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.

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.