Question about Anagarikas

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ccook70
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Question about Anagarikas

Post by ccook70 »

Hello,

In the future I intend to undertake the 8 precepts permanently.
Am I bound to wear only white clothes all the time?

Thanks,

Corey
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Mkoll
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Re: Question about Anagarikas

Post by Mkoll »

Not if you're an 8-precept layman.

:anjali:
Namo tassa bhagavato arahato samma sambuddhassa
Namo tassa bhagavato arahato samma sambuddhassa
Namo tassa bhagavato arahato samma sambuddhassa
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cooran
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Re: Question about Anagarikas

Post by cooran »

Hello Corey,

This previous thread may be of interest;

A proper preparation for becoming an Anagarika
http://www.dhammawheel.com/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=10953

With metta,
Chris
---The trouble is that you think you have time---
---Worry is the Interest, paid in advance, on a debt you may never owe---
---It's not what happens to you in life that is important ~ it's what you do with it ---
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Anagarika
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Re: Question about Anagarikas

Post by Anagarika »

I have read of the Anagarika as being a more modern development that with the 8 precepts places the man/woman in the nether world between lay sangha and monastic sangha. In many western Wats, the anagarikas are part of the training before samanera ordination, and live at the temple and perform tasks that the fully ordained cannot. Additionally, there have been anagarikas, such as http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anagarika_Dharmapala , who were lifetime renunciates who traveled and/or lived on their own. Dharmapala was a highly influential anagarika who may have otherwise ordained as a Bhikkhu ( I believe he did just before his passing) but chose the Anagarika life so that he could perhaps travel independently and perform activities that would have been prohibited by the 227 precepts.

I have no authority for this view, but as to the question of wearing white robes, I understand that this is important for the anagarika while at the temple, so that he/she is not mistaken for a lay person, and is touched or interacted with in a sensual way. In the west, wearing of the whites outside the temple might be optional, insofar as an anagarika may work/hold money, and likely would need civilian clothes for work, and robes for temple activities.
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Cittasanto
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Re: Question about Anagarikas

Post by Cittasanto »

ccook70 wrote:Hello,

In the future I intend to undertake the 8 precepts permanently.
Am I bound to wear only white clothes all the time?

Thanks,

Corey
No.
I am a former Anagarika, and it is abit more than just eight precepts, as previously indicated above, it is a renunciate way of life, that is more than just the eight precepts, and monasteries differ in their training of Anagarikas and what they see as apropriate for them to wear for work period/outside of the monastery. I personally only wore the white, and changed for work which was a specific "uniform" where I was, but other locations lay clothes are worn for work....
Blog, Suttas, Aj Chah, Facebook.

He who knows only his own side of the case knows little of that. His reasons may be good, and no one may have been able to refute them.
But if he is equally unable to refute the reasons on the opposite side, if he does not so much as know what they are, he has no ground for preferring either opinion …
...
He must be able to hear them from persons who actually believe them … he must know them in their most plausible and persuasive form.
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ccook70
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Re: Question about Anagarikas

Post by ccook70 »

Dear Cittasanto,

You say it is more than the 8 Precepts.

Please tell me more.

Thanks!

Corey
culaavuso
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Re: Question about Anagarikas

Post by culaavuso »

Possibly informative for this discussion, there is an interesting article titled "Anagarika Life" in the Fearless Mountain Spring 2007 newsletter.
ccook70
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Re: Question about Anagarikas

Post by ccook70 »

Thanks for the interesting article.
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Cittasanto
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Re: Question about Anagarikas

Post by Cittasanto »

ccook70 wrote:Dear Cittasanto,

You say it is more than the 8 Precepts.

Please tell me more.

Thanks!

Corey
Hi Corey,
What you refer to as an Anagarika may go by several different names depending on where they are, and the local tradition. I was called a pa-kow by Thai visitors (as an example).
It Does depend on the situation an Anagarika is in, some are more like Bhikkhus and samanera, particularly if they leave the householder life without being able to take up the Robe and Bowl of a Samana due to restrictions within the vinaya as to who can ordain. Yet others (like I was) also act as lay attendants for the mendicants.
Anagarikas also follow extra rules from the Vinayapitaka, and may also study the Vinaya for practical purposes, the same as other mendicants.

But the latter type of Anagarika may not be exactly as described everywhere as it does depend on where they are (training), and the form of renunciation is reasonably open to interpretation, although traditions will have some form of consensus as to what is and is not included in the form of training.
Blog, Suttas, Aj Chah, Facebook.

He who knows only his own side of the case knows little of that. His reasons may be good, and no one may have been able to refute them.
But if he is equally unable to refute the reasons on the opposite side, if he does not so much as know what they are, he has no ground for preferring either opinion …
...
He must be able to hear them from persons who actually believe them … he must know them in their most plausible and persuasive form.
John Stuart Mill
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