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.

Just a small “monk life” entry: IIT, Sri Lanka, June 23, 20204 Yesterday was the day after the Full Moon Uposatha Day. We didn’t get a lot of food from the village alms round. I went by myself on my usual route, and another monk went by himself on a different route that he sometimes goes to. I’m not sure what happened. Maybe the villagers were at the monasteries all night.

This video is about alms giving in Sri Lanka, also known as piṇḍapāta. I share my experiences of collecting alms in Sri Lanka and comparing them to alms giving in other countries like Myanmar and Thailand. In Sri Lanka, alms giving is a daily routine for monks. People wait outside their houses with rice and curries, and the monks walk by collecting food in their bowls. This is different from other countries where monks might go out in groups and collect alms together.

Recently, I have been making more posts in video format. I share personal stories along with the dhamma. While most of you might be more insterested in monk life than the dhamma, we will still be doing both. This Dhammatalk explores the Dhammapada verse 53 and the different aspects of making merit I think you will like it.

This Dhamma talk discusses the key elements of the Kāladāna Sutta in addition to three personal stories that show how donations can miraculously come back to you. Some of the stories can be found at my website at this particular webpage below with pictures of the original items: https://americanmonk.org/miracle-on-3-or-4-streets/ The video is below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qy_h71a17Qo Miracle On 3 or 4 Streets If you have ever wondered how monks survive on miracles when things go wrong, read on!

Ven Ananda with the two donors Recently, we received six new tables arranged by a monk’s two donors. The tables were nice but I didn’t think we needed them, so I asked the monk why. He said there was not enough room on the tables for his donors’ donations, so they decided to donate more tables so they can donate more. When his donors make donations, they are not small.

6 Color Buddhist Flag Yesterday, on Vesak, I was invited to go with Sayadaw Kumarabhivamsa, the Tipitaka Sayadaw and one more monk to visit the three very large Buddhas in our monastery and then finally to give water to the Bodhi Tree. When we give water to the Bodhi Tree, it is not uncommon to give pure bottled drinking water to it. Yes, you read that correctly. Bottled drinking water is used to water a tree.

This is where I live Wow! Today is February 7th and another year has passed. I have now completed 18 years total as a monk and I am working on my 19th year. Of course, my monk age is 12 rainy seasons because I changed Nikayas after my 6th year. I have been living my monk life in Kauai, Hawaii for about 10 months now and things have been moving along.

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.