Monks Robes

[Mosha]

I believe the bright orange ones represent a Wat based monk, and the darker robes a wandering monk. However I keep seeing a 3rd colour. Dark green, what do these signify?

[MJCM]

I found something maybe it helps.

http://www.religionfacts.com/buddhism/things/monks_robes_hats.htm

or this one

http://www.dmc.tv/pa...robe_color.html

Edited November 12, 2012 by MJCM

[Brucenkhamen]

The colour of the robes doesn't signify anything.

The bright orange ones are machine manufactured and only monks living at village wats wear them, you can get machine manufactured ones of various other shades of brown or ochre etc as well.

Monks living in forest monasteries generally sew and dye their robes themselves the same as has been done for 1000's of years, so the colour can vary a lot and they are usually various shades of ochre from brown to yellow, to greenish brown.

[Mosha]

My wife does say the latter in my OP, are forest monks. Live in shacks they build themselves. I just found this odd,

[hookedondhamma]

It's the same as Brucen stated.

What I've noticed from living in the both forest and city wats:

The bright colors are usually Mahanikay, OR the same or slightly darker color used by Therevada monks when there are big events (Somdet, etc. etc.)

The drab yellow (jackfruit color) can be used by both Maha or Ther monks.

The darker browns usually indicate Ther monks, along with their various shades BUT one can sometimes find one from Mahan using them as well.

The rich reds I see frequently at temples in the North, along with the close to black colored robes, though I did see similar colors used in Isaan). One can also find Burmese monks using a rich crimson as well.

The yellow, almost like gold, is used by prominent monks (when in Isaan, these were the colors mostly worn by those considered by many as 'arahants').

I've seen a deep, deep brown used in Isaan before, and every once in a while you'll see a group of monks on modern-day Dhutanga using deep brown robes (walking along roads).

While in Isaan an elder monk taught me various color combinations from using certain dyes, so one can't always rely on what one is told, but for the most part, using similar colors help keep the temple looking uniform. Whatever temples you come across you could always ask about it, though.

This is just based on my experience though, so it may vary.

[bankei]

My take,

Generally robe colours will vary from temple to temple. There is no sectuarian differences between Mahanikaya monks and Dhammayut, but in general a Dhammayut would wear the darker colours. So called forest monks generally wear darker colours. The bright orange is usually worn by a city based Mahanikaya monk. Brown robes often worn by northern and maybe north eastern monks. Reddish is Burmese or monks with Burmese influences.

Monks will also change their robes based on wear they stay. ie move temple and they will change colour. There are also various Mahayana monks/nuns in Thailand and these people wear different style of robes, usually, with different colours such as grey.

Hooledondhamma. I think you have misinformation above because you seen to confuse Dhammayut with Theravada. There are two groups of monks in thailand, one called Dhammayut/Thammayut and the other Mahanikaya/Mahanikay. Both belong to the Theravada philosophical school and the Theravada ordination lineage.

Bankei