Giving Alms in Sri Lanka
Almsgiving is an ancient practice that brings us into communion with one another. The Buddhists like to do this to demonstrate sharing their food, thinking charitably and looking after those who have less; by caring for the needs of those around us we are participating in the merciful work of Buddha to provide for all members of our universal family.
Communities work together to create a rota for all the villagers to contribute one or two melas per year for their local Buddhist leaders, the Monks, who study and teach the Buddha’s word. Monks who only eat 2 meals per day rely entirely on gifted food donations.
Annually Meda Gedara Villa ‘Gives Alms’ to the community of elderly and disabled monks at a local temple Sri Sumanarama Viharaya Godauda.
On the Sunday of our Wellness Week we were invited by Charith to join our MG staff team going to Give Alms to our local temple. It was such an unexpected honour for us all to be invited and I was very aware that it would be a deep, culturally meaningful start to the week, it seemed like a beautifully appropriate way to begin our Wellness Week.
Tuk tuks picked us all up at 6.30am and we tuk Tuk’d off 10 minutes down the road to meet the monks and donate our breakfast food offerings, have a tour of their ancient temple, join them for a ceremonial blessing and then feed them our offering.
The elderly monks, dressed simply in their distinctive orange robes, were delighted to see our group, receive our donations and share their Buddhist traditions with us.
We were greeted with a tour of the old traditional Temple with incredibly ornate murals dating back centuries; the murals depict the life of Buddha and were originally painted to aid teachings before the time of schools and books. We looked in awe at the detail of the murals and learned a little about the history of Buddha and the foundations of the religion.
We were taken next to the area where they offer blessings to Buddha and gratitude for our food offerings. The elderly Monks were seated and we were invited to sit in a semi circle facing them and their shrine. They started the 30 minute ceremony with a prayer; after which they linked us all together using the large spool of white cotton or ceremonial thread, the thread was weaved through our fingers while we held our hands in prayer. Then the head Priest started chanting, a beautiful rhythmical chant, that they all joined in with. This is the word of the Buddha that they have been learning since they were children. Then we were all invited up to be blessed by the monks individually, to wash some water on our face and have the white cotton tied around our wrists.
After the ceremony we were lead into their dining room where all the monks took their own seats and we offered them all the food we had bought with us. There was a plentiful supply of delicious food for them and it was great to see them enjoying Sudantha’s incredible cooking. As we had come at breakfast time we had a breakfast offering of:
Gotukola soup
Fruit juice
String hopper
Hopper
Rice
Dhall
Poteto
Onion Sambol
Coconut chutney
Fish
Chick pea/ green gram,
Fruits: Banana, water melon, mango, papaya
After they had eaten all they needed we packed up the food and cleared up the plates. We were then treated to another delightful and unexpected surprise which was to go and watch as the Sunday school children, immaculately presented inter pristine white uniforms sat quietly watching the head priest as he taught them all the word of Lord Buddha and the words of the chant.
How still the children sat, how patiently they learned their words and how much pride they all took in their deportment they were a gorgeous group of children behaving impeccably. As a mum to 3 very boisterous boys I reflected if our evolved, Western approach to childhood is really the most helpful set of messages for the young.
It was a deeply moving experience to be part of such united charity, feeling the generous acts of help, community and purpose. We all left humbled and with a greater sense of duty to those around us.
