Alternate titles for this post: Tourists suck. or: Reasons why not to use a flash inches away from a monk. or: Seriously? This isn't a parade. or: (upon Andrew's suggestion) You shouldn't be doing that…
"I don't want to get super close." I told Andrew as we walked down the street a little before six this morning to witness the almsgiving. "Right, I want to cross the street." Andrew replied. And so we did, immediately. At first we only saw the line of orange robes, standing, waiting to begin walking. By the time we got closer, the monks had already started, and the throng of tourists waiting, standing so super close to those giving alms was flat out shameful. Maybe standing around, in a small crowd is one thing, but standing so close and using a flash in monks' faces!?! Are you kidding me? I love getting a good picture. Sometimes it can make my entire day. And sometimes if I screw up taking a good picture, I might pout about it for a little while. But I refused to stand inches away from the monks firing off my flash in their faces during what is supposed to be a religious rite.
Which is why, some (ok, a lot) of my photos are blurry or not the best, as I was generally across the street at dawn NOT firing my flash.
Before going out to watch the almsgiving, we knew that we were not supposed to participate unless "it had deep spiritual meaning." Before writing this post, thanks to my limited internet research, I discovered that giving alms is for the lay Buddhist in the community to pay respect towards the practicing Buddhist monks. In a way, it's to connect everyone in the community to achieve Dharma. I'm still learning what that means exactly, but I'm wondering exactly how many of the tourists participating in giving alms (or firing their flashes in faces) this morning were practicing Buddhists and how many of them thought it was an act of charity and then walked away feeling pretty good about themselves for the day. I know, I shouldn't judge. But it was simply appalling how many tourists were not only out to watch and see what it was all about, but the lack of respect towards the monks made me want to pack up my camera and go far far away from all of them. It made me feel dirty for simply being on the other side of the street taking a few blurry pictures.
I was also surprised at how many women approached us to buy food for the monks. Do they not care that we're not Buddhist? Do they not know that you should be Buddhist? Do they simply want to make a buck or two from their bananas?
After the almsgiving, we went ahead and climbed up to a temple perched on top of a hill right in the middle of the town to take a few pictures before it got too hot.
We walked through the morning market, and then slipped into a coffee shop for the day- and by day, I mean morning, because it was only around 8:00 in the morning by this point.
