Tracing its roots to the Indian Mahasiddha Virupa textile, the Sakya Order is named for the location of its founding temple in Sakya. A distinctive costume feature of the Sakya Order is the transformation of a pundit’s hat with its usually hanging lappets (called “ears” in Tibetan) folded up to cross over the top of the head. Called a Sa-zhva, literally “Sakya Hat,” the right “ear” represents Buddhist scriptures while the left “ear” symbolizes mystical practices; the folding of the two suggests uniting these two halves into one whole.
Sakya Order
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