04. monk fashion vs. novice fashion
During this trip & subsequent trips to Laos, the cat encountered many questions about monks' robes. On discovering that it was Buddhist, Western tourists usually quizzed it about the Theravada tradition - stuff like why Burmese monks wear maroon but Lao monks wear orange & some Thai monks wear ขนุน (khanun aka. jackfruit - dull brown dye from the wood of the jackfruit tree). The most popular question from Laotians - on discovering that Mahayana is the dominant tradition in Singapore - was (& still is), how the heck do Mahayana monks practise kungfu in their robes?? Thanks to the Hong Kong film industry & TVB drama serials, in the minds of many Laotians & Thais, Mahayana = Shaolin...!
During the discussion on clot, clots & clotting, ex-novice Reebok cap jumped up, grabbed an outer robe lying near us, & started folding away as all of us stared in shock...laymen aren't supposed to fool around with robes like that...'NOVICE FASHION!' he proudly declared as he draped his handiwork around his T-shirt & bermudas...& then unravelled everything & started wrapping, twisting & rolling...You know how? an incredulous Monk TYF asked, knowing that his village-mate had never been a full monk before...'I see monk do before many time...MONK FASHION!' he declared, as the rest fell over laughing at his half-baked efforts & the cat fell over laughing at his use of the word 'fashion' :P The final verdict on Reebok cap's attempt...
cat: What do you think? Pass or fail?
Monk TYF: FAIL!
Anyway, the cat learnt something new - that in Laos, monks & novices wear their outer robes differently i.e. 'style' depends on 'status'. This makes it easy to distinguish between them, unlike in Thailand, where 'style' depends on the occasion & one's role in it, & things can be more confusing.
In both countries, Theravada monks dress in what Reebok cap termed 'monk fashion' for chanting sessions within the temple, & also when leaving the temple to go on alms round. But during ordination ceremonies, while all other monks turn up in 'monk fashion', the person being ordained is robed in what Reebok cap described as 'novice fashion', even if he is being ordained as a 227-precept monk rather than a 10-precept novice. 'Novice fashion' is also more practical for monks practising vipassana meditation, as it is less likely to unravel.
In other situations, while monks & novices in Laos have to stick to their respective 'fashions', their Thai counterparts can wear their outer robes either way, depending on personal preference or individual temple/school protocol. Monk TYF had to get used to dressing in the 'novice fashion' of his younger days again when he moved to Thailand & was instructed to turn up for all university exams in that 'style'.
For some reason, quite a few Westerners get the impression that the various shades of saffron/maroon/orange robe cloth correspond with seniority...in actual fact it's a matter of tradition in some situations (in Thailand, Dhammayut monks stick to khanun), while in most instances, it's simply a matter of personal choice (from whatever laymen have donated). Two years later when Monk V pointed at his entire wardrobe in his kuti & commented that having a set each of contrasting shades makes it more obvious that he is a 'hygienic monk' who changes his robes daily, the cat laughed out loud as all the questions on colour that Westerners had asked it before came to mind.
Other 'wat fashion' questions the cat has been asked to answer/translate for monks to answer include:
Why do they carry umbrellas when it isn't raining?
Tropical sun burns shaven scalps.
Why are they allowed to carry only black or brown umbrellas?
Just the two most common colours that laymen donate to them. Black is preferred - transmits less sunlight from above & reflects less heat & glare from the ground. But they have to accept whatever is given, which can result in situations like this. Once the cat had to suppress a laughing fit when a monk friend carried an umbrella with the large logo of the skincare product brand OLAY emblazoned on it.
& probably the most hilarious...
Do novices end up with darker/sunburnt right shoulders?
Most are already quite tan to begin with, & don't burn as easily as fair-skinned Caucasians, but it does happen to a few. Beneath all the colours & robes, everyone is just human :)
Monday, April 20, 2009
Monday, March 09, 2009
291206 orange clots
03. clot, clots & clotting
The teachers started pointing at all sorts of stuff & quizzing the cat on the English terms for each object. When it came to the naga carvings...
Monk TYF: This?
cat: Naga (as pronounced in Lao/Thai)
Monk TYF: Naga? You sure? N-A-G-A?
cat: Yes
Monk TYF: Have tourist tell me that correct way for N-A-G-A is pronounced 'na-jar'
cat: ...
For the record, the 'G' in 'naga' is pronounced like the 'G's in 'golden goose'.
