Re: king and the ascetic

 

Dear Branko,

The passage is quite straightforward:

Atha kho rājā pasenadi kosalo ... upasaṅkamitvā āyasmantaṃ ānandaṃ abhivādetvā ekamantaṃ aṭṭhāsi. Ekamantaṃ ṭhito kho rājā pasenadi kosalo āyasmantaṃ ānandaṃ etadavoca – ‘‘idha, bhante, āyasmā ānando hatthatthare nisīdatū’’ti. ‘‘Alaṃ, mahārāja. Nisīda tvaṃ; nisinno ahaṃ sake āsane’’ti. Nisīdi kho rājā pasenadi kosalo paññatte āsane. Nisajja kho rājā pasenadi kosalo āyasmantaṃ ānandaṃ etadavoca ...

abhivādeti means a full prostration. It is distinguished elsewhere from the gesture of anjali, which would be expressed: yena So & So,  ten'añjaliṃ paṇāmetvā ...

The king remains standing because he offers Ananda the elephant spread for a seat. Apparently it would not have been appropriate for him to offer the spread after he had already taken his seat. Since Ananda is not giving a discourse on the Dhamma, there is no offence in him sitting while the king is standing. And since King Pasenadi is depicted in the texts as a follower of the Buddha, there is no question of him considering himself superior to the monk by reason of his status as king. 

Note further that after Ananda refuses the offer of the elephant spread, he invites the king to sit down. It is only when the king is seated that the conversation on Dhamma begins. So there is nothing irregular about this passage. 

With best wishes,

Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi
Chuang Yen Monastery
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U.S.A.

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-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [palistudy] king and the ascetic
From: "Branislav Kovacevic ja_sam_branko@... [palistudy]"
<palistudy@yahoogroups.com>
Date: Thu, March 19, 2015 6:49 am
To: "palistudy@yahoogroups.com" <palistudy@yahoogroups.com>

 

Dear All,

I'd like to consult with you about one minor thing in the suttas, but which intrigues me for some time. At the moment I'm translating Bahitika sutta (MN 88) and at the beginning a conversation between Ananda and Pasenadi is described. So my question concerns greeting between king and the monk when they meet. Does the king bows or salutes with anjali?

In the sutta the same word abhivādeti: "bows down; salutes" is used when later Ananda meets the Buddha. While in this case I'm absolutely sure Ananda bowed down to the Teacher, I' not quite sure how Pasenadi greeted Ananda. Especially since the text says
upasaṅkamitvā āyasmantaṃ ānandaṃ abhivādetvā ekamantaṃ aṭṭhāsi
which means he was standing, while talking to the monk.

If he stands and Ananda is sitting, that's against the rule that monk should be seated higher than the lay person. On the other hand, maybe he as king considers himself higher than the ascetic. But, according to the Pali text, he shows great respect when talking to the Ananda. So one would expect him to not stand while monk is sitting. Anywya, as I see it, there is some kind of discrepancy here. Or I miss something?

Maybe this all sounds trivial, but when translating I try to imagine what is described as a real event that happened and what would be the most realistic description of it. And in this case somehow I can't put together the whole picture.

Yours in Dhamma
Branko