Laos & Cambodia: Monks on the Make?

I've never been asked for money by a monk or a novice. I've had young people in both VN (talk about strong-arm!) and Cambodia ask for money "to go to school." I've opted to give to schools or other charities instead.

Dogster has a story in one of his posts about the Tibetan monk and Boudnath asking him for money to visit his mother in Tibet. When Dogster returned to Kathmandu and next saw the monk, the monk had a brand-new cell phone!

Technically, a monk is not supposed to handle money. That's one of the things they're supposed to be giving up. In fact, monks don't "beg" as it's often described. They are "giving you the opportunity to make a donation." A subtle difference, perhaps, but the distinction is between asking and giving. Asking for food or money is bad for the soul, but giving is great for it.

No sooner had I submitted my previous post when I got this link off Twitter:
http://www.nobodyandco.it/sito/inglese/the%20buddino.html

I don't think we'll be seeing these in Bangkok any time soon.

I've had monks wanting to practice their English but never a direct request for money. According to my daughter some monks are more 'worldly' than others. She teaches English in Siem Reap and has taught a few. Some will flirt with their teacher. We have always taken offerings of fruit when visiting working pagodas as distinct from tourist sites.

One of the teenage monks I spoke to in Luang Prabang gave me his e-mail address; it was something like "hot single guy 67@yahoo.com!!" I thought that was incongruously funny.

Will: Was the French guy at the craft shop Fabrice?

Unsurprising really as most male thais and Laos will spend some time (usually up to a year) as a monk at some point in their lives. In essence, many are just ordinary guys taking a year out.

Crellston, I was going to make the same point. In Thailand, every male is expected to be a monk for some time - from a day to a year or two.

I've chatted with many monks on my travels, many want to practice English, this past year many wanted to talk about the US election. None have ever asked me for money.

Michael's distinction about "begging" vs. giving others the opportunity to make merit is an important one.

(Michael - I don't even know what to say about the pudding molds - weird.)

My guide in Laos was very upset about interactions between novices and tourists. She said monks were targeted by certain tourists as they were desired for their 'inaccessibility' as the OP put it.

In Mandalay (Burma) novices would pose and request to be photographed in various tourist sites, then demand money. At one location our guide told them how wrong it was to act that way in a holy site (a temple). Shamed, the kids gave the money back to the tourists, then asked for the money back as we walked out of the temple!

This is an interesting and helpful set of comments. Thanks for your candour about this issue, WillJame.

We just returned from Luang Prabang. We took a boat across the river to visit the wats in Xieng Mene and as we walked from Wat Long Khun to Wat Tam Xieng Mene, a young monk came running after us with three flashlights in his hands. He asked if we wanted to see Wat Tam and he would take us inside since it is a locked cave. It was one of the highlights of our trip. We had not felt comfortable approaching any monks out of respect and had kept our distance so it felt special to be able to converse one on one. He lead us from room to room and talked to us about what we were looking at. After we were back outside he started talking about his home, his poor family, etc. and hinted around about a tip. We were more than willing to give him some money, and I would do it again for what he provided us. At the time, I never even considered this was inappropriate, interesting.

BTW, we finished the hike around the hills through villages and jungle, and eventually ended up back in Xieng Mene, after a few wrong turns and encounters with locals wearing rifles and machetes. I was uncomfortable but didn't feel in danger. Just be warned that the trail gets small and there are a lot of unmarked turns.

Christine

Ekscrunchy, yes, it was undoubtedly Frabrice, the owner of Naga Creations, I was referring to. I could not remember his name or shop, but your wonderful trip report supplied the details that enabled me to identify him. He is a font of information and opinions. E.g., Laos people are less 'mercantile' than other SE Asians, as they will only work to make enough money to get the things they need. Real estate in Luang Prabang is the most expensive in SE Asia so the city will become a 'place of (costly) boutiques.' Big hotels will be kept out; the locals would not sell their school property to a large western chain, even for millions of dollars: education is more important to them than bucks. I

Sorry, I just misspelled Fabrice as Frabrice.
Probably we should be distinguishing novices from full-fledged monks or bhikkhus. The fellow we met at Angkor Wat made a point of telling us that he was a fully ordained monk, at which point, he emphasized, he "became holy." For an interesting article, just discovered, that deals with rapist monks, thieving monks, and fake monks, see http://tinyurl.com/c27ny5
And as for monks not directly handling money, I noticed that the monks at the little temple at the foot of Phou Si Mountain asked you, when you purchased something, to put your money on the counter rather than handing it to them.
Qu: Will Gpanda count this as a trip report?
Will

On my trip to Laos in January I too was apprached by a monk while walking through a temple in Luang Prabang. At first I just thought it was another monk wanting to practice his english with me and I was more than willing to have a conversation. He asked me if I wanted to see his living quarters that he shared with a roommate. His roommate was in the room and he showed me his books and then brought out his material from a college he wanted to go to. His roommate looked at me and made a hint that I was about the be hit up for money, almost saying it sarcastically. At that point he started his well practiced speech about how he wishes to further his education but his family is poor. I was really taken aback, because I was under the assumption that monks would never do this. To me, it just tarnished any future encounters with monks thinking that anyone that wishes to talk to me has a motive. Its the only time this has happened and was very curious how many others have had this experience.

I'm glad to see this come up.

I have been approached by novices, more than once, letting me know that they would be happy to "take a donation toward their education", both in Cambodia and Lao. Their spiel is as rehearsed as the bracelet sellers at Angkor Wat.

Not sure if I blame them or myself for holding them up to be more than what they are - ambitious men in saffron robes. The sad thing is that it might cause people who encounter this to paint with a broad brush all monks everywhere as being greedy opportunists, and certainly most are not.

By the way, I have never seen a monk in Cambodia that wasn't more than happy to handle money, just as soon as he puts his cigarette out. I'm kidding. Sorta.