and rich will come out to the streets decked in their finest garments to greet the Sangha and offer food and necessities to them.
It is such a wonderful sight to see Angel doing such meritorious deeds as it reminds me of the many stories Buddha told in the Jatakas about the merits of making offerings to monks.
Terima Kasih Rinpoche!
This post certainly brings back memories of the days of doing dana..
‘Of good conduct is the Order of Disciples of the Blessed One,
of upright conduct is the Order of Disciples of the Blessed One, of wise conduct is the Order of Disciples of the Blessed One,
of dutiful conduct is the Order of Disciples of the Blessed One. This Order of Disciples of the Blessed One —
namely those four pairs of persons,
the eight kinds of individuals
— is worthy of offerings, is worthy of hospitality,
is worthy of gifts, is worthy of reverential salutations,
is an incomparable field of merit for the world.’
Monks, if you think of the Sangha, any fear, terror or hair standing on end, that may arise in you, will pass away.
What is the reason for this?
The Tathagata, O monks, who is arahant, supremely enlightened, is free from lust, free from hate, is free from delusion, and is not liable to fear, terror, fright or flight.”
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/piyadassi/protection.html#s11
It also reminds me of the time when I joined in the last Lamrin recitation retreat and I read in one ‘Day 3’ in the ‘Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand’ I think where Pabongka Rinpoche speaks of the virtues of meditating and offering to the lineage merit field and what a vast field of blessings it is for us, both in the here and now and beyond.
This Rinpoche’s blog post has served as evidence that Dharma is non-sectarian and the only sectarians in the world are those whose minds chose to be so. The Buddha Himself did not teach sectarianism, why should we?
The alms round is a daily activity that is embedded in the Thai religious culture. The first time I offered food to the Sangha was back when I was a kid; I was very impressed with the monk’s alms because it never gets overspill through continuous offering and wonder where the food go after the alms round and do those monk can really eat that much?
Few years ago, I found out the mystery of the magical alms, I managed to follow one of the monks back to his monastery after he met his quota for the day. During the alms collection, a trainee or lay person will follow the monk with a bucket and sometimes with a trolley to collect food and necessities for daily consumption. Extra food will be serve to devotees or the needy once the monastic have consume their “once a day” meal. None of the food is kept for later meal or following day.
The Buddha’s alms bowl is still very magical to me after all these years but in a different way. The magic is through the blessing of Buddha, the kindness of the devotees will ensure that the bowl will never deplete of food to the Sangha community. In Kechara thru Rinpoche’s kindness and blessing, KSK will continue to benefit more needy people out there as “Hunger knows no Barrier.
Making offerings to monks is a virtue deed, grateful to see Angel made offerings to the monks, she dedicated this deed for Rinpoche’s long life, the growth of Kechara Organization and eventually the manifestation of KWPC. Angel shared with me her trip to Thailand , the purpose was to attend a relative wedding, she said her schedule was so packed that she almost missed the chance to go to make offerings to the monks. But she choose not to miss the apportunity.
We can make offering directly to our Lama through practicing dharma and doing our dharma work with right motivation . Transformation can be a form of offering to our Guru. Our guru consistently teach us dharma, the goal is to make us transform, therefore the transformation can be considered an offering too.
It’s nice of Angel to make offerings to the Thai monks and dedicate her merits to Rinpoche’s long life. Only in countries where there is a strong mass consciousness of Buddhism we have the opportunity to make such daily offerings.
We , Kecharians , are very lucky that we can make offerings directly to our Guru. It’s said in the Lamrim that making offerings to one’s guru is the same as making offerings to all the enlightened beings because our Guru functions to benefit us just like the buddhas.
For the convenience of the general public to engage in this meritorious practice, one can pass one’s offering to KH Administrator , Lim Tat Ming , at KH 2.( http://www.kechara.com/) during official opening hours.
Its beautiful to support the holy sangha.
Enjoy the seeing about Angle and her blessings. Diana, bigbuddistgirl@hotmail.com
How wonderful to be able to make offering to the Sangha!
Sadhu!Sadhu!Sadhu!
It is beautiful and I believe that in Bangkok, one can go to Kao San Road to make such wondering food offerings to the Sangha. I believe it starts early at around 7 am everyday and I did that once and would be looking forward to making such offerings if I do make it to Bangkok again.
It is a truly wonderful act of generosity and whether known or unbeknown to the giver this act creates heaps of merits. (Even to a non-believer who has a good heart).
Cool! What an awesome opportunity for gathering merit. I rejoice for Angel and her family.
You are right Rinpoche, it is beautiful.