Robe material?

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Alix1112
Posts: 12
Joined: Wed Jul 31, 2013 8:37 pm

Robe material?

Post by Alix1112 »

I am receiving the five precepts on Monday and have been in the refuge of the Three Jewels since July 7th at my local Fo Guang Shan. It has been a unusually warm summer here....pity I don't enjoy heat at all. And wearing a polyester haiqing robe during ceremonies haven't helped make things feel any cooler.

I wanted to ask if any practioners who wore robes for ceremonies or any monastics on the forum could tell me if haiqing robes/kasayas (or 'man yi) were available in any other materials than polyester/man made substances and if so - where I could order them. The only ones I've been able to find locally are made of 100% polyester...a little too toasty for my liking :emb:
ལྔ་བརྒྱ་ཐ་མར་གྱུར་པ་ན། །
ང་ཉིད་ཡི་གེའི་གཟུགས་སུ་གནས། །
ང་ཡིན་སྙམ་དུ་ཡིད་བྱོས་ལ། །
དེ་ཚེ་དེ་ལ་གུས་པར་གྱིས། །
In the last five hundred year period,
I will appear in the form of scriptures.
Consider them as identical to me,
And treat them with due respect.

- Sakyamuni Buddha
plwk
Posts: 2932
Joined: Thu Feb 25, 2010 10:41 am

Re: Robe material?

Post by plwk »

Look for (Taiwan) Cambric or cotton haiqing / manyi but it can be a bit more pricey because of special weaving, thin yet strong. Mine's Taiwan cambric and it's super cool as it's very thin but of good quality and airy. Try these sites: 1 2 3.

Do ask them in advance first as per your specs before purchasing. Another way, if you're not keen on online ordering, is to contact the local Chinese Mahayana temples in your area and enquire on them if they have the desired haiqing robes available.
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Qing Tian
Posts: 262
Joined: Mon Aug 05, 2013 12:18 pm

Re: Robe material?

Post by Qing Tian »

There is a version available through ebay that I have personally seen. It is said to made of Taiwan haircords which is, as I understand it, a cotton fabric similar to muslin. The version I have seen felt very thin and cool. Priced around US$40 if I recall correctly. Just search for 'buddhist robes'.

Apologies if this breaks the TOS (I didn't think suggesting a search route classed as advertising, and I have no connection with any sellers on ebay or anywhere else), if it does then a Mod can delete please.
“Not till your thoughts cease all their branching here and there, not till you abandon all thoughts of seeking for something, not till your mind is motionless as wood or stone, will you be on the right road to the Gate.”
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Huifeng
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Joined: Tue Nov 17, 2009 4:51 am

Re: Robe material?

Post by Huifeng »

Alix1112 wrote:I am receiving the five precepts on Monday and have been in the refuge of the Three Jewels since July 7th at my local Fo Guang Shan. It has been a unusually warm summer here....pity I don't enjoy heat at all. And wearing a polyester haiqing robe during ceremonies haven't helped make things feel any cooler.

I wanted to ask if any practioners who wore robes for ceremonies or any monastics on the forum could tell me if haiqing robes/kasayas (or 'man yi) were available in any other materials than polyester/man made substances and if so - where I could order them. The only ones I've been able to find locally are made of 100% polyester...a little too toasty for my liking :emb:
Hello Alix,

Congratulations on soon-to-be receiving of the precepts. I am a monastic with FGS, so I hope you can take my thoughts as being representative of this lineage.

I definitely agree that some other sort of robe material would be great. That worn in Taiwan is not necessarily suitable elsewhere. As far as warmth goes, however, just wear more layers underneath your haiqing and manyi (technically, for lay people, that's a manyi, not a jiashe / kasaya. It's easy, and you can adjust it to how you like it.

The thing is, those robes you find at FGS are not just FGS, they are pretty much the same anywhere now in Taiwan, HK or China. Some senior monastics may get a robe with other material, and our regular robes come in a number of different materials. But, as for lay manyi, I've seldom if ever seen it.

Best talk to your local monastics, and see what they say about it. You may not be the only one. If your local temple is keen on localization, then this is one sort of thing worth discussing. While on this topic, if I may ask where your "local" FGS is? I'm based in Taiwan, but have been in Australia and New Zealand for the last month. :smile:

~~ Huifeng
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Huifeng
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Re: Robe material?

Post by Huifeng »

Qing Tian wrote:There is a version available through ebay that I have personally seen. It is said to made of Taiwan haircords which is, as I understand it, a cotton fabric similar to muslin. The version I have seen felt very thin and cool. Priced around US$40 if I recall correctly. Just search for 'buddhist robes'.

Apologies if this breaks the TOS (I didn't think suggesting a search route classed as advertising, and I have no connection with any sellers on ebay or anywhere else), if it does then a Mod can delete please.
Thanks for this info, Qing Tian. :smile:

~~ Huifeng
Alix1112
Posts: 12
Joined: Wed Jul 31, 2013 8:37 pm

Re: Robe material?

Post by Alix1112 »

Thanks so much for all the info!

I will be looking into it and will enquire at temple/local Buddhist store about different materials for robes.

And thank you for telling me about the correct term for a manyi for lay practitioners - how does the one of a monastic differ? (just curious)
ལྔ་བརྒྱ་ཐ་མར་གྱུར་པ་ན། །
ང་ཉིད་ཡི་གེའི་གཟུགས་སུ་གནས། །
ང་ཡིན་སྙམ་དུ་ཡིད་བྱོས་ལ། །
དེ་ཚེ་དེ་ལ་གུས་པར་གྱིས། །
In the last five hundred year period,
I will appear in the form of scriptures.
Consider them as identical to me,
And treat them with due respect.

- Sakyamuni Buddha
plwk
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Joined: Thu Feb 25, 2010 10:41 am

Re: Robe material?

Post by plwk »

A monastic's precept sash has the 'field of merit' stripes or what looks like huge squares sewn on the cloth whereas the lay one is plain.
plwk
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Joined: Thu Feb 25, 2010 10:41 am

Re: Robe material?

Post by plwk »

I am just curious...
FGS normally has the refuge & lay 5 precepts together in one ceremony, 'san gui wu jie', how come is it that you are receiving them separately in two ceremonies?
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Huifeng
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Re: Robe material?

Post by Huifeng »

Usually they are in the same ceremony, but in the first and second halves, so to speak.
The robes differ as plwk has described above.

~~ Huifeng
Alix1112
Posts: 12
Joined: Wed Jul 31, 2013 8:37 pm

Re: Robe material?

Post by Alix1112 »

Interesting - at our ceremony it was purely a "Kwei Yi San Bao" thing. We finished and had lunch and...that was it.

Ah yes! I noticed that with the Abbot at temple's sash. Red/papaya shaded with large fabric squares sewn on.
ལྔ་བརྒྱ་ཐ་མར་གྱུར་པ་ན། །
ང་ཉིད་ཡི་གེའི་གཟུགས་སུ་གནས། །
ང་ཡིན་སྙམ་དུ་ཡིད་བྱོས་ལ། །
དེ་ཚེ་དེ་ལ་གུས་པར་གྱིས། །
In the last five hundred year period,
I will appear in the form of scriptures.
Consider them as identical to me,
And treat them with due respect.

- Sakyamuni Buddha
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