After they ran out of things around us to point at, they started taking out all sorts of stuff & quizzing the cat on the English terms for each item. & then they picked up someone's jiworn (outer robe) lying near us...leading to a struggle over 'cloth', 'clothes' & 'clothing', which quite a few Lao & Thai tend to pronounce as 'clot', 'clots' & 'clotting' respectively...
Bedsheet-sized saffron 'clots':
Made by sewing together panels of 'clot' in five columns of staggered rectangles - identical to the layout of rice fields in Magadha, India. During Buddha's time, both Buddhist & non-Buddhist mendicants in India made their robes from bits of discarded cloth (pāmsūda aka. pāmsūla e.g. cloth that had been worn by the dead/burial shrouds, munched by oxen, burnt by fire, gnawed by mice, etc) scavenged from places like cremation grounds & trash heaps.
There was no standard pattern for piecing the scraps together. This confused King Bimbasara, who wanted to dismount to pay his respects to any Buddhist monk he met along his way - how was he to distinguish them from mendicants of other traditions from afar? A request for uniformity was put to Buddha, who then asked Ananda to come up with a standard design that has lasted till today...the same pattern is used for the outer robes worn by Chinese monks in the Mahayana tradition, but with bright red cloth & the pattern outlined in gold:
Buddha Tooth Relic Temple, Singapore
The teachers were pretty shocked to hear that devout Chinese Mahayana Buddhist laypeople do wear robes (e.g. at left in above photo) for chanting sessions & ceremonies within temples - black ones called 海青 (hai3 qing1) & dark brown outer robes called 缦衣 (man4 yi1)...Another detail in that photo that would shock them was how laypeople (including women) could stand with their heads higher than those of monks.
Myriad uses of old 'clots':
Photos from 2007 & 2008 in Vientiane & Sakon Nakhon
Clockwise from upper left - to protect Holy 'kidnap victim' from construction dust; to partition off a sleeping area for two very young novices, & hide their Doraemon from the old chief monk of the province who shares the same living quarters; cord belt to keep unruly bamboo stems in place; bedding for temple cat.
The teachers started pointing at all sorts of stuff & quizzing the cat on the English terms for each object. When it came to the naga carvings...
Monk TYF: This?
cat: Naga (as pronounced in Lao/Thai)
Monk TYF: Naga? You sure? N-A-G-A?
cat: Yes
Monk TYF: Have tourist tell me that correct way for N-A-G-A is pronounced 'na-jar'
cat: ...
For the record, the 'G' in 'naga' is pronounced like the 'G's in 'golden goose'.
After they ran out of things around us to point at, they started taking out all sorts of stuff & quizzing the cat on the English terms for each item. & then they picked up someone's jiworn (outer robe) lying near us...leading to a struggle over 'cloth', 'clothes' & 'clothing', which quite a few Lao & Thai tend to pronounce as 'clot', 'clots' & 'clotting' respectively...
Bedsheet-sized saffron 'clots':
Made by sewing together panels of 'clot' in five columns of staggered rectangles - identical to the layout of rice fields in Magadha, India. During Buddha's time, both Buddhist & non-Buddhist mendicants in India made their robes from bits of discarded cloth (pāmsūda aka. pāmsūla e.g. cloth that had been worn by the dead/burial shrouds, munched by oxen, burnt by fire, gnawed by mice, etc) scavenged from places like cremation grounds & trash heaps.
There was no standard pattern for piecing the scraps together. This confused King Bimbasara, who wanted to dismount to pay his respects to any Buddhist monk he met along his way - how was he to distinguish them from mendicants of other traditions from afar? A request for uniformity was put to Buddha, who then asked Ananda to come up with a standard design that has lasted till today...the same pattern is used for the outer robes worn by Chinese monks in the Mahayana tradition, but with bright red cloth & the pattern outlined in gold:
Buddha Tooth Relic Temple, Singapore
The teachers were pretty shocked to hear that devout Chinese Mahayana Buddhist laypeople do wear robes (e.g. at left in above photo) for chanting sessions & ceremonies within temples - black ones called 海青 (hai3 qing1) & dark brown outer robes called 缦衣 (man4 yi1)...Another detail in that photo that would shock them was how laypeople (including women) could stand with their heads higher than those of monks.
Myriad uses of old 'clots':
Photos from 2007 & 2008 in Vientiane & Sakon Nakhon
Clockwise from upper left - to protect Holy 'kidnap victim' from construction dust; to partition off a sleeping area for two very young novices, & hide their Doraemon from the old chief monk of the province who shares the same living quarters; cord belt to keep unruly bamboo stems in place; bedding for temple cat.
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