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| Almsgiving Preparations Check List |
And checking it twice.
Every year, around this time, I pull out my Almsgiving Preparations list. Pictured above is a list I had made when the almsgiving was being held on a Sunday. This year, the monks had another engagement on Sunday, so the almsgiving will be held on Saturday. The preparations have to be brought forward by a day.
Here's this year's list:
Done Ahead:
✔️- Set the date
✔️- Invited the monks
✔️- Invited the participants
✔️- Confirmed the date with the monks
✔️-Confirmed the number of monks attending
✔️- Invited the monks
✔️- Invited the participants
✔️- Confirmed the date with the monks
✔️-Confirmed the number of monks attending
✔️- Set the menu; bought some of the groceries
✔️- Cooked the "prepare ahead" dishes - Cashew curry, Dhal, Garbanzo beans, Murunga curry
✔️- Cooked the "prepare ahead" dishes - Cashew curry, Dhal, Garbanzo beans, Murunga curry
✔️- Check supplies - paper plates/paper napkins, incense sticks, etc.; ✔️buy if needed
✔️-- Get the donations ready
Still to do:
✔️- Clean the living room
Still to do:
- Rearrange the furniture to set up the seating area in the living room
- Set out candles, incense sticks & holder, lighter/matches to light the candles, etc.
- Clean the kitchen
- Clean the bathroom
- Tidy the rest of the house
- Tidy the rest of the house
- Take down the dishes used only for almsgivings and wash them
- Take out serving dishes, basins used for washing hands, serving spoons, etc.
- Take out serving dishes, basins used for washing hands, serving spoons, etc.
- Set out items needed for the transfer of merit: teapot, cup, and basin; fill teapot with water
- Set out new bottle of water for blessing; bowl to catch drips when blessed water is poured out
- Set out items for washing hands: fresh cake of soap, hand towels, jugs of warm water & basins
- Set out new bottle of water for blessing; bowl to catch drips when blessed water is poured out
- Set out items for washing hands: fresh cake of soap, hand towels, jugs of warm water & basins
On Thursday:
- Order ✔️& pick up Groceries
- Clean out fridge
- Clean out fridge
On Friday:
- Pick up friend R
- Take out cooked curries from freezer and keep in the fridge to thaw
- Take out cooked curries from freezer and keep in the fridge to thaw
- Cook the rest of the curries: kale mallung, spicy potatoes, curried sauteed green beans, pappadum, boil eggs for salad
- Cut up pineapple
- Cut up pineapple
- Cover chairs and tables
- Take R home
On Saturday (Day of the Almsgiving):
- Cook rice (2 types - white and red)
- Make the salad (hard boiled eggs, cucumber, tomatoes, red onions)
- Arrange fruits (pineapple, grapes, tangerines from the garden, raspberries, blackberries) in saucers; cover
- Arrange a variety of sweets (kavili; kalu dodol✔️, thala guli✔️, aluwa✔️, chocolates✔️, cookies ✔️) in saucers; cover
- Arrange a variety of sweets (kavili; kalu dodol✔️, thala guli✔️, aluwa✔️, chocolates✔️, cookies ✔️) in saucers; cover
- Serve desserts into bowls or saucers
- Pour palm treacle into sauce boat or jug (to be served over yogurt)
- Pour palm treacle into sauce boat or jug (to be served over yogurt)
- Warm up curries; dish out
- Serve up offerings to the Buddha and offerings for the Order of Monks
- Pick flowers from the garden and arrange in vases
- Boil water and keep warm for those monks who prefer hot water
- Pour water and juice into glasses
10:45 a.m. - Everything should be done and ready!
11:00 a.m. - Monks arrive; Offerings to Buddha, Order of Monks, etc. take place and service begins with devotions being recited.
11:30 a.m. - Lunch is served to the monks
12:00 noon - Monks finish their lunch (they are prohibited from eating after noon), plates/begging bowls are cleared, a sermon is said, blessings are chanted, merit gained from almsgiving is transferred to departed loved ones, and donations are offered to the monks.
1:00 p.m. - the religious ceremonies are concluded, the monks leave; usually, lunch is then served to all the guests who participated
- Pick flowers from the garden and arrange in vases
- Boil water and keep warm for those monks who prefer hot water
- Pour water and juice into glasses
10:45 a.m. - Everything should be done and ready!
11:00 a.m. - Monks arrive; Offerings to Buddha, Order of Monks, etc. take place and service begins with devotions being recited.
