annual religious festivals (Buddhist Monk, 2002).
             A Buddhists monk is not required to make a lifetime commitment, there are those who wear the robes for only a brief period of time - a few weeks, a few months, even a few days - as well as those who remain in monk-hood for many years or a lifetime.
             In Theravadin Buddhist countries, a man is regarded as 'unfinished' if he has not served, for however briefly, as a monk. Therefore, most young men will be ordained, usually before marriage, for a period of three months, during the rainy season lasting from mid July to mid October. A motive for a short-term ordination is to 'earn merit' for one's parents. Another is to prepare oneself for life as a layman, householder, and family head.
             While in robes, the short-term monk lives under the same conditions and with the same discipline as the long-term monk. Each morning he makes his neighborhood rounds carrying his alms bowl, in which local residents place food for his sustenance. When a monk goes on his
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