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[szegee]

I’m trying to understand definitively the 3 观音诞, but there are differing versions from the internet. Which do you think is the right version?

 

二月十九观音生日，有六月十九观音得道日，还有九月十九观音出家日

 

农历二月十九日是观音的生日，六月十九日是观音成道之日，九月十九日是观音涅盘日

 

二月十九的观音诞、六月十九观音修道日及九月十九的观音成道日

 

农历二月十九 为观音诞； 农历六月十九 为观音渡海； 农历九月十九 为观音成道

 

二月十九日观音生日，有六月十九日观音得道日，还有九月十九日观音出家日

 

Another question is to do with 海青 and 缦衣. Are they a tradition started by 梁武帝 for the sake of the laity looking neat and formal during ceremonies? Someone also said 净空法师 taught that  缦衣 is only to be worn by those who have taken bodhisattva precepts, not by those who have merely taken the 5 Lay Precepts. Is this true?

[chuanguan]

See my reply in your other thread. 

For that matter, in Buddha's time, lay buddhists simply wear white to signify their purity in the precepts, and the Three Refuges are taken together with the Five Precepts. In a sense, how can one say that one is taking refuge in the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, and yet act in contrary to the Dharma with respect to the training rules (Panca-sila, Five Precepts)?

Regarding the 海青, there are numerous origin stories, among which one story credits 梁武帝 for instituting the standardised 海青 for the monastics. This is similar to the upper garment with the "elephant ears" worn in the Tibetan tradition or the inner garment worn by the Theravadin tradition. Each locality adopted a flavor of its own in terms of their dress-code and hopefully but maintained the core teachings of Four Noble Truth and Noble Eightfold Path that is common throughout all traditions.