Ven Beralihela Upali Thero made me a pocket and belt today. The story goes like this. I sent him a message asking him about a monk who was wearing rag robes that looked like a Westerner but was actually a native Sinhala monk. He knew about this monk, but not very much. Afterwards, I told him about my lower robe I once kept going for four years and it had many patches on it. However, not many people knew about it since it was covered by my upper robe. Afterwards, I don’t know why, but he asked if I needed any help with anything. Initially I said “nope” but then told him about my belt and pocket project that needed replacing.

Bowl with bowl stand (maybe Pa-Auk) There are certain characteristics of the Theravada Buddhist monk’s bowl that might be interesting to know, even though the information is quite dry. Enjoy! Material: The Buddha has allowed two different types of materials for bowls: iron and clay. When we say iron in Asia, we mean steel. Stainless steel is called steel. Is stainless steel allowed? This metal was not invented yet, but The Buddha left us with the great standards to judge if something should be allowable that was not mentioned during the time of the Buddha. Because it is strongly resistant to most rust, and still contains iron, it has been unanimously decided that stainless steel is allowed. Today, it is one of the most popular long lasting bowl materials used.