Left: May, 2023, Right: Feb, 2024. Introduction I recently lost about 10 Kg which is over 20 pounds. I’d like to share with you how I gained weight and how I also lost it. It is common for senior monks to gain weight, perhaps due in part to aging, as seniority implies being older. Even though we don’t eat after Solar Noon, gaining weight still can happen. However, if we really want to, we can all easily lose weight…“if we want to”. A 36 minute video version of this post is found at this link below. It is different from this written post, and you migth like to read and watch both.

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. Normally his group of donors are not ten or twenty, but sometimes fifty or sixty donors and sometimes more. They stay up the whole night cooking and then deliver the donations for breakfast and lunch. So after staying up all night and cooking the food for the monks, they found that the tables had less pārami (accumulated strength qualities) than their own pārami. So that was why they donated more tables. They are not just regular tables either. Take a look at the cover photo and see how nice they are.

Alms Tray and Cambodia Monk’s Full Bowl Introduction: This article explains the essence of piṇḍapāta (alms) and why we go for alms, even in poor villages. On the weekends, I have some time to go for alms in the nearby village. However, you might ask yourself, “Why would a monk collect food from a very poor village during an economic crisis when the monastery is mostly supported by wealthy people? Isn’t this making it more difficult for the Sri Lankan villagers?”