Chapter 2: Kesa Names
1. Meaning of the word kesa
The word kesa is a general term for the three robes (antaravasa, uttarasamga and samghati), so it encompasses all the eleven types of robes, from the 5-panel robe to the 25-panel robe.
The word kesa (Skt., kasaya) might have been used already in Shakyamuni Buddha’s time, but it is less likely that it was used as a general term for the three robes. As a general term, “the three robes” or simply “the robe” were commonly used, while terms such as “the sleeping mat” or “the ground-sheeting mat” were used in special circumstances. However, the specific categorical names of antaravasa, uttarasamga and samghati were also used from the very beginning.
Jiun Onko 1 wrote in Hōbukuzugikohon 2:
"According to Gijyo’s Kikiden 3 , all three robes were called shibara. In northern countries, they often called the Buddhist robes 'kesa.' 'Kesa' means a red color; it is not a special term in vinaya texts."
The word shibara means ordinary clothes. We can safely conclude that the people of the time called the Buddha’s disciples’ robe shibara because they lacked a special name for it at the beginning.
How, then, did the word “kesa” develop as a special term for the Buddhist robe?
The word kesa was originally Sanskrit (kasaya), and it is usually explained to mean “broken color” (ejiki), “non-primary color” (fuseishiki), “muted color”(jokushiki), or “dyed muted color”(jokusenshiki). Buddha’s disciples’ clothes must be dyed with muted colors that are not attractive to ordinary eyes. These unique muted colors, as a category, are called “kesa colors,” so “kesa” originally referred to the colors of dyed fabric. In addition to the three robes, monks also dyed things such as undergarments and other belongings. That is why the word “kesa” originally meant everything that was dyed with the kesa colors. But over time, the word came to be used specifically for the three robes. So to be accurate, we should call the robe “the kesa-colored robe.”
The origin of the word kesa was mentioned in the Hōbukuzugi ryakuhon 4 by Jiun Onko as follows:
"All the three kinds of robes are called kesa (which originally comes from Sanskrit word kasaya). These are robes which are dyed with kesa colors. Buddhist monks’ robes have different colors from laypeople’s white clothes, and that is why the robe was named after its color. A dictionary says that it was named kesa because of the colors. And the original Chinese characters for kesa had a part meaning wool. Ge Hong changed the part of the character from 'wool' to 'robe' in his dictionary. It is the same as adding the character 'demon' in the word 'Mara.' The robes are called kesa in western countries, but the word means a non-primary color—it is not the actual name of the robe."
(At one point, the word kesa was not only used as the name of a color but used as a food taste, that is, “kesa-taste.”)
As long as the robe is called a kesa, the color must always be muted. In other words, if it’s not dyed with a kesa color, then the robe cannot be called a kesa. In that sense, the kesa color is one of the absolute requirements of Buddha’s disciples’ robe.
2. Various Names for Kesa
Names Derived from Purpose
三衣 Triple robe
沙門衣 Sramana robe
僧衣 Monk robe
Names Derived from Color
袈裟 Kesa
染衣 Dyed robe
壊色衣 Broken-color robe
濁赤衣 Murky-red robe
黄褐色衣 Yellow-brown robe
Names Derived from Form
方服 Square robe
田相衣 Rice field robe
Names Derived from Merit
法衣 Dharma robe
如来衣 Tathagata robe
解脱服 Robe of liberation
福田衣 Field-of-merit robe
如法衣 Robe in accord with the dharma
忍辱鎧 Robe of endurance
無相衣 Robe of no-form
無上衣 Unsurpassable robe
阿耨多羅三藐三菩提衣Robe of unsurpassable supreme awakening
Special-use Names
臥具 Sleeping mat
敷具 Floor mat
臥褥 Sleeping bedspread
The Three Separate Robes
安陀会 Antaravasa
鬱多羅僧 Uttarasamga
僧伽梨 Samghati
The names that refer to special uses—sleeping mat, floor mat, and bedspread—sometimes point to the three robes themselves in the Vinaya texts, but they can also be used as general names that include the three robes as well as other items. In the Buddha’s time, his disciples, who kept only the three robes, also used them as futons and pillows, so from that point of view, these practical names speak to their original function.
In India, the five-panel kesa, or antaravasa (anda-e), was worn directly against the body as an undergarment. Due to the differences in climate between India and China, it naturally fell into disuse, and today the five-panel robe is no longer worn at all. Only a small shadow of it remains in what is now called a rakusu.
Samghati
下品 “Lower Robe”: 9-panel, 11-panel, and 13-panel robe
中品 “Middle Robe:” 15-panel, 17-panel, and 19-panel robe
上品 “Upper Robe”: 21-panel, 23-panel, and 25-panel robe
The category of samghati, or large robe, includes nine types of robes, sometimes referred to collectively as “the nine robes.” The large robe is sometimes worn over a five-panel or seven-panel robe, and even a new samghati robe must be constructed of at least two layers. So it also carries such names “heavy robe,” “joined robe,” and “double robe.”
Antaravasa, uttarasamga, and samghati are ancient Indian terms that were later translated into Chinese; it is unavoidable that today there are multiple renderings in Chinese characters, as well as variations in their readings.
The word kesa is a general term for the three robes (antaravasa, uttarasamga and samghati), so it encompasses all the eleven types of robes, from the 5-panel robe to the 25-panel robe.
The word kesa (Skt., kasaya) might have been used already in Shakyamuni Buddha’s time, but it is less likely that it was used as a general term for the three robes. As a general term, “the three robes” or simply “the robe” were commonly used, while terms such as “the sleeping mat” or “the ground-sheeting mat” were used in special circumstances. However, the specific categorical names of antaravasa, uttarasamga and samghati were also used from the very beginning.
