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How to Invite and Support a Monk: Vinaya Rules Explained
Nov 10, 2025
Key Points A monk may only ask for his needs if he receives pavāraṇā (invitation). Clear invitations—especially phrases like “any time” or “ever”—create ongoing permission. Invitations are not binding; they simply allow the monk to ask. Renewing the invitation often helps the monk feel comfortable and avoids misunderstandings. Introduction In the Theravāda Vinaya tradition for monks who do not use money, many lay supporters are not familiar with how invitations work1. Several Vinaya rules prevent a monk from asking for his needs unless he is given pavāraṇā (invitation).
read moreThe Famous Buddhist Blessing for Food
Oct 16, 2025
One of the most famous blessings given after a meal donation is from Dhammapada verse 109. It is well known across all traditions and in all countries—Sri Lanka, Thailand, Laos, Myanmar, and Cambodia.
Dhammapada Pāḷi Verse 109 Abhivādanasīlissa,
niccaṃ vuḍḍhāpacāyino,
Cattāro dhammā vaḍḍhanti,
āyu vaṇṇo sukhaṃ balaṃ.
Translation For one who is respectful
and constantly venerates the elders,
four qualities increase:
long life, beauty, happiness, and strength.
This is one of the most famous blessings given by monks to laypeople after food is offered to the Saṅgha. It is chanted across all traditions and countries.
read moreDhammapada 118 Giving Again And Again
Aug 7, 2024
Below are two talks based on the Dhammapada verses 49 and 118
The verses
49 yathāpi bhamaro pupphaṃ,
vaṇṇagandhamaheṭhayaṃ,
paleti rasamādāya,
evaṃ gāme munī care.
As a bee gathers honey from the flower
without injuring its color or fragrance,
even so does the sage go on his alms-round in the village.
118 puññañce puriso kayirā,
kayirā naṃ punappunaṃ,
tamhi chandaṃ kayirātha,
sukho puññassa uccayo.
Should a person do good,
let him do it again and again.
let him find pleasure there,
for being blissful is the accumulation of good.
read moreGiving is Always Better
Jun 5, 2022
Ven Sunanda (China)
One of the Chinese monks named Venerable Sunanda recently had his birthday. For his birthday, he determined to offer 100 shoulder cloths to various monks and ended up making 123. What is a shoulder cloth? It is a small robe that monks often like to wear underneath their upper robe.
from http://www.justwalkedby.com/2016/03/sweeping-monk/ creative commons attrib nc
We have an abundance of robes in the storage room and with vassa coming up, we will get more and more. I think it was last year, I got a couple of robes for entering vassa and 8 or 9 robes at the end of vassa. So, this monk took many robes and cut them up and resewed them to the proper size for a shoulder cloth with included tie-strings to help keep them in place.
read moreThanks and Giving
Nov 26, 2020
Of course I’m happy!
On November 24, I helped make a nice breakfast and lunch for Pa-Auk Forest Monastery, Pyin Oo Lwin. I organized 28 monks including myself to be the donors for the whole day meals + fresh squeezed apple juice, for a full value of 1,250,000 Myanmar Kyat. It fed approximately 530 yogis across four sections in Pa-Auk Forest Monastery. But how is that possible for monks to donate money?
read moreSabbe Satta -All Beings
Mar 2, 2020
reposted from https://withmetta.net (2016) . When a Buddhist monk says “sabbe satta,” that is a shorthand for metta practice. “Sabbe satta” means “all beings.”
One of my friend’s collects the leftover food and cakes and says or acts on this everyday after each meal at the Mudon Pa-Auk monastery. But in reality, even though he says “sabbe satta,” he really just seems to feed the birds with the leftover food and cakes.
read moreDonation to Sangha or Individuals?
Sep 2, 2017
When should you give to Saṅgha?
When should you give to individual monks?
This is a question that is not addressed very often and it can cause lots of trouble for monks knowingly and unknowingly. Quite often, many monks blindly prompt donors to recite a line of pāḷi before they offer anything to them. “Bhikkhu Saṅghassa demi.” There are some variations, but that is the generic formula. It means, “I give to the community of monks.” This is done to give the donor more merit. He makes more merit when he gives to a community instead of one single monk. Even though the monk may prompt such a phrase to the donor, he is likely to be unaware of the procedures to properly handle a community donation.
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