Yes I can recall this.Monks are prohibited to give their alms food to beggars afaik
Is this the right practice?
Yes I can recall this.Monks are prohibited to give their alms food to beggars afaik
If your temple becomes a homeless shelter and you don't like it, take the wilderness for a temple. It was good enough for the Buddha.
I did not say he should be left to freeze outside, i said if he was to disrupting the Sangha causing disturbance, upsetting lay supporters and forcing monks to leave the monastery it would not surprise me if it was worse for him than freezing.BasementBuddhist wrote: I would rather meditate in a homeless shelter, among unenlightened beings who laugh and ridicule the idea of the Dhamma, than sit in a temple while someone freezes outside.
Ah, I see what you meant now. My apologies for misreading your words. You do have what I consider to be a valid point. It is a tough question all around.User156079 wrote:
I did not say he should be left to freeze outside, i said if he was to disrupting the Sangha causing disturbance, upsetting lay supporters and forcing monks to leave the monastery it would not surprise me if it was worse for him than freezing.
Perhaps we have to learn from Mother Teresa!I would not be able to stand it personally because living with people holding wrong view is like living with a corpse.
I see where you are coming from and this comes up for me as well. I tend to help those who are close to me and appreciate the opportunity to practise giving in general, however i cant help everybody and i feel bad when i dont share all i have, including requisites and when i spend money on stuff i dont need like extra good food ie. Also if we feel bad about not helping people in front of us, not helping poor people far away is no diffrent, there is no justification for not living at absolute minimum and donating rest of one's resources to others be it monastics or the poor of the world.SarathW wrote: I see lot of homeless people in the street.
I feel helpless as I can't help all of them.
And therein lies the problem. If you let one homeless person into your home to stay, word might get out and more would come and then more homeless people in your home and eventually you might get kicked out and be homeless. If a monastery did that they would end up not being a monastery any more and rather a homeless shelter. There is nothing wrong with homeless shelters and there is nothing wrong with opening your own home to the homeless, if you wish. And I'm certain there is great merit in doing so. But understand the purpose would then be changed from your home to homeless shelter or from monastery to homeless shelter. As you (Sarath) mentioned, we can't help them all.SarathW wrote: I see lot of homeless people in the street.
I feel helpless as I can't help all of them.
I just wonder what I would do if a homeless person come to my house even though I never had that problem.
As David said it is a middle way action. When I go to a Sri Lankan temple the only programme I see is the temple building programme.i dont even want to imagine what would happen if there were no monks at the monasteries.
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/auth ... el367.htmlStrictly speaking, giving does not appear in its own right among the factors of the Noble Eightfold Path, nor does it enter among the other requisites of enlightenment (bodhipakkhiya dhamma). Most probably it has been excluded from these groupings because the practice of giving does not by its own nature conduce directly and immediately to the arising of insight and the realization of the Four Noble Truths. Giving functions in the Buddhist discipline in a different capacity. It does not come at the apex of the path, as a factor constituent of the process of awakening, but rather it serves as a basis and preparation which underlies and quietly supports the entire endeavor to free the mind from the defilements.
I've never heard of this. Where did the idea come from? In my experience, monks regularly give away (commonly give back) food to lay people.SarathW wrote:Yes I can recall this.Monks are prohibited to give their alms food to beggars afaik
Is this the right practice?
Sadhu...Anagarika wrote: ... with compassion and wisdom, the wat can be a temporary respite but a longer term resource center that can connect the homeless with services and shelter in the community.
I remember reading it somewhere. I will PM this if I come across this again.mikenz66 wrote:I've never heard of this. Where did the idea come from? In my experience, monks regularly give away (commonly give back) food to lay people.SarathW wrote:Yes I can recall this.Monks are prohibited to give their alms food to beggars afaik
Is this the right practice?
Mike