If he took a bath in the river, and dived beneath the surface, enough fish were caught in his beard to feed a multitude. - Book of Deborah

Feeding the Multitudes

We were lucky enough to be at a roadside market (again!) when all of a sudden a truck with the loudest, public address system pulled in to the market and started playing music. The volume had been set so loud that the music was 'clipping' and it was hard to make out the cacophony of noise as music. In between tracks, a disembodied voice would come on in Thai, extolling something or other.

This market was set off from the road in a large inverted "U" shape with the two tops of the "U" facing the road. The market itself was about 100 metres in length and about 50 metres in width.

I was standing near the back of the market, furthest from the road and as I looked down toward the truck, I saw fifty to sixty Buddhist Monks arriving in all sorts of vehicles: tip trucks, mini-vans, tray trucks, everything but a bus.

The Monks formed an orderly queue and, with begging bowls in hand, began to file silently past the market stalls where the stall keepers would each place an item of food in some of the bowls. This is the way the Monks feed themselves, through the generosity of the Thai people.

I noticed the Monks were making their way around the perimeter of the market so, I walked over to a food stall close to where the procession would come to an end. There, I purchased a load of food stuffs and biscuits and, with my purchases at the ready, awaited the arrival of the Monks.

It's not that easy trying to fit at least one item into each Monk's begging bowl as they don't pause for you but, continue on their slow march so, where I missed one, he would march on and I would have to continue with the next Monk in the line.

After the older Monks came the novices, and then the small young boys who could be no older than seven years of ago yet had already decided to dedicate their lives to the teachings of Buddha.

I fan out of things to give so, I simply grabbed more stock from the display in front of the stall and, ripping open the packaging, continued on with my task. The stallholders looked on in amazement and satisfaction as I grabbed item after item from their shelves and gave them to the Monks.

The smallest were last and, had little in their bowls while the Monks at the head of the queue had bowls overflowing with food and products.

I tried to make sure every Monk had at least something in their bowl, whether it be a packet of rice crackers, biscuits or lollies.

I was very taken by the serenity of the Monks from the eldest to the very youngest. They were very disciplined while performing this age old ritual.

We discovered later that the Monks pooled all the food and shared it out; So I needn't have worried about the smallest missing out.