The robes of Buddhist monks and nuns are part of a tradition going back 25 centuries to the time of the historical Buddha. The first monks wore robes patched together from rags, as did many mendicant holy men in India at the time.
As the wandering community of disciples grew, the Buddha found that some rules about robes were necessary. These are recorded in the Vinaya-pitaka of the Pali Canon or Tripitaka.
Robe Cloth
The Buddha taught the first monks and nuns to make their robes of "pure" cloth, which meant cloth that no one wanted. Types of pure cloth included cloth that had been chewed by rats or oxen, scorched by fire, soiled by childbirth or menstrual blood, or used as a shroud to wrap the dead before cremation. Monks would scavenge cloth from rubbish heaps and cremation grounds.
Any part of the cloth that was unusable was trimmed away, and the cloth was washed. It was dyed by being boiled with vegetable matter -- tubers, bark, flowers, leaves -- and spices such as turmeric or saffron, which gave the cloth a yellow-orange color. This is the origin of the term "saffron robe." Theravada monks of southeast Asia still wear spice-color robes today, in shades of curry, cumin, and paprika as well as blazing saffron orange.
You may be relieved to know that Buddhist monks and nuns no longer scavenge for cloth in rubbish heaps and cremation grounds. Instead, they wear robes made from cloth that is donated or purchased.
The Triple and Five-Fold Robes
The robes worn by Theravada monks and nuns of southeast Asia today are thought to be unchanged from the original robes of 25 centuries ago. The robe has three parts:
• The uttarasanga is the most prominent robe. It is sometimes also called the kashaya robe. It is a large rectangle, about 6 by 9 feet. It can be wrapped to cover both shoulders, but most often it is wrapped to cover the left shoulder but leave the right shoulder and arm bare.
• The antaravasaka is worn under the uttarasanga. It is wrapped around the waist like a sarong, covering the body from waist to knees.
• The sanghati is an extra robe that can be wrapped around the upper body for warmth. When not in use, it is sometimes folded and draped over a shoulder.
The original nuns' robe consisted of the same three parts as the monks' robe, with two additional pieces, making it a "five-fold" robe. Nuns wear a bodice (samkacchika) under the utterasanga, and they carry a bathing cloth (udakasatika).
Today, Theravada women's robes are usually in muted colors, such as white or pink, instead of bright spice colors. However, fully ordained Theravada nuns are rare.
The Rice Paddy
According to the Vinaya-pitaka, the Buddha asked his chief attendant Ananda to design a rice paddy pattern for the robes. Ananda sewed strips of cloth representing rice paddies into a pattern separated by narrower strips to represent paths between the paddies.
To this day, many of the individual garments worn by monks of all schools are made of strips of cloth sewn together in this traditional pattern. It is often a five-column pattern of strips, though sometimes seven or nine strips are used
In the Zen tradition, the pattern is said to represent a "formless field of benefaction." The pattern might also be thought of as a mandala representing the world.