11:30 a.m. - Lunch is served to the monks
12:00 noon - Monks finish their lunch (they are prohibited from eating after noon), plates/begging bowls are cleared, a sermon is said, blessings are chanted, merit gained from almsgiving is transferred to departed loved ones, and donations are offered to the monks.
1:00 p.m. - the religious ceremonies are concluded, the monks leave; usually, lunch is then served to all the guests who participated
Almsgiving Menu:
- Rice (red rice and white rice)
- Curries (cashew curry, dhal, garbanzo beans, murunga curry, kale mallung, spicy potatoes, sauteed curried green beans, salad, pappadum, tomato chutney)
- Sweets (5 kinds)
- Fresh fruit (5 kinds)
- Yogurt & treacle
- Maybe pudding or pie
Orange juice, water
I usually post the menu and the order of serving on the fridge so we can consult it to make sure that nothing is forgotten at the last minute.
The lists help to keep me focused on what needs to be done. I will be updating the lists as I go.
This is quite the production and I am impressed with it every year. A couple of questions. Do the monks really have nothing to eat after noon? Is that just on alms giving days? How often do they attend one of these?
ReplyDeleteIt is quite a production, isn't it? My daughter questions the need to do everything that I generally do when it comes to almsgivings, but, I follow my traditions and feel I've already taken some short cuts, preparing and freezing some of the food ahead of time.
DeleteYes, the monks who follow the Theravada Buddhist traditions have two meals a day - breakfast and lunch. They are not supposed to eat anything after noon. They may have plain tea or coffee (without milk) during the rest of the day, but, not juice or soup or solid food. There might be exceptions to that rule for medical reasons. The rules for monks following the Mahayana Buddhist traditions might differ and I am not familiar with them.
The rule against eating after noon applies on a daily basis.
The monks generally don't attend an almsgiving held in someone's home or at a different temple on a daily basis, but, people will bring alms to the temple quite regularly, often signing up to bring alms on a specific date. At one time, I signed up to bring alms to the temple on a monthly basis on the 1st of the month, often taking the prepared food on the night before. In places like Sri Lanka and Thailand, the monks will beg for alms, often going door to door. They generally don't beg for alms over here, but, the supporters of the temple ensure that the monks don't go hungry on the days they aren't invited to an almsgiving.
Seeing your list helps us to understand more about the Almsgiving and how special and holy it is, as well as being a way of being united with loved ones both present and deceased.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Bushlady. Yes, it is an important, spiritually uplifting event for me and it seems to energize and sustain me in some way. My daughter says that she has seen the positive impact an almsgiving has on me.
DeleteWow, that is an extensive list of preparations. You are very industrious.
ReplyDeleteYes, it is an extensive list of preparations, isn't it? Holding an almsgiving is an act of devotion for me. And, as far as I am concerned, if something is worth doing, then, it needs to be done as well as possible. :)
DeleteAll that you do for the almsgiving is impressive. I find it very interesting to read about. I hadn't realized before that it was such a huge undertaking, and now understand how tiring it must be for you, but how generous this gift is to the monks. I'm glad your friend and daughter are there to help.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Celie. I start the preparations days, sometimes weeks, in advance and this year, at least, it's a good thing that I did because Dancer's death sort of knocked us sideways. But, it is a rather big undertaking and tiring. I am very thankful that my daughter and friend will help me. :)
DeleteI have always enjoyed reading about your almsgiving prep, the reading about the actual day. It is truly a labor of love on your part because that is a lot of food prep, in addition to having the house ready for everyone.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Anne. I like to have everything just so for this event and the monks always observe how organized my almsgivings tend to be. I'm like that duck, outwardly gliding serenely and paddling like mad under the water! :D
DeleteI know we've been following along for years with your almsgiving but it always impresses upon me just how much is involved on your part when I see what's on your list!
ReplyDeleteIt's a good thing you're so organized as that surely helps with the effort.
Do you get merits for having the almsgiving?
Thank you, Debra. Yes, the lists really help with being organized.
DeleteWe do receive merits for having the almsgiving and we also transfer the merits to departed family members and loved ones, in order to help them enjoy a good afterlife.
You are very industrious and talented. Thank you for sharing.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Linda. It's an act of devotion which I perform once a year and I have been doing it almost every year since 1987. There were two years when I didn't have the almsgiving, including the year when I fainted in the bathroom and knocked my head on the edge of the bathtub the night before the almsgiving. That year, I just donated the sweets and other donations I had prepared to the monks, without having the full meal and ceremony.
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