..续本文上一页quite exalted ones, which are out of one”s range and only another extension of one”s ego. A person who practices the Dhamma for a while gets to know his strength and weaknesses and will know therefore what it possible for him to undertake. At the end of the Rains, having accomplished one”s vows without a break, one feels that something worthwhile has been done. And sometimes these temporary practices have a lasting effect — the smoker does not go back to tobacco, or the meditator finds that his practice goes so much better that he continues to sit twice a day, and so on.

　　During the Rains residence, some lay people in Buddhist countries undertake one or two of the austere practices which were allowed by the Buddha for bhikkhus.[23] It is not possible for lay people to practice most of them but Acariya Buddhaghosa in his "Path of Purification" (Visuddhimagga) has written there (Ch. II para 92) that they can undertake the One-sessioner”s practice and the bowl-food-eater”s practice. For an isolated Buddhist who goes out to work, even these two could not be practiced.

　　The One-sessioner”s practice means eating one meal in one session a day. Practiced strictly a person does not even drink foods (such as milk and milk beverages) at other times but having sat down eats enough to last for twenty-four hours.

　　The Bowl-food-eater”s practice is undertaken when a person does not have many plates and dishes but puts all the food to be eaten on one vessel — the sweet with the main part of the meal, though without necessarily mixing them.

　　Both practices are good for limiting greed for food, for fine flavors and desires for fine textures, etc. Food is taken by such lay people as a medicine which is necessary to cure the disease of hunger. It is not used for the satisfaction of sensual desires. Particularly for greed characters (in which greed or desire is the strongest of the Roots of Evil) such restraint can be valuable.

　　And if during the Rains one cannot do anything else, at least one should at this time practice dana to the best of one”s ability and in whatever personal ways it is possible to give. Impersonal giving, for instance, having amounts stopped out of one”s wage packet, should be avoided as there is little or no good kamma made in such ways. It may be that giving time and sympathy with the effort to help others may be more effective than giving money or goods. The Rains traditionally is the time when lay people have the chance to increase their practice of dana and even though one may not live near to the Sangha there are still plenty of opportunities for giving.

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