Chapter 4: Kesa Colors
In ancient India, it was said there were five main colors (five “pure” or “right” colors): blue, yellow, red, white, and black. However, as mentioned earlier, most clothing of that time was white. (We can assume that “white” at that time was merely off-white, probably not the pure or bright white we see today.)
For the people of ancient India, both their way of thinking and their way of life had a certain looseness about it. For example, when discussing a quantity of fabric, they might say “about this much,” not using strict measurements. This mindset applied not only to fabric measurements but also to other areas of life. From our modern standpoint, this way of thinking may feel rather vague. It’s the same for these five colors, which in fact refer to five broad categories of color, not five specific colors as they might today.
Once, when a group of six monks went out wearing crisp-white new robes, many Buddhist onlookers found it odd and rebuked them, saying that they looked like kings or aristocrats. Even though most people wore white clothes at that time in India, brand new crisp-white robes were only for nobles. This story forms the origin of the precept on making new robes in the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya:
"When a monk acquires a new robe, he must duly break the three kinds of colors, breaking each color according to the rule. The color may be blue, black, or mokuran. It is a pacittiya 1 offense for a monk to make an extra new robe without breaking it (that is, muting the color by dying) in blue, black, or mokuran."
Let us examine, step by step, what is meant by a “broken color.” 2
The main purpose of establishing this precept and requiring a broken color was to discourage delusions such as jealousy and arrogance, as well as to clearly distinguish the Buddha’s disciples from others.
The most important reason behind making the kesa a broken color is to avoid individual preferences. This point is made clear in the following passage from the Mulasarvastivada Vinaya Samgraha: 3 "You should do away with three kinds of mind: the mind that is fond of decorations, the mind that thinks lightly of the robe, and the mind that pretends to be frugal by wearing old robes."
Further, one of the five benefits of the dyed robe is “freeing oneself from arrogance.”
What colors, then, lead away from individual preferences? In general, color preferences vary, both subjectively and objectively. They can vary according to person, place, or time. That doesn’t mean, however, that we can’t find defining points in common.
Today in Japan, there has come to be an appreciation for colors that are relatively sober and neutral. But even in those colors, often, there can still be a somewhat bright and flashy quality. That is, bright and flashy tones are common. Accordingly, even in ancient India, colors were roughly categorized into five bright colors: blue, yellow, red, white and black.
However, generally speaking, colors that don’t play on people’s preferences tend to be ones that are dark and subdued. As the Sanskrit word for “kesa color” is sometimes translated as a “murky red color” or just a “murky color,” it has a very complex tone, one we might describe as dull and stained. From the start, either by avoiding vivid colors or by intentionally breaking primary colors, it was determined that the color of kesa would be a color that is hard to pin down.
Speaking concretely, what, then, is the kesa color, or a broken color?
In the various vinaya, kesa colors were categorized into three types:
However, these colors are categorized into three groups only for the sake of convenience; kesa colors are not actually limited to only three.
The blue and black in the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya are “broken” blue and black, not pure blue or pure black. And the color mokuran is from the bark of the magnolia tree. In other words, a “broken color” means breaking the five primary colors—dying them to take away their appeal.
The original kesa color was developed by Shakyamuni Buddha as a unique color for monks’ robes; it was a very complex shade, one for which today there is no suitable name.
Even though there were general guidelines to follow, each disciple of the Buddha dyed his or her own robe using slightly different ingredients and methods. As a result, the finished color would have varied from one robe to another. To be accurate, then, we have to say there must have been countless different kesa colors.
For this reason, it is impossible to sort and define kesa colors scientifically; further, attempting to do so would not help us to properly understand them. With that in mind, it’s good to start by thinking of kesa colors as being extremely modest.
Various ingredients for dye are listed in the vinaya. Among them, plant-based dyes, such as the bark of the magnolia tree, were used most often. It seems the plant-based dyes were favorable because they were relatively easy to find, easy to use for beginners, and not harmful to fabric.
