[Buddha-l] Re: Earliest Buddhist Customs and Liturgy

[Dhammanando Bhikkhu]

Joanna:

> (One point that has flummoxed me is what precisely does it mean when 
> the
> text says that after greeting the Buddha the interlocutor "stood to one
> side." I wonder what that looked like.....to the left or the right of 
> the
> Buddha? How far to one side? Behind him?)

I don't exactly how they sat, but the Pali commentaries' gloss on the 
phrase "at one side" explains that brahmins held that there were six 
ways one shouldn't sit when visiting a teacher:

1) Too far away from him (atiduura.m) — for then one would have to 
shout to make one's questions heard.
2) Too near to him (accaasanna.m) — for this would be cramping him.
3) Upwind from him (uparivaata.m) — for then he will have to put up 
with one's body odour.
4) Higher than he (unnatappadesa.m) — for this is disrespectful.
5) Too much to his front (atisammukha.m) — for then it would seem that 
one is staring at him.
6) Too much to his rear (atipacchaa) — for then one would have to 
stretch one's neck too much to see him.

In the case of the Buddha, an additional reason for sitting at one side 
rather than in front of him was to avoid annoying devas. I vaguely 
recall one or two suttas where devas complain to the Buddha that some 
inconsiderate oaf is blocking their view.

Best wishes,
Dhammanando