Kathina

Kathina (Kathin) is the Buddhist robe offering held at the end of the rainy-season retreat, when lay people give new robes to the monks. In Cambodia it has been held every year for hundreds of years, in pagodas in cities, towns and villages.

Illustration inspired by a robe offering at a Cambodian temple.

Tradition details
Also known as	Kathin; Kathina
Practice type	Religious practice
Usual occasion	October or November
Subjects	Religion & Spiritual Life
Next	October 27 to November 24, 2026 (Kathina season)

Names

Kathina is a Pali word for the wooden frame once used to measure, hold and cut the cloth for monks' robes while they were sewn. In Pali the word also carries the sense of "firm" or "lasting," and the Sanskrit kathinaya means a weaving or hanging frame.

Practice

The season

Kathina follows Vassa, the three-month Rains Retreat, when monks stay in their own pagodas for study and practice. Only monks who have kept the full three months may receive a Kathina robe. In Cambodia the Kathina season begins on the day after the Rains Retreat ends and lasts 29 days, up to the full moon of November. In 2022 it ran from October 11 to November 8. Each monastery may receive only one Kathina in a season, and a donor chooses a suitable day within it and tells the monastery in advance. Some devotees hope to attend ceremonies at seven different monasteries. During the festival, pagodas in Phnom Penh and elsewhere are decorated with national, religious and royal flags.

The offering

Lay Buddhists give three kinds of monastic clothing: robes, chivor and a multilayered cloth, or the fabric to make them. Cambodia has two forms of the offering. In Kathin Tussang, folded white cloth is given, to be sewn into the three garments. In Kathin Chivavang, the garments come already sewn. Accounts differ on the three garments. Preah Nhean Rainsy Chhin Horn, of Cambodia's national Theravada committee, holds that all three are required under the Buddha's discipline, while Venerable Yon Yi says that one may be accepted when all three cannot be found.

The Kathina itself is one of the three robes. Everything else that is given, from an alms bowl, umbrella, mat, blanket and bed to candles, incense, soap, medicine, books and writing materials, counts as the merit that goes with it. Venerable Chhin Horn calls people who add banquets, beds and other gifts "Kathin cousins." Robes and cloth for Kathina are sold in the markets during the season.

The ceremony

Today a Cambodian Kathina often runs over a weekend. On Saturday evening the principal donor's home receives guests for chanting of the Paritta protective verses and a Dhamma sermon. On Sunday the group gathers at the donor's home and travels to the chosen monastery for the procession and offering. Participants cook many dishes to offer to the monks and to share.

The procession moves through the streets with a traditional band, singers and masked dancers who play characters from Khmer folklore. The walkers joke with onlookers and invite them to give, and people tie banknotes to decorated money trees. Some carry the robes and other offerings on their heads. Banners name the monastery, and a Chai Yam band may lead the way. Participants walk clockwise around the temple with the Kathina.

The ceremony itself opens with homage to the Triple Gem and the taking of the precepts, followed by the formal offering of the robe. The monks, at least five of them, then check that the offering meets the Vinaya, the monastic code, and choose a qualified monk to receive it. He sets aside his old robes, marks the new one, puts it on and declares that he "spreads the Kathina." The ceremony closes with blessings for the donors and the dedication of merit to departed ancestors. A Kathina organizer may send invitation letters with the program, and the pagoda abbot may arrange the ceremony. Local celebrations vary in their processions, music, food and fundraising.

Meaning and significance

Kathina honors monks who have kept the Rains Retreat with discipline, harmony and perseverance. Kathina is a distinct kind of giving rather than an ordinary alms offering. Venerable Mann Sopheap says that the monks' receipt of the chivor is its most important benefit, and the three robes set it apart from other gifts because the monks may arrange them under monastic rules. Monks hold that the offering spares them from seeking clothing and gives them more time to study the Dharma and to support the growth of Buddhism. Venerable Chhin Horn teaches that those who give Kathina may gain intelligence and good looks and build a path to heaven.

