1
00:00:01,263 --> 00:00:02,744
Can you explain alms?

2
00:00:02,844 --> 00:00:04,546
How do you help a monk?

3
00:00:04,766 --> 00:00:05,727
Can you buy them food?

4
00:00:07,329 --> 00:00:09,250
Yeah, I mean, this is a big thing, really.

5
00:00:09,290 --> 00:00:11,712
Westerners, they appreciate monks.

6
00:00:12,894 --> 00:00:19,179
Many Western people appreciate monks and get teachings from them, but they don't know what to do.

7
00:00:19,239 --> 00:00:24,584
I guess there's also monks that you don't get teachings from, but you think somehow you should help them, which is good.

8
00:00:26,106 --> 00:00:27,347
Feeding stray cats is good.

9
00:00:27,367 --> 00:00:30,129
Why isn't feeding stray monks good?

10
00:00:30,149 --> 00:00:31,050
Or feeding monks good?

11
00:00:31,705 --> 00:00:33,047
Yeah, you can buy them food.

12
00:00:33,187 --> 00:00:34,909
Don't buy them food in the evening.

13
00:00:34,949 --> 00:00:36,051
Buy them food for the day.

14
00:00:36,111 --> 00:00:37,733
Monks aren't allowed to keep food.

15
00:00:41,798 --> 00:00:43,961
Theravada Buddhist monks aren't allowed to store food.

16
00:00:44,802 --> 00:00:48,928
So if they're Theravada monks, you should give them food that they can eat in the morning.

17
00:00:49,488 --> 00:00:53,814
It should be given after dawn and before noon, and it should be consumed on that day.

18
00:00:55,456 --> 00:00:59,822
If you're interested in learning about alms, I wrote an article that

19
00:01:03,110 --> 00:01:05,674
I don't know.

20
00:01:05,694 --> 00:01:08,658
Maybe it's probably not what you're looking for, but there's an interesting article.

21
00:01:08,678 --> 00:01:15,609
It was talking about the idea of giving alms and what it means.

22
00:01:15,669 --> 00:01:17,632
It shouldn't be considered an exchange.

23
00:01:18,453 --> 00:01:20,256
It's considered fulfilling a need.

24
00:01:20,857 --> 00:01:24,983
So when monks go on alms day, it's because they need food.

25
00:01:26,482 --> 00:01:30,446
Just like when cats come to your door and start meowing, it's because they need food.

26
00:01:31,086 --> 00:01:37,252
So yeah, giving them food is a great thing, especially because you consider that, wow, they're probably doing good things for people.

27
00:01:37,893 --> 00:01:43,238
Yeah, they're probably doing good things for themselves and good things for other people.

28
00:01:43,258 --> 00:01:45,200
So it's a better bet than giving to a cat.

29
00:01:49,524 --> 00:01:50,445
That's the best way to help.

30
00:01:51,106 --> 00:01:54,009
Monks are not allowed to ask for things.

31
00:01:54,029 --> 00:01:55,510
They're not allowed to beg.

32
00:01:55,709 --> 00:02:14,011
But if you, unless a person says to the monk, and you have to be careful about this, but if you say to a monk, or a male or female monk, look, if you need anything, let me know, I'll be happy to do my, I'll try my best to, if it's within my power, I'll try to get it for you.

33
00:02:14,552 --> 00:02:15,333
Then they can ask.

34
00:02:16,855 --> 00:02:21,180
And they're allowed to ask for four months.

35
00:02:21,821 --> 00:02:23,623
This is the official allowance.

36
00:02:24,498 --> 00:02:38,762
From that point in time, they can ask you for another four months, unless you say to them, for the rest of my life, you can ask me, or something like that, or for the rest of this week, you can ask me, unless you set a limit.

37
00:02:38,782 --> 00:02:39,643
Then it's four months.

38
00:02:39,724 --> 00:02:48,278
But anyway, then you don't have to guess what they need, and you can supply them with something that they may not have.

39
00:02:49,642 --> 00:02:56,290
The best thing you can do to help monks is to go and learn from them and become part of the community.

40
00:02:58,632 --> 00:03:04,219
Because there's so much work that needs to be done to facilitate teaching, for example.

41
00:03:04,940 --> 00:03:06,882
So get involved in the organization.

42
00:03:06,902 --> 00:03:16,493
Anyway, this article I wrote, I don't know if it's actually relating to this, but it relates to the idea of supporting an organization.

43
00:03:17,300 --> 00:03:23,773
and how we should best view supporting organizations, especially the Buddhist organization.

44
00:03:24,435 --> 00:03:28,423
It's called, there is two such thing as a free lunch.

45
00:03:30,888 --> 00:03:31,950
And it's on my web blog.