Gelongs and Gelongmas take the noon meal

January 04, 2009, report by Karma Palmo, photos taken by Karma Lekcho


Each day during the Kagyu Monlam, all the gelongs and gelongmas are required to eat the noon meal together in the main Shrine Hall at Tergar Monastery. The Hall is prepared with rows of cushions and mats by volunteers, and begging bowls are also laid out before each place. Servers fill the bowls in advance with rice, vegetables and dhal, and other vegetarian combinations, all of which have been cooked with devotion and care by volunteer cooks. Fruit or fruit juice is also placed beside the bowls.

At about 11.30 the gelongs and gelongmas begin arriving at Tergar Monastery from the Mahabodhi Stupa after completing the second session of the day, put on their chogos and carry their dingwas into the Hall in silence. Soon the entire Shrine Hall is filled with many lines of seated yellow-robed monastics. First the food offering prayer is chanted and then novice monks move along the lines of gelongs, kneeling in front of each one to lift their bowl and give it to them. The bowl must be received in both hands in a prescribed manner. Novice nuns hand the begging bowls to the gelongmas, turn by turn. The meal is eaten in silence, while servers continue to move among the monastics with second helpings.

After everyone has finished eating, the disciplinarian monk in charge rings a small bell three times, at which point all the begging bowls are replaced onto their stands in unison. The Heart Sutra and final dedication prayers are chanted to conclude the meal. An hour remains for resting, and then all the monastics return to the Mahabodhi Stupa for the third session of the day.

On the first day of the 26th Kagyu Monlam, His Holiness Gyalwang Karmapa attended the midday meal. He entered the Shrine Hall and walked along the rows of monastics, checking to see that everyone was holding the begging bowls and eating in accordance with his new Kagyu Monlam codes of conduct for monastics. When the meal was completed and final prayers chanted, His Holiness addressed the assembly. He gave some general advice to the monks and nuns and told them that whoever had not committed the Heart Sutra to memory should quickly memorize it, as it will be chanted daily at the monastics’ noon meal during the Kagyu Monlam. He also said that Tibetan monastics should follow the example of monasteries of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition, such as Chinese and Korean Buddhism, where all monastics know the Heart Sutra, and it is recited daily and is an important and integral part of monastic life.