1.7At that time several mendicants were walking meditation in the open air. Then the student Ambaṭṭha went up to those mendicants and said: “Gentlemen, where is Master Gotama at present? For we have come here to see him.”
1.8 8Then those mendicants thought: “This Ambaṭṭha is from a well-known family, and he is the pupil of the well-known brahmin Pokkharasāti. The Buddha won’t mind having a discussion together with such respectable persons.” They said to Ambaṭṭha: “Ambaṭṭha, that’s his dwelling, with the door closed. Approach it quietly, without hurrying; go onto the porch, clear your throat, and knock with the latch. The Buddha will open the door.”
1.9 1.90 9So he approached the Buddha’s dwelling and knocked, and the Buddha opened the door. Ambaṭṭha and the other students entered the dwelling. The other students exchanged greetings with the Buddha, and when the greetings and polite conversation were over, sat down to one side. But while the Buddha was sitting, Ambaṭṭha spoke some polite words or other while walking around or standing.
1.10 10So the Buddha said to him: “Ambaṭṭha, is this how you hold a discussion with elderly and senior brahmins, the teachers of teachers: walking around or standing while I’m sitting, speaking some polite words or other?”
2.1. The First Use of the Word “Riffraff”
11“No, Master Gotama. For it is proper for one brahmin to converse with another while both are walking, standing, sitting, or lying down. But as to these shavelings, fake ascetics, riffraff, black spawn from the feet of our Kinsman, I converse with them as I do with Master Gotama.” 1.11“But Ambaṭṭha, you must have come here for some purpose. You should focus on that. Though this Ambaṭṭha is unqualified, he thinks he’s qualified. What is that but lack of qualifications?”
1.12 1.91 12When he said this, Ambaṭṭha became angry and upset with the Buddha because of being described as unqualified. He even attacked and badmouthed the Buddha himself, saying: “The ascetic Gotama will be worsted!” He said to the Buddha: “Master Gotama, the Sakyan clan are rude, harsh, touchy, and argumentative. Riffraff they are, and riffraff they remain! They don’t honor, respect, revere, worship, or venerate brahmins. It is neither proper nor appropriate that the Sakyans—riffraff that they are—don’t honor, respect, revere, worship, or venerate brahmins.” And that’s how Ambaṭṭha denigrated the Sakyans with the word “riffraff” for the first time.
The narrative is long, and amusing. First the brahmin teacher tasks the brahmin vedic student to go to the Buddha, in speech which demonstrates their relationship. The student goes, meets some of the Buddha’s mendicants at the monestary who interrupt their walking meditation to explain to the guest how to interrupt the Buddha in his room or hut. The vedic students and the bhikkus crowd in to that space, and the monks sit (which is polite, a gesture of respect to a teacher). The visiting guest however remains standing, and is questioned by the Buddha about it… He explains his sense of superiority or equality, and when gently mocked by the Buddha as unprepared, responds with anger, expressed in speech in which the visitor characterizes the Buddha’s clan as riff-raff. The Buddha offers correction of the true basis of his view, which is accepted… and the monks in attendenve respond with uproar… and the Buddha corrects their view, including instructions on what it says to interrupt a conversation between a visitor and the Buddha… It goes on, the student eventual returns to his vedic teacher and is disgraced and verbally abused.
Speech, in ordinary life, is more than words, more than the sound of words… It seems to include the intention behind the words, the manner of delivery, the time chosen to speak, the willingness to listen and perhaps accept, … And this amusing narrative demonstrates all that, and probably more not mentioned.
:). edit for link SuttaCentral
Perhaps we are a mixed audience, some authoritarian, some apathetic, some very sure of a sense of what is “right”, some skilled in getting their message across, some focussed on the good in all or the potential for good, some asleep, some awake, some having a good day, some not,… Samsara.
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