Mpt Np 1The Robe-Making Season
Pāli / Sanskrit:Kathina
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Kathina Sutra - The Robe-Making Season
Background
Kathina (Pāli: kathina) is a traditional rite in the Vinaya Piṭaka of Theravāda Buddhism, connected with making robes for monks and nuns after the rains retreat (vassa). In the time of the Buddha, monastics during the rainy season (vassa, about three months) had to remain in one place for concentrated practice. After the rains ended, the fourfold community, monks, nuns, laymen, and laywomen, organized the Kathina ceremony as an expression of reverence and support for the Sangha.
Kathina literally means “hard” or “difficult,” but in the Vinaya context it refers to the whole process of preparing cloth and the labor of sewing the Kathina robe. This ceremony is usually organized by laypeople and is an occasion for them to accumulate merit and for the long-standing efforts of the monastics to be recognized.
Main Content
According to the Vinaya Piṭaka, the Kathina season begins on the first day after the rains retreat has ended. The ceremony may be maintained for one lunar month. The main condition for holding Kathina is the availability of prepared raw cloth, usually saffron-colored cloth.
The rite includes many steps: First, a group of active laypeople prepares the cloth. Second, on the appointed day, the entire Sangha and the people gather. The monastics sit in a formal legal assembly of the Sangha, and the lay community presents the cloth. Third, one monk is appointed to receive the cloth on behalf of the Sangha. Fourth, the monastics sew the robe from this cloth within one day and one night, completing it before the following dawn.
When the Kathina robe is completed, it is given back to the Sangha and is regarded as a robe-gift arising from collective merit. What is important is that the Kathina robe may be claimed only by monastics present in the Sangha when the rite takes place, and the sewing of the robe must be completed within twenty-four hours.
The Vinaya Piṭaka gives detailed rules to ensure the purity of this rite, from the selection of cloth and the organization of the ceremony to the fair distribution of the robe.
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