I’m in the back of a grab car in Bangkok at this very moment but wanted to post some of the photographs that I just took of this historic place.
10 Likes
2 Likes
The alms bowl is a very beautiful symbol of renunciation.
As far as I am aware, in India, only the Buddhist contemplatives carried on with the practice of using it as main vessel for collecting alms and as well packing and carrying around their belongings .
Few years ago I found out that in central Asia some of the Sufi wanderers made use of alms bowls as well, which they called kashkul / keskul.
4 Likes
The one in the second picture is made from the outer husk of a coco de mer. Here’s another, albeit much more elaborately carved:
The seeds of Lodoicea have been highly prized over the centuries; their rarity caused great interest and high prices in royal courts, and the tough outer seed coat has been used to make bowls such as for Sufi/Dervish beggar-alms kashkul bowls and other instruments.
6 Likes