Reddish kesa colors were used most often. Dogen Zenji wrote, “The Tathagata always wore a flesh-colored kesa. This is the kesa color.” Jiun Onko wrote, “There’s a great variety of broken colors. However, the red-colored kesa 5 is the custom throughout ancient and modern times.” 6
Some scholars, however, think the more common color was yellow, so it’s problematic if we try to decide it definitively one way or the other.
In any case, we cannot avoid the fact that kesa colors are colors that are hard to specify. With that in mind, let’s take a look at the three kinds of kesa colors in vinaya texts.
Blue
According to the vinaya, the “broken color” of blue can be made with the rust of copper. Descriptions say it resembled the color of pine needles. “Broken color” for blue is usually called seikoku (blue-black or iron-color); it is said that the transmission kesa Dogen Zenji received from Nyojō Zenji was also this color.
Black
As the color black is also called “mud,” the main method of dying in the vinaya was mudding. 7 It usually refers to a dark gray.
Pure black, in the vinaya, is not in accord with the dharma. However, black koromo and black kesa are commonly used as the attire of Buddhist priests in Japan. For this reason, it is reasonable to include pure black as an acceptable kesa color. 8
Mokuran
Mokuran is the color from the bark of the fragrant wood of the magnolia tree. From the perspective of color science, there is a resemblance between the color of bark of the magnolia tree and the Japanese cypress called hinoki. For this reason, mokuran is also called “cypress bark color,” “wood color,” or “bark color.”
It remains a question, though, whether the dye color made from the magnolia tree is the same as the color of cypress bark.
Mokuran was used more frequently by the Buddha’s disciples than blue or black. From ancient times, mokuran was also referred to as reddish-yellow, blackish-red, blackish-yellow, and even violet.
These colors—blue, black, and mokuran—are considered to be in same category as kasshiki (the color of coarse linen, usually used as an umbrella term for browns). The color kendara, from the bark of the styrax tree, is considered to be almost the same color as mokuran.
Akane
This is the color made from the root of the rubia plant (Jpn., akanesō). Rubia was used as a precious plant-based dye (not only for kesa but also more generally) in ancient India, China, and Japan.
Akane dye was also called vermilion, scarlet, and so on—not like a man-made red but more yellowish, like a somber reddish orange.
Akane dying was well liked and widely used by the general public as a pure, primary color—so how come it was also approved as a kesa color?
Perhaps the answer lies in the technique and workmanship of the dying process.
These are the colors for dying robe fabric. But from the true perspective of buddhadharma, just as with robe materials, essentially there is no color that is good or bad in itself. It is just that when living human beings practice buddhadharma, the appropriate color for a robe is the “kesa color.”
The fundamental point behind the kesa color this: it is the color of abandoning (desire for) fame and fortune. That is a very abstract expression, but put another way, it means to color one’s body, mind, and robe in one color of buddhadharma at the same time.
So even if you were to dye your robe material a color that is in accord with the dharma, you could still defile the kesa color with a thought such as, “It is a good color.”
In Proper Dharma Garment, it is written:
"So-called 'color' doesn’t mean blue, yellow, red, white, or black; it’s neither color nor mind, neither being nor non-being. It is not the dharma of causality. It is the broken color. The broken color is a non-primary color—blue, black, mokuran, and so on. It’s a miscellaneous color, something in between. From the start, because it is not based on the emotional clinging of ordinary beings, it should not be seen with eyes of defiled attachment."
Just as with robe materials, we should accept kesa colors as the buddhadharma, not merely as colors in the scientific sense.
Tenjō
In contrast to dyeing the entire robe (“dye purification”), there is tenjō (“mark of purification”), the act of marking the kesa with a small flaw or stain. Marking the kesa in this way is not well known, though it is given great significance in the vinaya. But if there is purification by dyeing the whole robe, why is there also tenjō?
According to the Mahisasaka Vinaya, it seems that the tenjō was originally applied as a marker to distinguish one’s belongings from those of other people (that is, laypeople or followers of other sects). However, over time, more emphasis was placed on the "purification" aspect, so that today it’s completely lost its meaning as a personal marker and is about purification only. Why does adding a flaw or stain purify? Understanding that requires us to take on the unique perspective of the buddhadharma.