For lay people the ceremony is a time for generosity, cooperation, respect for the Sangha, the community of monks, and remembrance of parents and ancestors. Giving is voluntary, and no one is made to give. Kathina is the major yearly fundraiser for many monasteries. The money raised pays for building and upkeep, and in Cambodia it may also support monks' living quarters, ponds, gates, walls, schools and hospitals. In Cambodia, Kathina is practiced by ordinary people and by the King and the Royal Government alike, and Wat Khmer sees it as a major social movement that supports both religious life and practical development.

The story

In the story told at Kathina, about thirty monks set out to spend the Rains Retreat with the Buddha, but the rains began before they arrived, and they stopped at Saketa. Monks may not travel in the rainy season, for fear of harming crops and small creatures. The monks spent the retreat together in peace, practicing the Dhamma. When the retreat ended, they walked on to the Buddha at Jetavana through heavy rain and mud, their robes soaked. The Buddha gave them cloth offered by a lay follower and told them to make it into a robe for one of them. They held the pieces on a Kathina frame while sewing them into one robe.

The Buddha then allowed monks who had finished the retreat to receive a Kathina robe, and he granted them five privileges, among them traveling without first telling another monk and without carrying all three robes. In the earliest practice, a poor person could make Kathina by offering one suitable robe or a few meters of cloth.

Variations

Among the Khmer of southern Vietnam

Kathina is one of the largest Buddhist festivals of the Khmer community in southern Vietnam. It is held between the fifteenth day of the ninth lunar month and the fifteenth day of the tenth, from mid-October to mid-November, and it falls shortly before the Ngo boat races. Khmer communities hold it in Ho Chi Minh City and in Bạc Liêu, Đồng Nai, Hậu Giang, Sóc Trăng, Trà Vinh, Tây Ninh and Cà Mau. Traditionally one family serves as the principal donor for a pagoda, and it may organize the Kathina only with the approval of the senior monk and the local community. If no one comes forward, the pagoda organizes it together and each household gives what it can. Many Khmer save for years to host a Kathina at least once in their lives.

The Vietnamese Khmer Kathina usually lasts two days. On the first, devotees go through the village collecting gifts, often money tied to silver or artificial flower trees, and the monks pray for peace for the host family and the villagers. On the second, a procession with a Sa Dam drum team, Robam dancers and Hanuman performers moves through the village. Young women and devotees carry the offerings in two lines, and the monks lead the procession three times around the main hall before the robes are given. Offerings include robes, household furniture, medicines, food and other necessities for pagodas and monks. The money raised also goes to restoring pagodas, monks' houses and schools.

In 2021, in Cần Thơ, the family of Nguyên Thi My Linh was principal donor at Pitu Khosa Rangsay Pagoda, and COVID-19 kept the crowd, usually hundreds or thousands, to a few dozen. Khmer Kathina has also been held at the Khmer pagoda of the Vietnam National Village for Ethnic Culture and Tourism at Đồng Mô, near Hanoi, bringing Khmer Buddhists from the south together with Buddhists from northern provinces.

Royal and cross-border observances

Since 1995, at the request of Thailand's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Thai kings have sent Royal Kathina robes to Buddhist temples abroad. The ministry has held a Royal Kathina in Cambodia almost every year, at temples of both the Maha Nikaya and Dhammayuttika Nikaya orders.

On November 19, 2023, the 23rd Royal Kathina in Cambodia was held at Setabo Pagoda in Kandal Province, chosen by the Great Supreme Patriarch, Samdech Preah Aggamahasangharajadhipati Tep Vong. The robe was bestowed by King Maha Vajiralongkorn of Thailand, and Nathapol Khantahiran, Thailand's Deputy Permanent Secretary for Foreign Affairs, presided. More than 4,000 Thais and Cambodians attended. Gifts from the King, the ministry and Thai and Cambodian communities came to US$27,448 and 91,109,600 riel, equal to 1,774,992 baht.

Community

Cambodian lay Buddhists and monks keep Kathina at pagodas across Cambodia and abroad. In Western Australia, the Cambodian Buddhist Society held its Kathina at Dhammayanaram on Saturday, October 7, 2017, with chanting and blessings at 10 a.m., a Dhamma talk in English and Khmer at 10:30 a.m., an alms round at 11 a.m., a shared lunch at 11:30 a.m. and a procession of the offerings around the vihara, the main hall, at 12:15 p.m.

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