The Alms-Round in Early Buddhism from an Educational Media Perspective

Abstract

The essence of the alms-round lies in the encounter-one that begins with the practitioner's self-refinement of the mind and culminates in a shared silence with the donor. Crucial to this process is how this 'silence' is transformed into learning. This study reveals that the alms-round, through the repeated practices of eating and arranging the alms bowl, functions as a non-verbal educational process through which life attitudes and communal values are acquired and embodied. The core consists of three elements: mobility that engages practitioners with the world, openness accessible to everyone, and circularity embedded in everyday life. these elements are sustained by an inner balance[meditation(Samādhi)] serves as the internal foundation of this educational communication structure. Cultivated through meditation, serves as the foundational force sustaining this communal educational ecosystem by creating a relational space of pause-a space that tempers desire and immediate reactions, enabling individuals to encounter one another as they truly are. In early Buddhism, the alms-round functioned as a relationship-based educational system, providing a communicative framework in which individual cultivation and communal growth continuously shaped and sustained one another. Far from being a mere means of transmitting knowledge, it embodied a relational process of learning through which wisdom was continuously cultivated, enacted, and reproduced in the silent rhythm of everyday practice. In conclusion, the alms-round functions as an educational medium that embodies a non-verbal and cyclical process of learning, offering a sustainable educational paradigm for rethinking the challenges confronting contemporary education.