As mentioned previously, the life of a Buddhist disciple is essentially a frugal and simple one. But even in such a life, sometimes one receives things that are new or of high quality. In such a case, it would not reflect the humble attitude of a Buddhist disciple to just use it without any hesitation.
Rather, it is important to have a feeling that you should refrain from new things as much as possible. In that sense, one should also refrain from using new material for the kesa. Even if it’s only a matter of form, the cloth should be used once by another person and soiled a little—the tenjō embodies that humble attitude. For us to see purity in a stain is to taste the spirit of the buddhadharma.
This is true not only of the kesa but extends also to food, clothing, and shelter, the totality of our lives. However, these days, the tenjō is mostly confined to the three robes and the zagu.
There are two types of tenjō. According to Satsubataron 9, there is the tenjō that is deliberate and the tenjō that is natural or happenstance. For example, if a bird were to soil a kesa with dirty feet, that would be a natural tenjō.
Above is the spiritual meaning of tenjō. Now, let’s look at color, size, and so on.
Color
In Hōbuku Kasangi, we read, “Of the three nyohō [color, material, size], we as disciples of the Buddha use the method of the tenjō, all the more because color is broken.” In this way, “color” is the same as purification through dyeing.
Number and Size
In the Mahasanghika Vinaya, we find this explanation: “When the tenjō is made, it should be neither large nor small. At maximum, it should equal four fingers; at minimum, the size of a pea. Tenjō might appear as one, or three, or five, or seven; however, they should not be applied in the formation of a flower.”
Hōbuku Kasangi, meanwhile, reads, “Tenjō should be the size of a sesame seed, no larger than a pea.” In other words, there is no set rule—the size and number need only be sufficient to express the meaning of purification.
Position
Regarding the proper position of the tenjō, we are told in the Mahasanghika Vinaya to “mark and purify in the corner.” Usually, the tenjō is applied toward the top of a kesa’s vertical edge.
For the people of ancient India, both their way of thinking and their way of life had a certain looseness about it. For example, when discussing a quantity of fabric, they might say “about this much,” not using strict measurements. This mindset applied not only to fabric measurements but also to other areas of life. From our modern standpoint, this way of thinking may feel rather vague. It’s the same for these five colors, which in fact refer to five broad categories of color, not five specific colors as they might today.
Once, when a group of six monks went out wearing crisp-white new robes, many Buddhist onlookers found it odd and rebuked them, saying that they looked like kings or aristocrats. Even though most people wore white clothes at that time in India, brand new crisp-white robes were only for nobles. This story forms the origin of the precept on making new robes in the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya:
"When a monk acquires a new robe, he must duly break the three kinds of colors, breaking each color according to the rule. The color may be blue, black, or mokuran. It is a pacittiya 1 offense for a monk to make an extra new robe without breaking it (that is, muting the color by dying) in blue, black, or mokuran."
Let us examine, step by step, what is meant by a “broken color.” 2
The main purpose of establishing this precept and requiring a broken color was to discourage delusions such as jealousy and arrogance, as well as to clearly distinguish the Buddha’s disciples from others.
The most important reason behind making the kesa a broken color is to avoid individual preferences. This point is made clear in the following passage from the Mulasarvastivada Vinaya Samgraha: 3 "You should do away with three kinds of mind: the mind that is fond of decorations, the mind that thinks lightly of the robe, and the mind that pretends to be frugal by wearing old robes."
Further, one of the five benefits of the dyed robe is “freeing oneself from arrogance.”
What colors, then, lead away from individual preferences? In general, color preferences vary, both subjectively and objectively. They can vary according to person, place, or time. That doesn’t mean, however, that we can’t find defining points in common.
Today in Japan, there has come to be an appreciation for colors that are relatively sober and neutral. But even in those colors, often, there can still be a somewhat bright and flashy quality. That is, bright and flashy tones are common. Accordingly, even in ancient India, colors were roughly categorized into five bright colors: blue, yellow, red, white and black.
