According to the spokesman of Palelai Buddhist Temple (PBT), alms food-collection and consumption is a duty of the Theravada Buddhist monk and this is enshrined in the ordination procedure of the monk. As part of the ordination procedure, every newly ordained Theravada Buddhist monk will be given the following admonishment by his preceptor:
"Going-Forth has alms-food as its support. For the rest of your life you are to endeavour at that."
Buddhist monks sustain their lives on the support of benevolent devotees for their four requisites of robes, food, shelter and medicine while providing spiritual guidance and advice to lay supporters in return. The acts of benevolence also give lay supporters an opportunity to acquire merit that results from their kind intentions. What do monks have to say about alms food-collecting in Singapore and their comments on bogus monks soliciting money during alms rounds.
According to Venerable Jinadatta, a resident monk of PBT who goes for daily alms round at the hawker centre at Block 59, Upper Changi Road, alms food-collecting is the right livelihood for those who have gone forth from home to homelessness (i.e. monks). It is not just a custom or tradition, but a religious observance (vatta) or mode of life to be observed by monks. The terms for "monks" in Pali is "bhikkhu", which means a religious mendicant - one who quits his home or family and lives only on alms. He added that the practice also allows a platform for monks to interact with the devotees during the alms round and thus strengthen the relationship between the Buddhist community of monks and lay devotees.
As for what items go inside the alms-bowl, Venerable Jinadatta said within the alms-bowl, lay people can offer cooked food or ripened fruits. Other requisites such as robes, medicine can be offered outside the alms-bowl when the monks are in the monasteries.
Venerable Jinadatta regarded the issue of monks soliciting money instead of food in their alms round as a phenomenon of the world which is relative or imperfect.
"Since the world is not absolute but relative, there will always be the pair of opposites such as good-evil, right-wrong, healthy-sick etc like the railroad tracks which run in parallels. The wholesome and the unwholesome are the reality in the world, so we have to accept the existence of this unwholesome or unpleasant aspect of reality. But bodily and verbally, we could adopt some measures in order to protect Buddhism against the unwholesome reality." Monks of PBT started their daily alms round in Bedok area 5 years ago by its resident monk, Venerable Ajaan Keng, with the intention of educating the public on the proper practice of alms food-collecting. During the alms rounds, volunteers (when available) who accompany the monks will explain to the public that the alms bowl is meant for collecting donations of food and not monetary offerings. They also inform the public that monks of the Theravada Buddhist tradition only consume food between the break of dawn (around 6.45am) and 12 noon and therefore, they do not collect alms after 12.00 noon.
Australian monk Bhante Dhammika said that the problem of "fake monks" had been going for a long time and was surprised that Buddhist leaders had not warned the public about it long ago. He also pointed out that it is quite possible that some of these "fake monks" are not "fake" at all but have been properly ordained in Thailand. He also said that the problem is as much with such monks as it is with the public.
"If lay Buddhists were not so superstitious, naive, ill-informed and ignorant about Buddhism, they would not have given these monks anything. The only reason why these monks come here is because they know that people will give them something." Bhante Dhammika said that in ancient times the purpose of pindapata was to allow monks and nuns to get their food in a simple uncomplicated way so they could spend their time on more important things like meditation. But in traditional Buddhist countries today, pindapata is as much a ritual and a custom as it is a means of providing food. Bhante said that he thought that going for pindapata in Singapore would be inappropriate.
"This is an entirely different country from traditional Buddhist countries. Most people really have no idea what pindapata is, many people are not Buddhists; because of the way houses are built most people could not see a monk waiting at their door and most importantly, it would be too complicated. Remember, its original purpose was to help simplify a monk's life. If going for pindapata requires special arrangements, it would defeat the whole purpose of it.
Is alms food-collecting an offence?
According to the view of the Curator of Nei Xue Tang -
Buddhist Art Museum and a practising lawyer in Singapore Mr Woon Wee Teng, the practice of Pindapata per se is NOT an offence because the government is not against Buddhist practice.
But if a person has not been ordained as a Buddhist priest and goes about alms-gathering with an alms bowl and wearing yellow robe and having a shaved head like a monk, then he is an imposter and he should be reported to the police for action.
If the alms-collector has been ordained in the Theravada tradition which according to its vinaya, restrict monks from eating after noon and he still goes for his alms-collecting after 12, then he breaks his precept. He should be reported to the Chief Abbot of his monastery for disciplinary action.
For Thai Buddhist monks present in Singapore, there is a Singapore Thai Sangha Council (i.e. Singapore Thai Samatca) and they take a serious view of any Thai Buddhist Monks violating precepts and they will take disciplinary action as well. Thai Buddhist monks are actually issued with identification cards as proof of their monkhood.
How to Tell: Who is Real? Who is Bogus?
Real (food-collecting) Monks:
1. Stand still outside hawker centre.
2. Wait for food donor to approach.
3. Alms bowl covered with a lid which is opened when donor wishes to offer food.
4. Do not carry pendants/ amulets.
Bogus (monetary-collecting) Monks:
1. Walk from table to table in hawker centre.
2. Approach patrons at tables.
3. Alms bowl open all the time.
4. Carry pendants/ amulets as a form of repayment to donors.
Table information provided by Palelai Buddhist Temple. Article by WeiDu
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