Many people who have learned that I have re-ordained and actually know what that means have asked me why I did it. It is a long story, but I will try to be brief. During my first ordination in 2001, at Pa-Auk Main Branch with Venerable Pa-Auk Sayadaw as my preceptor, I was asked 13 questions. According to tradition, every monk is asked these 13 qualifying questions in the ordination ceremony twice. It is a requirement for the ordination that a monk gets taught about the 13 questions before he is officially asked these questions. Because this requirement needs to be verified, the “practice session” has become embedded into the whole ordination procedure. The first time the set of questions are asked, the sangha or group of monks can witness that the candidate was given a lesson. The second round of questions (only 3 minutes later) is for real and the sangha can officially hear the answers for each qualifying question. The official ordination chant called “kamma vaca” follows immediately. After that, the monk is “ordained” and then taught about the robes, food, lodging and medicine requisites.

Koral’s Family Just about every Wednesday, I still find the time to continue with my Kilauea alms round1 (which used to include Tuesdays too). I take a one-hour bus ride from Lihue, and then set out on my alms round, wishing loving-kindness to the houses one by one as I walk along the road. In the beginning, people thought I was some weird homeless person who might be crazy, but after some time, some fearless people spoke to me and then word started spreading. “He’s okay, he is just blessing homes.” Then it took a little longer for people to figure out the food part too.