Making offerings to me now & making offerings to me in the future will produce equal merit. This is due to the blessing power of the Buddha, but ordinary beings cannot understand this. Buddhist monks/nuns own few things: robes/offering bowl. They shave their heads to lead a simple Sangha life/are not concerned about their outward appearance, but with their spirituality. The shaven head means they renounced their home life/are part of the Buddhist Sangha. They go to people asking for food, take whatever is offered to them/won't beg for anything. This practice makes them humble/gives people an opportunity to donate/gain virtue. In some countries, lay people go to the Buddhist monasteries to make offerings. The robes the monks/nuns wear are simple, made from cotton or linen. The color of the robes changes from country to country depending on the Buddhist beliefs/practices. In Thailand Buddhists wear yellow robes, in Japan black, China & Korea, gray & brown & in Tibet dark red robes are their dress practice. Robes & offering bowls are part of the Buddhism practice of monks & nuns. The Buddha said, "Just as a bird takes its wings with it wherever it flies, so the monk takes his robes & bowl with him wherever he goes." Beggars Tale After an extensive search, two of his closest disciples found Tosui living among beggars. His hair & beard were wild, his Buddhist robe was tattered, & his begging bowl was broken which often meant death to a monk. Tosui berated the two for interfering with his desire to be left alone & stalked off. One disciple continued to pester him; Tosui relented, & they set off together. At the side of the road Tosui discovered the body of a dead beggar & set about to bury him with his own hands. He then insisted that the disciple accompany him in eating what food remained in the beggar's bowl, but the disciple was overcome with disgust. Tosui sent him off to go study under a teacher in another lineage.
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