However, generally speaking, colors that don’t play on people’s preferences tend to be ones that are dark and subdued. As the Sanskrit word for “kesa color” is sometimes translated as a “murky red color” or just a “murky color,” it has a very complex tone, one we might describe as dull and stained. From the start, either by avoiding vivid colors or by intentionally breaking primary colors, it was determined that the color of kesa would be a color that is hard to pin down.
Speaking concretely, what, then, is the kesa color, or a broken color?
In the various vinaya, kesa colors were categorized into three types:
- Dharmaguptaka Vinaya: blue, black, mokuran
- Sabbatthavada Vinaya: blue, clay, deep red
- Mulasarvastivada Vinaya: blue, clay, red
- Pali Vinaya: blue, clay, dark brown 4
However, these colors are categorized into three groups only for the sake of convenience; kesa colors are not actually limited to only three.
The blue and black in the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya are “broken” blue and black, not pure blue or pure black. And the color mokuran is from the bark of the magnolia tree. In other words, a “broken color” means breaking the five primary colors—dying them to take away their appeal.
The original kesa color was developed by Shakyamuni Buddha as a unique color for monks’ robes; it was a very complex shade, one for which today there is no suitable name.
Even though there were general guidelines to follow, each disciple of the Buddha dyed his or her own robe using slightly different ingredients and methods. As a result, the finished color would have varied from one robe to another. To be accurate, then, we have to say there must have been countless different kesa colors.
For this reason, it is impossible to sort and define kesa colors scientifically; further, attempting to do so would not help us to properly understand them. With that in mind, it’s good to start by thinking of kesa colors as being extremely modest.
Various ingredients for dye are listed in the vinaya. Among them, plant-based dyes, such as the bark of the magnolia tree, were used most often. It seems the plant-based dyes were favorable because they were relatively easy to find, easy to use for beginners, and not harmful to fabric.
Reddish kesa colors were used most often. Dogen Zenji wrote, “The Tathagata always wore a flesh-colored kesa. This is the kesa color.” Jiun Onko wrote, “There’s a great variety of broken colors. However, the red-colored kesa 5 is the custom throughout ancient and modern times.” 6
Some scholars, however, think the more common color was yellow, so it’s problematic if we try to decide it definitively one way or the other.
In any case, we cannot avoid the fact that kesa colors are colors that are hard to specify. With that in mind, let’s take a look at the three kinds of kesa colors in vinaya texts.
Blue
According to the vinaya, the “broken color” of blue can be made with the rust of copper. Descriptions say it resembled the color of pine needles. “Broken color” for blue is usually called seikoku (blue-black or iron-color); it is said that the transmission kesa Dogen Zenji received from Nyojō Zenji was also this color.
Black
As the color black is also called “mud,” the main method of dying in the vinaya was mudding. 7 It usually refers to a dark gray.
Pure black, in the vinaya, is not in accord with the dharma. However, black koromo and black kesa are commonly used as the attire of Buddhist priests in Japan. For this reason, it is reasonable to include pure black as an acceptable kesa color. 8
Mokuran
Mokuran is the color from the bark of the fragrant wood of the magnolia tree. From the perspective of color science, there is a resemblance between the color of bark of the magnolia tree and the Japanese cypress called hinoki. For this reason, mokuran is also called “cypress bark color,” “wood color,” or “bark color.”
It remains a question, though, whether the dye color made from the magnolia tree is the same as the color of cypress bark.
Mokuran was used more frequently by the Buddha’s disciples than blue or black. From ancient times, mokuran was also referred to as reddish-yellow, blackish-red, blackish-yellow, and even violet.
These colors—blue, black, and mokuran—are considered to be in same category as kasshiki (the color of coarse linen, usually used as an umbrella term for browns). The color kendara, from the bark of the styrax tree, is considered to be almost the same color as mokuran.
Akane
This is the color made from the root of the rubia plant (Jpn., akanesō). Rubia was used as a precious plant-based dye (not only for kesa but also more generally) in ancient India, China, and Japan.