Jiun Onko 1 wrote in Hōbukuzugikohon 2:
"According to Gijyo’s Kikiden 3 , all three robes were called shibara. In northern countries, they often called the Buddhist robes 'kesa.' 'Kesa' means a red color; it is not a special term in vinaya texts."
The word shibara means ordinary clothes. We can safely conclude that the people of the time called the Buddha’s disciples’ robe shibara because they lacked a special name for it at the beginning.
How, then, did the word “kesa” develop as a special term for the Buddhist robe?
The word kesa was originally Sanskrit (kasaya), and it is usually explained to mean “broken color” (ejiki), “non-primary color” (fuseishiki), “muted color”(jokushiki), or “dyed muted color”(jokusenshiki). Buddha’s disciples’ clothes must be dyed with muted colors that are not attractive to ordinary eyes. These unique muted colors, as a category, are called “kesa colors,” so “kesa” originally referred to the colors of dyed fabric. In addition to the three robes, monks also dyed things such as undergarments and other belongings. That is why the word “kesa” originally meant everything that was dyed with the kesa colors. But over time, the word came to be used specifically for the three robes. So to be accurate, we should call the robe “the kesa-colored robe.”
The origin of the word kesa was mentioned in the Hōbukuzugi ryakuhon 4 by Jiun Onko as follows:
"All the three kinds of robes are called kesa (which originally comes from Sanskrit word kasaya). These are robes which are dyed with kesa colors. Buddhist monks’ robes have different colors from laypeople’s white clothes, and that is why the robe was named after its color. A dictionary says that it was named kesa because of the colors. And the original Chinese characters for kesa had a part meaning wool. Ge Hong changed the part of the character from 'wool' to 'robe' in his dictionary. It is the same as adding the character 'demon' in the word 'Mara.' The robes are called kesa in western countries, but the word means a non-primary color—it is not the actual name of the robe."
(At one point, the word kesa was not only used as the name of a color but used as a food taste, that is, “kesa-taste.”)
As long as the robe is called a kesa, the color must always be muted. In other words, if it’s not dyed with a kesa color, then the robe cannot be called a kesa. In that sense, the kesa color is one of the absolute requirements of Buddha’s disciples’ robe.
2. Various Names for Kesa
Names Derived from Purpose
三衣 Triple robe
沙門衣 Sramana robe
僧衣 Monk robe
Names Derived from Color
袈裟 Kesa
染衣 Dyed robe
壊色衣 Broken-color robe
濁赤衣 Murky-red robe
黄褐色衣 Yellow-brown robe
Names Derived from Form
方服 Square robe
田相衣 Rice field robe
Names Derived from Merit
法衣 Dharma robe
如来衣 Tathagata robe
解脱服 Robe of liberation
福田衣 Field-of-merit robe
如法衣 Robe in accord with the dharma
忍辱鎧 Robe of endurance
無相衣 Robe of no-form
無上衣 Unsurpassable robe
阿耨多羅三藐三菩提衣Robe of unsurpassable supreme awakening
Special-use Names
臥具 Sleeping mat
敷具 Floor mat
臥褥 Sleeping bedspread
The Three Separate Robes
安陀会 Antaravasa
鬱多羅僧 Uttarasamga
僧伽梨 Samghati
The names that refer to special uses—sleeping mat, floor mat, and bedspread—sometimes point to the three robes themselves in the Vinaya texts, but they can also be used as general names that include the three robes as well as other items. In the Buddha’s time, his disciples, who kept only the three robes, also used them as futons and pillows, so from that point of view, these practical names speak to their original function.
In India, the five-panel kesa, or antaravasa (anda-e), was worn directly against the body as an undergarment. Due to the differences in climate between India and China, it naturally fell into disuse, and today the five-panel robe is no longer worn at all. Only a small shadow of it remains in what is now called a rakusu.
Samghati
下品 “Lower Robe”: 9-panel, 11-panel, and 13-panel robe
中品 “Middle Robe:” 15-panel, 17-panel, and 19-panel robe
上品 “Upper Robe”: 21-panel, 23-panel, and 25-panel robe
The category of samghati, or large robe, includes nine types of robes, sometimes referred to collectively as “the nine robes.” The large robe is sometimes worn over a five-panel or seven-panel robe, and even a new samghati robe must be constructed of at least two layers. So it also carries such names “heavy robe,” “joined robe,” and “double robe.”
Antaravasa, uttarasamga, and samghati are ancient Indian terms that were later translated into Chinese; it is unavoidable that today there are multiple renderings in Chinese characters, as well as variations in their readings.
1 (慈雲飲光, 1718–1804) Shingon priest, scholar, and vinaya reformer in Edo period, Japan.
2 (方服図儀広本) Illustrated Standard of Garments of the Way, written by Jiun Onko in 1751 (ten volumes)
3 (奇帰伝(南海奇帰内法伝)Account of Buddhist Practices Sent Home from the Southern Sea, by Yinjing(義浄, Gijyo Jp., 635–713)
4 (方服図儀略本) An abbreviated version of Illustrated Standard of Garments of the Way
2 (方服図儀広本) Illustrated Standard of Garments of the Way, written by Jiun Onko in 1751 (ten volumes)
3 (奇帰伝(南海奇帰内法伝)Account of Buddhist Practices Sent Home from the Southern Sea, by Yinjing(義浄, Gijyo Jp., 635–713)
4 (方服図儀略本) An abbreviated version of Illustrated Standard of Garments of the Way