Saffron Robe

From 'The Broken Buddha' by Bhante Dhammika:

"There is no more unity between Theravadians in different countries than there is within them. The popular and outward expressions of Theravada in these lands are more pronounced than the similarities. Add to this the high degree of nationalism and ethnocentricity amongst Sri Lankans, Burmese and especially Thais and they only barely recognize each other as co-religionists. When King Chulalankhorn of Thailand visited the Shwedagon Pagoda in Burma in 1870 he marched right in with his shoes on. True, it was a Buddhist temple but it wasn’t one of ‘our temples’ so it didn’t really matter. The Burmese for their part were not too upset by the king’s behavior. After all, he was not Burmese so he hardly qualified to be a Buddhist. Western monks living in Asia are treated with the greatest courtesy and kindness but they are rarely accepted as real monks or real Buddhists. To a Burmese you have to be Burmese to be a ‘real’ Buddhist, Thais think the same way, the Sri Lankans somewhat less so. Phra Peter says; ‘It is a fact that a lot of Thai people don’t seem to take me very seriously as a monk and I have heard other Phra Farang say they have met with similar ‘resistance.’ Despite wearing the same robe, shaving my head and following the same rules as my Thai colleagues, I am still not a ‘real’ monk... When I have occasionally asked why I am not taken seriously, I am told; ‘You are not Thai and you do not chant’. I point out gently that the Buddha was not Thai either and as far as I know, he didn’t have a lot to say about the necessity or efficacy of chanting. It doesn’t make any difference.’ The situation is not dissimilar for Westerners going to temples in their own countries run by Thai monks or even by Western monks trained in Thailand. Long before they learn any Dhamma they find they have to adopt Thai etiquette, pronounce Pali with a Thai accent, sit in the Thai manner, bow in the Thai way; in short become a Thai clone. One gets the feeling that it would be more in keeping with their real attitude if the monks in such establishments wore Thai flags rather than yellow robes."

http://www.theravada-dhamma.org/pdf/Dhammika_Broken-Buddha.pdf