Almsround – The mendicant monk shows his monk’s bowl – The Monk is not a beggar!

Almsround - A Mendicant Monk is not a Beggar

Actually, “almsround” or “begging” is not the correct term for what the monks do. In Japanese this is called Takuhatsu (托鉢) which means "showing the monk's bowl". Zen monks offer an opportunity to give, to pause and see the true self. Therefore, the layman says thank you after putting something in the bowl.

A wise man loves money, but he knows how to use it.

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Grandmothers in Kyoto - Almsgiving & Discipline

Since the traditional straw sandals only went to the ball of the foot, the toes were unprotected. With modern asphalt roads, however, this is very painful and it takes a few months for the foot to get used to it. Always barefoot in straw sandals and especially in winter, this was a big challenge in the first few years.

In the evening after the almsround we had to pull small pebbles out of the flesh of the toes that had been torn open. Once, my senior monk and I cheated and braided the sandals all the way to the front, up to the toes. The village assigned to us for the alms-giving was about 20 kilometers from the monastery and we had to leave very early so that we would be back on time.

When we finally arrived in the village, we knocked on the houses of the families who had supported our monastery for generations. Cold and frozen, we recited the sutras and waited for someone from the house to give us rice or some money in the monk's bowl.

Moldy Rice - Gratitude

A very old grandmother slowly came out of the house and wanted to donate a cup of rice as thanks. But when she noticed our straw sandals, she took the rice back and ordered us to go back to the monastery and come back with real sandals, warning that otherwise she would tell the abbot of the monastery.

One enters the monastery to sacrifice one's life and death in order to attain the greatest possible wisdom and not to become lazy and spoiled.

We immediately ran back to the monastery, changed our sandals and marched back to the village. When we were back at her house in the late afternoon, she acted as if nothing had happened and thanked the monks in the monastery with a cup of rice for their efforts. The rice was a bit moldy because she couldn't see so well, which happened quite often.