Why the monk wear orange or red robe?

 

I have been wondering about the clothing that you wear. I have seen in lots of pictures / photos of Buddhists that most of them wear orange / red robes. Is there a reason for this specific colour of clothing?

 

 

Answer:

by: Venerable Nicolas Thanissaro

 

 

A monk's lifestyle is said to be a very pure lifestyle. Pure in that we don't get married, we live a very disciplined lifestyle – we have a lot of rules which we have to follow. Monks are supposed to be an example to the rest of Buddhist society. Because monks live a pure lifestyle, we set ourselves apart from other people in society a little bit by dressing differently – thus the colour we use will be that of a pure material like gold (because gold never gets any rust on it, it is said to be a very pure material) But if we had a golden robe, I'm sure we would get mugged a lot more – so instead we wear a colour which is quite close to gold - that is the colour saffron.