Monks and Upasakas

The upasakas address the monks as bhante and salute them (abhivadeti). The monks, in turn, address the upasakas as avuso,^[1] occasionally using their personal names. Therefore, the monk Mahakaccana addresses the upasaka sona kutikanna as sona^[2] and the upasakas Salha is address by the monk Nandaka as salha.^[3] The appellation ayya is used by the upasakas as a term of reference following bhante.

The upasakas look down upon the monks and criticize them in the case of misconduct. The following will illustrate such case where the term of reference undergoes a change. A certain widow salutes (abhivadeti) the monk udayi (referred to as ayasma in the text) and addresses him as bhante. The monk asks her to cohabit with him and she consents. But afterwards he changes his mind and, calling her an evil shouts, “These sakyaputta samanas are lecherous liars.” In her anger, she refers to udayi as samana udayin.^[4]