Greeting Sri Lankan bhikkhus
Posted: Wed Oct 16, 2013 5:44 am
Hey everybody,
My temple is a Sri Lankan vihara, and as far as I know all of the resident bhikkhus are Sri Lankan. I was hoping to get your insight (hah!) on a couple of things.
1. What is the typical way for an upāsaka to address a bhikkhu? Añjali at chest level? Face? Forehead? Is there an actual bow involved? If so, how deep?
2. One night I was in the common area, and a Sri Lankan woman came to talk to the abbot (is there a Pāḷi term for "abbot?"), but instead of just greeting him with the añjali mudra, she went ahead and did a full-out five-point prostration right in front of him. Is THIS what I should be doing? Is it a gender thing? Is the abbot of a monastery shown respect in a different way than regular bhikkhus?
The last thing I want to do is be the dumbest, whitest guy in the place and give some sort of corny pan-Asian bow that'll just show how little I know about the culture I'm interacting with. I want to engage these people on their terms, not on mine. Help me out?
Your sahadhammika,
Vakkali
My temple is a Sri Lankan vihara, and as far as I know all of the resident bhikkhus are Sri Lankan. I was hoping to get your insight (hah!) on a couple of things.
1. What is the typical way for an upāsaka to address a bhikkhu? Añjali at chest level? Face? Forehead? Is there an actual bow involved? If so, how deep?
2. One night I was in the common area, and a Sri Lankan woman came to talk to the abbot (is there a Pāḷi term for "abbot?"), but instead of just greeting him with the añjali mudra, she went ahead and did a full-out five-point prostration right in front of him. Is THIS what I should be doing? Is it a gender thing? Is the abbot of a monastery shown respect in a different way than regular bhikkhus?
The last thing I want to do is be the dumbest, whitest guy in the place and give some sort of corny pan-Asian bow that'll just show how little I know about the culture I'm interacting with. I want to engage these people on their terms, not on mine. Help me out?
Your sahadhammika,
Vakkali