As you know, the
okesa is made of material which people are not using any more. And Buddha
collected that material and purified it, and sewed it together, like this (with many rectangles like a rice field). The
most important robe for us is the okesa, not the Chinese or Japanese dress (which are underobes for Japanese monks). And
there are traditional, strict rules about how to make it. Joyce, you know, is
studying how, is actually making her okesa by hand, stitch after stitch, reciting
the Sutra in Japan. That is how we do it. You are laughing, but you will do it,
you know. Now you are laughing. [Joyce Browning was ordained as a priest by Suzuki with her husband Ron before they went to Japan to enter Soto Zen monasteries. It's interesting he makes a point here that we'd be sewing our robes because that wasn't his trip - it was Katagiri's]-------------------------------- Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 68-02-00-A as found on shunryusuzuki.com. Edited by DC
