Buddhist style can be alternately
breathtaking, beautiful, and baffling.
Most monks wear loose cotton fabrics
intricately draped over their bodies.
Different sects of monks wear deep
maroon; the Dalai Lama mixes his 
with yellow. To answer an age-old
question, what do they wear
underneath? --some wear absolutely
nothing. I've asked some of the ones
David knows. A few have admitted
to a fancy for Calvin Klein 
underwear, and I once saw a monk by
the UN wearing thermal long-johns
under his orange layers...how's
that for practicality?

    
  
  
In Thailand, which has the largest
population of Buddhists in the world,
even the annual ceremonies have
a surreal fashion edge. Once a year,
the president of the country leads
a parade through town to the main
temple and its two-thousand-year-old
jade Buddha (which was supposedly the
gift of a stranded Indian princess).
Once there, as the president prays,
a guard changes the Buddha's ornate
one shouldered gold plated shirt and
its matching skirt, in a ceremony that
for me calls to mind a grand scale 
"Barbie Dress-up (tm)." I wonder how
they would feel about "Buddha
Color Forms" (tm)? It
could make a great gift for the
little monks in your life!