26.9 The Story about the Elder Sāriputta
Sāriputtattheravatthu
Dhp 392
Burlingame: Reverence to Whom Reverence Is Due
Elder Sāriputta would always bow in the direction where he knew his first Dhamma teacher Elder Assaji was living; the bhikkhus thought he was worshipping the cardinal points and reported the matter to the Buddha who explained the situation, and then taught them with a verse.
Keywords: Respect, Teachers
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“That one from whom one learned Dhamma,”
This venerable elder, we are told, first heard the Dhamma from the lips of Elder Assaji; and from the day when he attained Stream-entry, in whatever quarter he heard that Elder Assaji was residing, in that direction he would extend his clasped hands in an attitude of reverent supplication, in that direction he would turn his head when he lay down to sleep. The bhikkhus said to each other: “Elder Sāriputta holds wrong views; on this very day he is going about doing reverence to the cardinal points,” and reported the matter to the Realised One.
The Teacher caused the elder to be summoned before him and asked him: “Sāriputta, is the report true that you are going about doing reverence to the cardinal points?”
Then said the Teacher: “Bhikkhus, Sāriputta is not doing reverence to the cardinal points. The fact is that he first heard the Dhamma from the lips of Elder Assaji, and that from the day when he attained Stream-entry, he has reverenced his own teacher. For a bhikkhu should reverence the teacher through whom he has learned the Dhamma with the same degree of reverence with which a Brahmin reverences the sacred fire.” So saying, he taught the Dhamma, pronouncing the following verse:
392. Yamhā Dhammaṁ vijāneyya Sammāsambuddhadesitaṁ,
sakkaccaṁ taṁ namasseyya, aggihuttaṁ va brāhmaṇo.
That one from whom one learned Dhamma
taught by the Perfect Sambuddha,
with respect you should honour him,
like Brahmin at fire-sacrifice.
At the end of the teaching many reached the fruition of Stream-entry and so on.