--- Ole Holten Pind <oleholtenpind@...> skrev:

> they were begging for food as the canon describes in
> innumerable instances.
> what else would they live from. you will find
> Buddhaghosa commenting upon
> the word bhikkhu in the same way. bhik.sus were
> welknown to Panini.

I would like to ask the native Anglophones in this
list:

Does the English word "beg" have the same stylistic
value as Pali "bhikkhati"?

To my ears, "beg" gives some associations to
aggressivety, which of course should not be associated
with pindapata; and I know some Buddhist teachers who
therefore avoid the word "begging" for the bhikkhus
receiving food.

In any case, according to the Dhammapada, begging
alone is not enough to make a bhikkhu in the Buddhist
sense of the word (na tena bhikkhu hoti yaavataa
bhikkhate pare).

Gunnar