Continuing from previously,

So the Kalamas of Kesaputta went to the Blessed One. On arrival, some of them bowed down to him and sat to one side. Some of them exchanged courteous greetings with him and, after an exchange of friendly greetings & courtesies, sat to one side. Some of them sat to one side having saluted him with their hands palm-to-palm over their hearts. Some of them sat to one side having announced their name & clan. Some of them sat to one side in silence.

https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/an/an03/an03.065.than.html

Continuing from previous. Let’s cover the next word in this verse:

This verse is interesting because it reflected how people interacted with Buddha.

Some simply bow and sat to one side. Bowing is an act of humility and respect because we lower our head in acknowledgment of another person.

Some went to exchange greetings with Buddha before sitting to one side. These are likely to be people who had already gained acquaintances with Buddha. Two important points here.

(1) Buddha wasn’t unapproachable. His monks did not prevent people from coming close to Him and talking to Him. In other words, Buddha was friendly and approachable. It is totally unlike how a man would relate to a God-like being. For a god-like being, one is expected to have some degree of fear towards god. In this instance, we can see clearly that that is absent. What about us? Now that Buddha is no longer psychically with us and we only see a statue representing Buddha in the temple. How do we associate with that representation of Buddha? Do we treat Buddha as our teacher or do we treat Him like a God?

(2) These people (Buddha’s lay disciples) are very considerate. They sat to one side! Have you ever attended a talk by a famous monk or nun and their disciples seem to have endless things to chat with them until the talk cannot start punctually? So this is more about self-reflection. If we personally know a Buddhist teacher and wish to exchange personal courtesies with him/her, please be mindful not to hold up other people waiting for the talk to start.

Some of them sat to one side having saluted him with their hands palm-to-palm over their hearts. This is the most basic Buddhist greetings. So it is also perfectly fine to simply express our veneration from a distance and quietly sit to one side. The exchange of courtesies is optional.

Some of them sat to one side having announced their name & clan. This is typically done by prominent people in society. In our modern world, we typically receive an email or some notification that some VIP intends to visit. So mankind had been pretty much the same for over 2500 years.

Some of them sat to one side in silence. This is more interesting for me. Obviously, there are people who are not a fan of Buddha yet. They just pop by to listen to what Buddha taught and to see who Buddha was. As we see here, they do not get divine punishment for being “disrespectful”.

From this simple verse, we are already equipped with some knowledge to understand what is Buddhism. If you attend to some Buddhist Church or Temple; Is your organization teaching you to fear Buddha? If so, you know that their message may not be complete yet.

May all be well and happy.