Pindacāra, the practice of collecting alms-food, is observed by Theravada Buddhist monks who have gone forth from ‘home-life’ to ‘homelessness’. A Buddhist monk is known in Pāli Language as a ‘bhikkhu’ – meaning ‘one who lives on alms’.

In Buddhist countries such as Thailand and Myanmar, it is a daily ritual for monks to go onPindacāra, where they walk through a village from one household to another, allowing devotees to make food offerings.