[Buddha-l] Re: buddha-l Digest, Vol 32, Issue 17

[Dan Lusthaus]

Richard wrote, in response to Joy:

> > I am not that sure, the Buddha told his students when they were behaving
> > like jerks and idiots.
>
> I don't recall any such instances. The Buddha told some people they had
> misunderstood him, but he did not shame them or ridicule them or speak of
> them as jerks and idiots. Or so I recall from what I have read. I wasn't
> actually there.

Does calling someone a "fool" in front of the whole assembly count? In the
Mahatanhasankhaya sutta (MN 38), Buddha plays the shame card on Sati,
calling him a moghapurisa, which the PTS translation renders "fool" and
Nanamoli/Bodhi translate (perhaps more literally and sanitized for political
correctness) as "misguided man." That this is intended to shame Sati is
clear from the context, since the Buddha does so in front of everyone.
Sati's response -- a sign of his shame -- is (in the Nanamoli/Bodhi tr., p.
350):

"... the bhikkhu Sati, son of a fisherman, sat silent, dismayed, with
shoulders drooping and head down, glum, and without response. Then, knowing
this, the Blessed One told him: "Misguided man [moghapurisa], you will be
recognized by your own pernicious view. I shall question the bhikkhus on
this matter."

The rest of the sutta is Buddha talking to the monks, with their assent to
his every point. Nor is there redemption for Sati at end: "Bhikkhus,
remember this deliverance through the destruction of craving taught in brief
by me. But the bhikkhu Sati, son of a fisherman, is caught in a vast net of
craving, in the trammel of craving."

"... The bhikkhus were satisfied and delighted in the Blessed One's words."

Dan