Breakfast for the Buddha, monks and hungry ghosts

Inviting Buddhist monks for a meal is a highly meritorious act and synonymous with ‘generosity’ (dāna) itself. Alms givings can be done for a number of reasons but the most common occasion is the commemoration of deceased relatives. Such alms givings for the dead (mataka-dāna) usually take place on the seventh day after the death occurred, after three months and then annually. The merit accruing from the alms giving is then offered to the dead. Alms givings are also good occasions to observe the Buddhist commensal community, headed by the Buddha, and the interaction between Buddhist monks and laity. The video is part of a set of documentaries which look at the cosmology that emerges from the kitchens of Sri Lanka. The project was in part funded by the Leverhulme Trust.