I foolishly decided to ignore Ajahn R.’s advice and wear the double layered robe at the alms round. As expected, I failed spectacularly as the inside robe started coming loose about half-way through the walk. Luckily I had gotten used to everything else during the alms round like keeping the bowl steady and secure so it was somehow manageable. This was really the worst day to do it on as it was Magha Puja. There were a lot more people than usual so the robe got really loose each time I had to empty the bowl. On days like these the monks must wear the shoulder cloth to listen to the abbot give a talk before the meal so I must remember to bring it next time. Thankfully Nen P. reminded me as I was there early but didn’t have it.

There was no ovata and there was more food than usual as it was a special day. Even fried chicken was offered, which I could not resist. The rest of the day was the same as before with the meditation marathon. I was 15 minutes late as I took a longer than usual nap but I felt refreshed during the sitting meditation. Walking meditation was better too.

There’s patimokkha today but since I’m a visiting monk, I was not allowed to attend. There’s a rule saying that only monks who had ordained following the same practice can be present for the event in that monastery. Since I ordained following at another monastery under a different tradition, I could not attend. Instead I waited in the kuti writing this by the candle light hoping the tukkaes don’t somehow find their way in.

The patimokkha was held in the bot which is the ceremonial hall. It’s got a rather modern design compared to other buildings and houses important relics. While the patimokkha was going on, visiting or “external” monks were not allowed within a 100m radius of the building.

Since it was patimokkha and Magha Puja there were special events for the lay people as well. The monks did a lot of chanting which I had absolutely no idea about but the worst was to follow. All the monastics and laypeople would walk around the area of the sala and the bot in a long line three times bare foot. Half of the path were pebbles which were really painful to walk on. It’s a different kind of pain compared to walking on the road as the pebbles were much larger. During the whole thing we also had to hold up candles and incense sticks which were constantly blowing smoke in our eyes.

The whole thing ended at around 10pm and would be followed by a 2 hour dhamma talk given by the abbot followed by an all nighter which always follows a Wan Phra. Tan A. kindly told me before the talk that it wasn’t compulsory and it could go on for a while. I was absolutely knackered so I decided to leave even before the talk started and straight to bed.

pāṭimokkha The basic code of monastic discipline which is recited fortnightly in the Pāli language, consisting of 227 rules for monks (bhikkhus) and 311 for nuns (bhikkhunīs)