The ThotPha Pa: “ThotPha Pa” literally means “laying down of forest cloth”. In actual practice a piece of cloth is placed on a branch of a tree in the forest, for any passing monk to take and use as a robe. As a monk may not ask and receive a robe from any except in certain conditions (for example the Kathin robe), a person who wants to offer a robe to a monk could do so by hanging a cloth somewhere for a monk to take as his own. This is the original meaning of “ThotPha Pa”.
In actual practice those who wish to “ThotPha Pa” will hang a robe somewhere. Usually a small earthen jar is filled with articles for the monk, including a robe. In the middle of the jar there is a small tree or a branch of the tree. On many small branches, small articles are hung, chiefly a monk them is a towel folded into a form of a gibbon to represent a forest. This jar of goods is carried into the temple. A monk will come to touch the robe with his right hand silently saying in Pali which may be translates thus: “this cloth is own by nobody. It is a rag from a dust heap. It ought to belong to me”. He then takes it along with the other things.
The ThotPhaPa is may be offered at any time regardless of the season. In theory, with the exception of the abbot, monks do not receive Kathin robes. Most monks do not have sufficient robes and the robe from ThotPha Pa relieves them of such difficulty.
The ThotPha Pa may be undertaken individually or may be organized by a group or party.