Talk:Red string

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I have seen red string mentioned within the context of Tibetan Buddhism, but I cannot find material concerning this on wikipedia. Can anyone help? -- Ben-Arba 00:23, 8 August 2006 (UTC)[reply]

That's true, but I don't think the info in the article is correct as it now stands. They are often called "blessing cords." I've received a lot of them, from a number of different lamas, sometimes with knots, sometimes without. Yellow every once in a while. I've never been instructed to tie them around anything in particular, and I've seen people wear them around their necks, either wrist, angles. So if there are guidelines they haven't been stressed much. Sylvain1972 19:49, 16 February 2007 (UTC)

It's a popular practice that varies quite a bit from place to place and by tradition. My family has received some from our local temple (Thai Theravada)- the particular color does not seem to be a big issue, though they are typically tied around the wrist. For Thais, tying something associated with Buddhism around the ankles wouldn't be acceptable because of cultural beliefs regarding the head and feet- touching or gesturing at respected things (such as monks, Buddha images, pictures of the king) with the feet is considered disrespectful.

The only injunction that my wife knew was that you were supposed to wear the cord until it wore through and fell off, rather than cutting it off. No knots that I noticed. Unfortunately, I think you would be hard pressed to find authoritative sources for Buddhist practices regarding these strings- it's the sort of popular practice that Western scholars haven't shown a lot of interest in until recently, and derives a great deal from local folk traditions that have never really been written down. --Clay Collier 00:38, 19 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]