Akane dye was also called vermilion, scarlet, and so on—not like a man-made red but more yellowish, like a somber reddish orange.
Akane dying was well liked and widely used by the general public as a pure, primary color—so how come it was also approved as a kesa color?
Perhaps the answer lies in the technique and workmanship of the dying process.
These are the colors for dying robe fabric. But from the true perspective of buddhadharma, just as with robe materials, essentially there is no color that is good or bad in itself. It is just that when living human beings practice buddhadharma, the appropriate color for a robe is the “kesa color.”
The fundamental point behind the kesa color this: it is the color of abandoning (desire for) fame and fortune. That is a very abstract expression, but put another way, it means to color one’s body, mind, and robe in one color of buddhadharma at the same time.
So even if you were to dye your robe material a color that is in accord with the dharma, you could still defile the kesa color with a thought such as, “It is a good color.”
In Proper Dharma Garment, it is written:
"So-called 'color' doesn’t mean blue, yellow, red, white, or black; it’s neither color nor mind, neither being nor non-being. It is not the dharma of causality. It is the broken color. The broken color is a non-primary color—blue, black, mokuran, and so on. It’s a miscellaneous color, something in between. From the start, because it is not based on the emotional clinging of ordinary beings, it should not be seen with eyes of defiled attachment."
Just as with robe materials, we should accept kesa colors as the buddhadharma, not merely as colors in the scientific sense.
Tenjō
In contrast to dyeing the entire robe (“dye purification”), there is tenjō (“mark of purification”), the act of marking the kesa with a small flaw or stain. Marking the kesa in this way is not well known, though it is given great significance in the vinaya. But if there is purification by dyeing the whole robe, why is there also tenjō?
According to the Mahisasaka Vinaya, it seems that the tenjō was originally applied as a marker to distinguish one’s belongings from those of other people (that is, laypeople or followers of other sects). However, over time, more emphasis was placed on the "purification" aspect, so that today it’s completely lost its meaning as a personal marker and is about purification only. Why does adding a flaw or stain purify? Understanding that requires us to take on the unique perspective of the buddhadharma.
As mentioned previously, the life of a Buddhist disciple is essentially a frugal and simple one. But even in such a life, sometimes one receives things that are new or of high quality. In such a case, it would not reflect the humble attitude of a Buddhist disciple to just use it without any hesitation.
Rather, it is important to have a feeling that you should refrain from new things as much as possible. In that sense, one should also refrain from using new material for the kesa. Even if it’s only a matter of form, the cloth should be used once by another person and soiled a little—the tenjō embodies that humble attitude. For us to see purity in a stain is to taste the spirit of the buddhadharma.
This is true not only of the kesa but extends also to food, clothing, and shelter, the totality of our lives. However, these days, the tenjō is mostly confined to the three robes and the zagu.
There are two types of tenjō. According to Satsubataron 9, there is the tenjō that is deliberate and the tenjō that is natural or happenstance. For example, if a bird were to soil a kesa with dirty feet, that would be a natural tenjō.
Above is the spiritual meaning of tenjō. Now, let’s look at color, size, and so on.
Color
In Hōbuku Kasangi, we read, “Of the three nyohō [color, material, size], we as disciples of the Buddha use the method of the tenjō, all the more because color is broken.” In this way, “color” is the same as purification through dyeing.
Number and Size
In the Mahasanghika Vinaya, we find this explanation: “When the tenjō is made, it should be neither large nor small. At maximum, it should equal four fingers; at minimum, the size of a pea. Tenjō might appear as one, or three, or five, or seven; however, they should not be applied in the formation of a flower.”
Hōbuku Kasangi, meanwhile, reads, “Tenjō should be the size of a sesame seed, no larger than a pea.” In other words, there is no set rule—the size and number need only be sufficient to express the meaning of purification.
Position
Regarding the proper position of the tenjō, we are told in the Mahasanghika Vinaya to “mark and purify in the corner.” Usually, the tenjō is applied toward the top of a kesa’s vertical edge.
