Earlier, when the MCO was just being implemented, I remember seeing in Facebook the picture of a Buddhist monk giving away a mask to a member of the public. I thought that nice but peculiar for I haven't seen a Buddhist monk doing that before. More often, from him, one would just get a talisman consisting of an orange thread to be worn on the wrist like a bracelet or the most, some holy water sprinkled on when in a temple. By definition, a monk, Buddhist or otherwise, is someone who lives a solitary life, practising religious asceticism by monastic living, either alone or with some other monks. This is true of even a Theravada monk but in addition to this, some people would sometimes think that a Buddhist monk leads a life of mendicancy, going on a morning almsround daily, getting food from the goodwill of the laypeople. Lay Buddhists like my niece however do find giving food to monks an opportunity to do dana and to cultivate generosity. A monk after giving up the mundane life and not having a penny to his name can, I suppose do dana too.
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