Blessed
We're admiring a temple in Chiang Mai when a monk asks us to come and talk to him. After the usual smalltalk he says a prayer whilst flicking us with water. Would we like to make a donation? Of course! Before he can stop me, I post a couple of notes into a donations box. He looks crestfallen and explains that he'd have prefered a personal donation - for him, not the temple. Suddenly I'm cynical again... I mean it hardly seems to align with the Buddhist ideal of a monk having no material belongings. I've since heard that many monks enroll for the educational opportunities rather than to be devout Buddhists.