New monk, novices from Moo Paa team on their first alms-reception

CHIANG RAI, July 26 (TNA) -- The 11 newly ordained novices of the Moo Paa Academy football club and their football coach who becomes a monk received alms for the first time after their ordination in Chiang Rai province yesterday. Phra Phutthiwong Wiwat, abbot of Wat Phra That Doi Tung which was the venue of the ordination, led the 12 monk and novices to receive alms within the Buddhist temple in Chiang Rai’s Mae Sai district. Families and local people waited to give alms there in early morning. Eight friends from the same football club of the novices followed the abbot-led procession and helped handle donated alms. All the new monk and novices looked bright and calm. They prayed for blessings for donors. Then Phra Phutthiwong Wiwat taught the new monk and novices about meditation. They were advised to forget about the past including their ordeal in Tham Luang cave where they had been trapped by floods for 18 days. The abbot also taught them to focus on the present and ignore concern about the future. The meditation session lasted 30 minutes before the 12 monk and novices left for Wat Phra That Doi Wao where they would stay until Aug 3. Relatives of the 12 monk and novices were set to present them another meal at Wat Phra That Doi Wao and the 12 would later join prayers for His Majesty the King at Wat Tham Sao Hin in Mae Sai district in the afternoon. (TNA)