The Buddha and the Monks

The Buddha, being the head of the Buddhist hierarchical system, is always addressed as bhante by the monks. The Buddha is being referred to with a special term by the monks i.e. Bhagava, which they reserve for him to the exclusion of all other human and non-human beings. They salute (abhivadeti) the Buddha on meeting him and usually at the end of the conversation again salute (abhivadeti) him, circumambulate him, and take his leave.^[1]

Only one instance of a departure is there from this mode. Once the Buddha is mistaken for an ordinary monk, and the monk Pukkusati addresses him as avuso.^[2] On realizing the true identity of the Buddha, Pukkusati, rising from his seat, arranging his robe over one shoulder and bowling his head to the Buddha’s feet, speaks, “A transgression, bhante, has overcome me in that, foolish, errant and unskilled as I was, I supposed that the Bhagava could be addressed as avuso. Bhante, may the Bhagava acknowledge my transgression for the sake of restraint in the future.^[3] This incident hints the relative importance of bhante and avuso in speaking to a person. Bhante is certainly higher in terms of respect than avuso.

The bhikkhus (monks) are addressed as Bhikkave, by the Buddha, when they are in groups, and individual monks with their personal name or gotta name.^[4] The text refers to some monks by their ethnic affiliations. Thus we find monks such as Visakha Pancalaputta, Upasena Vangutaputta, sakyaputta upananda and Dabba Mallaputta.^[5] Pindola Bharadvaja, Mahamoggalana, Kaccayana monks are mentioned by their gotta affiliations.^[6] However, we notice a difference in the mode of address used for them by the Buddha. Names indicating ethnic affiliations are dropped in addressing those monks possessing them, while the gotta is retained in the case of monks whose names indicate gotta affiliations. Thus, Upananda sakyaputta is addressed as upananda by the Buddha,^[7] while Pindola Bharadvaja is addressed by him as Bharadvaja.^[8] The latter practice is strikingly shown in the following case. The Buddha addressed a novice referred to in the text as samanaudessa Aciravata as Aggivessana, his gotta name.^[9] In this case, even when the gotta name is not alluded to in the initial description of the individual, it is revealed in the mode of the address.