Bhante

Bhante (Pali; Nepali; Burmese: ဘန္တေ, pronounced: [bàɴtè], Sanskrit: vande and vandanā) is the polite particle used to refer to Buddhist monks in the Theravada tradition. Bhante literally means "Venerable Sir."

The Pali word "bhante" is a gender neutral term, unlike "bhikkhu" or "bhikkhuni". It is equivalent to Sanskrit verb 'Vande' or 'Bande' as in the song Vande Mataram. Vande means a reverential action of 'bowing' to someone or something. The Nepali terms for the Buddhist priestly caste, bare and bande, have the same derivation. The Pali term Bhante can also be used as an honorific or a form of address to specific Buddhist monks, similar to Ajahn, Phra or Luang Por in Thailand or Ashin in Burma.

Some famous bhantes are:

Grammatically "bhante" is a vocative case form of a Pali word "bhadanta" (venerable, reverend). The vocative case denotes and is used for address.

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