What is the difference between the different colors of robes worn by monks?

The colors of the monk's robe prescribed in the Buddhist scriptures are ten colors, and the specific color names are all Sanskrit or some kind of object, not a specific color. The color of the robe cannot be "superior" or solid, including "black", and other colors include yellow, cyan, and red.

There are some differences, different colors, representing different identities and statuses, because there are also hosts and ordinary believers in the temple.

If it is blue, it is an ascetic, and if it is yellow, it is an abbot or abbot.

The different colors of the robes worn by the monks represent different sects, and through the different colors, they indicate which sect they belong to.

Buddhism emphasizes the equality of all beings, so there is no hierarchy in Buddhist clothing.

According to the Buddhist system, monk's robes.

There are three large, medium and small pieces:

The small clothes sewn with five strips of cloth, commonly known as the five clothes in our country, are worn when cleaning and laboring; The middle clothes sewn from seven strips of cloth, commonly known as seven clothes in our country, are usually worn; The coat sewn from nine or even twenty-five strips of cloth, commonly known as the ancestral coat in our country, is a ceremonial dress, that is, the oblique coat, which is worn when participating in activities or seeing the elders. The three clothes are collectively called robes.

Regulations on the color of monk's robes

According to Indian Buddhism.

In the old system, the color of monks' robes was strictly regulated.

In the eighth volume of the Vinima Sutra, it is said: "The bhikshus take off their clothes, and the Buddha listens to ten colors." Ten Colors:

One mud, two bharva bark, three bhara bark, four non-grasses, five ganda, six walnut roots, seven amole leaves, eight gandra bark, nine shita bark, ten kinds of miscellaneous and dyed. If so, these ten colors should be dyed. It is a three-point cleaning method for clothing, one with mud, two with green, and three with uneven color, using these three kinds of three-point clean clothes.

Saba Dhabini Vibhasha

In the eighth volume, it is said: Clothes must not be colored with yellow, red, blue, and black. There are also solid colors, such as yellow and blue, and tulip.

Falling sand, green daisy.

and all the young shall not be used.

In the fifteenth volume of the Ten Vinayas, it is said that if a bhikshu obtains new clothes, such as green clothes, mud clothes, red clothes, yellow clothes, red clothes, and white clothes, he should use the three colors of green, mud, and madli.

In the 28th volume of the Vinaya of the Mahasangha, it says, "The bhikshus do not listen to the colored clothes, but they should dye the roots, the leaves, the flowers, the bark, and the juice of the great mills. ”

The above text illustrates two points: first, the color of the monk's clothing is not allowed to be colored or solid: second, all new clothes must have a place with another color, so as to destroy the neatness of the color of the clothes and avoid greed, which is called "bad color" or "point clean".

The above content refers to the Encyclopedia - Monk's Clothing.

There are two main rules in Buddhism regarding the color of monks' clothes. First, the color is not allowed to be colored or solid. The second is that all new clothes must be dotted with another color in order to destroy the neatness of the clothes and avoid coveting wear, which is called "bad color" or "dotted clean".

Although there are still many choices in the color of monks' clothes in the early days of Buddhism, red was used as the color of clothing in the early days of Buddhism, so when Buddhism first entered China in the Han Dynasty, monks also "wore red clothes".

The climate in the north is cold, and the monks are not enough to have three clothes, so the monks in our country wear another kind of regular clothes in the robes, which is slightly changed from the clothing of the ancient laity. The color of the regular clothes, the emperor of the Ming Dynasty once made a stipulation, the regular clothes of the monks of Zen meditation are brown, the monks of the scriptures are blue, and the monks of the Vinaya are black. After the Qing Dynasty, there were no official regulations, but since the revival of the lawyer in the early Qing Dynasty, the general monks' clothes are yellow.

In the Three Kingdoms period, the color of the monks' clothes was influenced by the color of the Taoist priests' clothes and gradually tended to be the color of the cloth (that is, there was a slight red meaning in the black), so at that time the monks began to be called "Tie Yi" or "Tie Liu".

During the Tang Dynasty, Empress Wu gave purple robes to nine people including Shamen Farang in accordance with the regulations of the Tang Dynasty for more than three grades of purple, so in the Tang and Song dynasties, they have always been proud of giving purple robes. On the other hand, because of his obsession with red, he also respects the vermilion robe the most.

After the Tang and Song dynasties, the color freedom of monks' robes was greater. In the early years of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty, a perfect color system for monks' uniforms was formulated. At that time, Buddhism was divided into three categories: Zen (Zen Buddhism), preaching (Tiantai, Huayan, Faxiangzong), and teaching (also known as law, engaged in funeral rites and rituals), and it was stipulated that Zen monks wore brown clothes, green silk and jade-colored robes; The monks wore jade-colored robes, green silk and light red robes; Monks wear soap robes, black silk and light red robes.