Baring one's shoulder in Buddhism

[Klaus Karttunen]

Thinking the amount of discussion about this question lately, and being 
no Buddhist scholar myself, I was quite surprised, when I hit a 
reference. It was really pure accident, I was actually searching for 
Naga stories somehow coping with classical accounts of Indian giant 
snakes.
In I-tsing's Record of the Buddhist Religion, translated by J. Takakusu 
(1896, Reprinted Delhi 1982) pages 72ff. contain chapter XI The mode of 
wearing garments, and in this some information on this question, too, 
can be found. For instance, in the monastery it is not necessary to have 
one's shoulder bared.
With best wishes
Klaus Karttunen