Like normal people

MARCH 20, 2018

First day of Spring. It's raining. 

There are monks living in monasteries who go out each day carrying bowls to collect donations of food from the community. Whatever they collect is what they eat that day. If nothing is given, they don't eat. It's done not because they can't afford food, but as a practice of accepting what is given.

That would be a difficult practice for me. It's one of the many reasons I wouldn't make a very good monk. I would always be thinking: "Can't we just go to the grocery store for once and buy food like normal people?"