1 (波逸提 haitsudai) The offences besides the "Thirty Rules for Offences of Expiation Involving Forfeiture" ( Nissagia-pacittiya, Skt.; 三十捨堕法, Sanjushadahou), such as the rules regarding time of meals and so on.
2 壊色 (ejiki); durvarni-karana (Skt.) “The making of something to be of an ugly color (referring to a monk's robe; a new robe must be so treated.” (Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Grammar and Dictionary, F. Edgerton) Dark, muted colors for monks and nuns.
3 Commentary on the Mulsarvastivada Vinaya written by the Indian scholar–monk Visesamitra (Chinese, 勝友) between the 6th and 7th centuries. No original Sanskrit text has been found, but there are complete Chinese and Tibetan translations.
4 One of the Tripitaka, which is comprised of 1) Sutra Pitaka, the discourses and sermons of Buddha; 2) Vinaya Pitaka, the rules or discipline of the sangha; and 3) Abidharma Pitaka, scholastic analysis and summary of the Buddha's teachings. They were transmitted orally and later written down in Pali by Theravadins in Sri Lanka in the 1st century CE. English translation is available online.
5 “Red” in this case is not the red we know as one of the three primary colors. The Sanskrit origin for “kesa,” kasaya, means “ochre robe worn by Buddhist monks, brown-red cloth or garment, dye of a reddish colour, brown-red, yellowish red colour.” (Sanskrit Dictionary www.learnsanskrit.cc)
6 From Verses in Praise of Garments of the Way (方服歌讃儀),in which Jiun Onko composed seventy verses to praise the kesa and clarified the details of the kesa such as materials, structure, measurements, and so on to make robe-sewing easier to understand.
7 泥染め（dorozome) Mud-dyeing is a dyeing techniques that uses mud as a mordant to dye fabric with the tannin in the mud.
8 This is called zuihōbini (随方毘尼) or zuihōchiji (随方知時), the teaching that it is acceptable to adapt regulations to time and place.
9 (薩婆多論, short for 薩婆多毘尼毘婆, Satsubatabinibibasha; Sarvastivada-Vinaya-Vibhasa, Skt). Commentary on the Ten-Reciting Vinaya of the Sarvastivada School.
2 壊色 (ejiki); durvarni-karana (Skt.) “The making of something to be of an ugly color (referring to a monk's robe; a new robe must be so treated.” (Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Grammar and Dictionary, F. Edgerton) Dark, muted colors for monks and nuns.
3 Commentary on the Mulsarvastivada Vinaya written by the Indian scholar–monk Visesamitra (Chinese, 勝友) between the 6th and 7th centuries. No original Sanskrit text has been found, but there are complete Chinese and Tibetan translations.
4 One of the Tripitaka, which is comprised of 1) Sutra Pitaka, the discourses and sermons of Buddha; 2) Vinaya Pitaka, the rules or discipline of the sangha; and 3) Abidharma Pitaka, scholastic analysis and summary of the Buddha's teachings. They were transmitted orally and later written down in Pali by Theravadins in Sri Lanka in the 1st century CE. English translation is available online.
5 “Red” in this case is not the red we know as one of the three primary colors. The Sanskrit origin for “kesa,” kasaya, means “ochre robe worn by Buddhist monks, brown-red cloth or garment, dye of a reddish colour, brown-red, yellowish red colour.” (Sanskrit Dictionary www.learnsanskrit.cc)
6 From Verses in Praise of Garments of the Way (方服歌讃儀),in which Jiun Onko composed seventy verses to praise the kesa and clarified the details of the kesa such as materials, structure, measurements, and so on to make robe-sewing easier to understand.
7 泥染め（dorozome) Mud-dyeing is a dyeing techniques that uses mud as a mordant to dye fabric with the tannin in the mud.
8 This is called zuihōbini (随方毘尼) or zuihōchiji (随方知時), the teaching that it is acceptable to adapt regulations to time and place.
9 (薩婆多論, short for 薩婆多毘尼毘婆, Satsubatabinibibasha; Sarvastivada-Vinaya-Vibhasa, Skt). Commentary on the Ten-Reciting Vinaya of the Sarvastivada School.
