Martial Law declared all over Buddhist Thailand

Wisdom Quarterly; Pacifica Radio, Berkeley (KPFA.org); G.P. Malalasekera

Martial law was declared throughout the most Buddhist country in the world this morning with an announcement from the military, Pacifica is reporting from Berkeley, claiming that it is due to the interim "caretaker" governing PM refusing to step down. Monastics are presumably trapped in hermitages unable to seek alms food (pindapat') as is done daily throughout the country according to ancient tradition laid down by the Buddha.

Going on Alms round

G.P. Malalasekera; Wisdom Quarterly (Pinda Sutta)

Buddha walking (WQ)

Once the Buddha was at Pañcasālā when the day came for all young people to send gifts to one another.

The Buddha went on alms round to the village as was the custom of wandering ascetics in India. But the villagers, influenced by Māra, gave nothing, and he returned with his bowl empty.

Māra tried to influence the Buddha to go a second time, but he refused to do so (S.i.113; the incident is also found at DhA.iii., p. 257f).

The Commentary explains (SA.i.141) that Māra did not want the Buddha to accept the gifts of the maidens and to preach to them, because then they would pass beyond his lustful, fearful, delusive influence.

"Little Buddhist monks" - child novices (photos)

Eds., Wisdom Quarterly; Dietmar Temps (dietmartemps.com, DeepBlue66/flickr.com)

Novitiate initiation in Pagan, Burma (Bagan, Myanmar)

Dressed like Prince Rahula

For a boy in Burma it is customary to enter a Buddhist monastery as a novice (samanera, "little ascetic") between the ages of 7-20.
 
One has his head shaven and vows to adhere to ten precepts (rather than the monks' 227 rules) for at least a week.

The renunciation ceremony

Sometimes the boys are even younger, in rare cases only 5 or 6 years old. For Burmese people, the novitiate initiation is a very important ceremony and a big event for the family.

The temporary ordination ceremony is called Shinbyu in Burmese. The practice is not limited to Theravada Buddhists in Southeast Asia but is practiced throughout the Buddhist world except in Sri Lanka where temporary ordination is not done. The first Buddhist novice was the Buddha's son, Prince Rahula, who became a monastic at age 7.

The first novice

Rahula, his father the Buddha, and Ananda

Rāhula (who lived at least 25 centuries ago) was the only son of Prince Siddhartha Gautama (who later became the ascetic Siddhartha and then the Buddha) and his wife Bimba-devi (who is known to the world as Princess Yasodharā then the Buddhist nun Ven. Bhaddakaccānā). He was the first child to become a Buddhist novice (samanera) at his father's behest. One account of his life is given in the Pāli language canon. More

Bang the gong not the tympani, venerable. I'll ring the bell, handle the vajra. You guys chant.

Vajrayana child novices enjoy temporary ordination throughout the Himalayas -- in India (Ladakh, Dharmsala, AP, HP, Sikkim...), Nepal, Bhutan, Tibet, China (dietmartemps.com)

Dietmar Temps is a world class photographer who travels the globe to bring to light cultures and kids rapidly fading into memory due to Western hegemony and the homogenization of the planet (dietmartemps.com).