Meaning of robes

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HandsomeMonkeyking
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Joined: Tue Apr 14, 2015 12:36 pm

Meaning of robes

Post by HandsomeMonkeyking »

I wondered what the meaning of the different robes is.
Especially this one:
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gohonzon
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Location: United Kingdom

Re: Meaning of robes

Post by gohonzon »

Vestments are part of any religious institution.

Oftentimes they start as robes of humility, then as donation increases, so does the ornamental symbolism and quality gets added to the robe and various accessories giving it various symbols depending on culture, timeline, and local customs and superstition.

In some cultures, before the age of industrialization, laypeople would donate their time to make the vestments and robes for the priesthood/priestess. Nowadays they can be bought on Amazon.com

In my religion, the color was chosen because of the middle way we inherited from Shakuson Buddha, neither black or white, and the culture believed that the gReatst Buddhist powers got activated at daylight----between 1am and 3am when lights would hit the sky. The same color that Nichiren Daishonin wore during his time while alive. Because our sect was poor, women would donate our old kimonos so the priests could have something nice to wear. The fabric did not just go to robes, it went to altars, like the uchisiki we have on our Butsudan is an example. Later as the sect got more wealthy, nicer brocades were provided. It's the human nature of sanctify religious objects through ornamentation.

Some sects of lay people copied their priesthood, like ornamental sash, kesa jackets, brocaded bows etc. etc. this is often trivialized, nobody wants to disrespect religious authority by usurping their religious vestments. Just look at the catholic priests who are upset when women wear their chasubles.

Anyway, comedy aside—None of this has anything to do with attaining nirvana and escaping suffering. Sometimes it even fuels greed and attachment. But religion requires the human nature to make things sacred and this is one way it accomplishes such.
The Dai-Gohonzon of the High Sanctuary of the Essential Teachings is Legally owned & cared for exclusively by the Nichiren Shoshu Orthodox Temple Priesthood. — vowed Temple members are called "Hokkeko". :applause:
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conebeckham
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Location: Bay Area, CA, USA

Re: Meaning of robes

Post by conebeckham »

What you might call a "shawl," is called a "zen" in Tibetan. The white and Maroon striping signifies, usually, a non-monastic practitioner who has received and practiced certain techniques.
དམ་པའི་དོན་ནི་ཤེས་རབ་ཆེ་བ་དང་།
རྟོག་གེའི་ཡུལ་མིན་བླ་མའི་བྱིན་རླབས་དང་།
སྐལ་ལྡན་ལས་འཕྲོ་ཅན་གྱིས་རྟོགས་པ་སྟེ།
དེ་ནི་ཤེས་རབ་ལ་ནི་ལོ་རྟོག་སེལ།།


"Absolute Truth is not an object of analytical discourse or great discriminating wisdom,
It is realized through the blessing grace of the Guru and fortunate Karmic potential.
Like this, mistaken ideas of discriminating wisdom are clarified."
- (Kyabje Bokar Rinpoche, from his summary of "The Ocean of Definitive Meaning")
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Aemilius
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Joined: Sat Mar 27, 2010 11:44 am

Re: Meaning of robes

Post by Aemilius »

You could ask Glenn H. Mullin himself, i.e. the guy in the picture, about the meaning of robes, he is an approachable person. Here is his website (containing his email address) http://www.glennmullin.com/new/index.php
svaha
"All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.
They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
Sarvē mānavāḥ svatantrāḥ samutpannāḥ vartantē api ca, gauravadr̥śā adhikāradr̥śā ca samānāḥ ēva vartantē. Ētē sarvē cētanā-tarka-śaktibhyāṁ susampannāḥ santi. Api ca, sarvē’pi bandhutva-bhāvanayā parasparaṁ vyavaharantu."
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 1. (in english and sanskrit)
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Lobsang Chojor
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Location: Ireland

Re: Meaning of robes

Post by Lobsang Chojor »

If you haven't contacted Glenn Mullin.

That is a ngakpa dress, meaning he has taken ngakpa vows, which are like monastic vows except they live a lay life and are often married.

Here's the link I'd also suggest speaking to someone like Malcolm about ngakpa vows, etc.

Here's a topic about the same topic
"Morality does not become pure unless darkness is dispelled by the light of wisdom"
  • Aryasura, Paramitasamasa 6.5
ༀ་ཨ་ར་པ་ཙ་ན་དྷཱི༔ Oṃ A Ra Pa Ca Na Dhīḥ
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