- After daily chores and the midday meal, Dhammavaro sews his three robes. The “triple set”consists of the sabong - a robe worn at the waist; the jiworn - an outer robe covering the body; and the sanghati - a double-layered robe for formal occasions.
- Having sewed and dyed a formal robe, novice Dhammavaro hangs the cloth to dry in front of a skeleton used for contemplation. A candidate for monkhood at Abhayagiri must sew and dye a set of three robes before his ordination ceremony.
- Hundreds of lines must be sewn and errant stitches picked out by hand and then sewn again until the result is satisfactory. Novice monks may have little familiarity with sewing, and the robe-making process represents a trial-and-error process.
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- In the first stage of dyeing, the cloth is soaked in mordant - a solution which will help dye adhere to the garment. After rinsing off excess mordant, the cloth has a slight coloration, seen here.
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- Dhammavavro stirs madrone bark in the steeping pot as Ajahn Ñaniko looks on.
- The patchwork of connected squares and rectangles reflected in the design of a monk's robe was the brainchild of the Buddha himself, who instructed his assistant to sew a prototype that evoked the pattern of rice paddy fields in Magadha, India.
- Dye for monks' robes often comes from natural sources - in Thailand, monks use the heartwood of the local jackfruit tree. Dhammavaro collected bark from the native madrone tree and dyed his robes at the monks' utility building, pictured here.