APAD 180: Monks walk

The sight of monks with shaved head (and eyebrows) clad in orange robes, and holding bright yellow umbrellas, never fail to catch my attention. These two I saw this morning are no exceptions. Every morning each day, Buddhist monks quietly go out of wats (pagodas, or temples), most of the times on bare feet, to their community to solicit or collect alms.

And how fast they walk, too!

These alms come in the form of food or other offerings. For the monks, this is the only food they will have for that day. They’re not allowed to have food till the next day again. For the devout Buddhists, it is one of the ways they can earn good merits, or karma, in other words.