"The Buddha was into the habit of calling monks, nuns, named or unnamed, singly or collectively, 'foolish man/men', sometimes in front of them. He wasn't a wimp."
To keep perspective on the issue of harsh speech in Buddhist practice, let us recall how the Buddha himself behaved. There is this passage from the Discipline (Vinaya) where the Buddha addressed the monk Sudinna:
"Misguided man, have I not taught the Law in various ways for the sake of dispassion, not for the sake of passion? Have I not taught the Law in various ways for the sake of unfettering, not for the sake of fettering? Have I not taught the Law in various ways for the sake of relinquishing, not for the sake of clinging? The Law thus taught by me for dispassion, unfettering and relinquishment, you would conceive for passion, fettering and clinging? Has the Law not been taught by me in many ways for dispassion, for disintoxication, for curing thirst, for abolishing attachment, for severing the round of being, for exhausting craving, for dispassion, for cessation, for extinction?" — Vinaya Sutta-vibhanga, parajika-pali 1, tr. Nanamoli, The Life of the Buddha, 159.
The Pali gives moghapurisa — "foolish man" — where the above translation gives "Misguided man."
There are many other instances of the same expression in the Vinaya. The same moghapurisa "foolish man" turns up throughout the Sutta-pitaka as well: in the Majjhima-nikaya (Sunakkhatta's case, Arittha's case, Sati's case, the quarrelling monks of Kosambi, Malunkyaputta's case, unnamed monks, Udayin's and Samiddhi's cases); in the Samyutta-nikaya (Bhanda and Abhinjika; monks who make the Dharma disappear; monks into gains, favours, flattery); in the Anguttara-nikaya (Makkhali's case, Kesakambalo's case, the mother and son in the sangha who had incestuous sex without disrobing, Kakudha's case, Udayi's case); and many further instances besides.
That is only a partial check, stopping in the middle of the Anguttara-nikaya.
The above clearly gives the impression that the Buddha was into the habit of calling monks, nuns, named or unnamed, singly or collectively, "foolish man/men", sometimes in front of them. He wasn't a wimp.
Tang Huyen — talk.religion.buddhism, 27 Jul 2006.
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