“No Beggars Here” Photograph

Many people from non-Buddhist cultures mistakenly call the alms bowl carried by monks a begging bowl. The monks are not begging, they are providing a service to the community who can earn merit by donating food and paying respects to the “robe” (not the individual monk).

And in a different situation a woman in this position might seem to be begging but here she is simply paying her religious respects, which in this particular case isn’t begging for forgiveness.

Then there are many dogs on the streets of Thailand that live a life of begging but here it was a well-fed pet left to wander around the busy street for a while. The woman was holding a cup of ‘holy’ water and the dog was just being inquisitive at an inappropriate moment.

Photograph taken at dawn at Chiang Mai Gate market, Thailand.