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

[Joy Vriens]

Dan,

>> But it does say something about the Buddha, doesn't it? He is speaking to 
>people who left their respective roles in society behind them and went to 
>the homeless life. [...], yet makes a reference to Sati's life before being 
>a monk and even to Sati's father who doesn't have anything to with this. 
> 
>Well, by current sensibilities you certainly have a point. For the last 
>decade or so, when I give undergrads this sutta to read, they become livid, 
>and can't get past Buddha calling someone a "fool." I've come up with a 
>variety of strategies for defusing that -- so they'll notice the rest of the 
>sutta -- but this definitely annoys people these days. Perhaps Lance can 
>mount a better defense for poor ole Gotama. 
> 
>In terms of literary effect, the repeated reminders that Sati is a 
>fisherman's son is intended to give some punch to the punchline at the very 
>end of the sutta, which is that Sati is ensnared in the nets of desire and 
>delusion, implying "like a fish." 

It's not that I mind, but it doesn't go with a certain image of the Buddha, that's is probably bigger than life imo. What i wanted to add is that making a reference to a parent's profession and adding that s/he is poor at is as well (or very talented in case of the oldest profession of the world...) is very much what is done in the "ghettos" here. "You're father is a fisherman, and so stupid he gets strangled in his own nets" or "Your father is miner, who can't even crawl out of his own hole". It's the combination of refering to Sati's father and using an exemple of his profession of his or Sati's making a mess of it. Like he wants to say "with a father like that no wonder you're such an idiot". A reference is made to there being something congenital about Sati's idiocy.

It's quite funny as fiction, but that is another discussion.