Chapter 43
rivalry with him.‛
King Bandhuma gave away, in seven days, all his offerings, which were meant for seven
years and seven months. For the first six days, he did so without letting the people see. On
the seventh day, however, he invited the citizens and showed them his grand offering of
dÈna
, saying to sound them out: ‚Friends, will you be capable of giving such a grand
dÈna
?‛ ‚Great King,‛ retorted the citizens: ‚but your
dÈna
took place only with our help,
isn’t it?‛ And he asserted. ‚Yes, we are capable.‛ Wiping the tears with the back of his
palm, the King paid obeisance to the Buddha and said: ‚My dear son, Glorious Buddha, I
have decided to support you together with one hundred and sixty-eight thousand monks for
life with the four requisites, giving no assignments to others. But now I am compelled to
allow the people to attend to you. In fact, they were angry with me and complaining about
their deprivation of right of giving alms. My son, Exalted Buddha, from tomorrow onwards
please do them a favour!‛ Thus did he pathetically utter words of compliance in despair.
The next day, the general gave a grand
dÈna
to the Sangha with the Buddha at its head, as
the agreement he had with the people. (Hence the story of SaddhÈsumana may briefly be
told as contained in the A~guttara Commentary Vol III.)
Story of SaddhÈsumanÈ
On the day allotted to him, the general, while supervising his grand
dÈna,
issued the order
saying: ‚Care must be taken so that no other person should get a chance to offer even a
spoonful or ladleful of rice,‛ and he placed sentries to keep watch around the area. That
very day, a widow of a wealthy merchant of BandhumatÊ was crying in great distress
(because, she did not get a chance to offer her share of
dÈna
for the first day). She
complained pitiably, saying to her daughter who had just come back from the games she
played with her five hundred female playmates: ‚My darling daughter, if your father were
alive, I could have been today, the first to feed the Buddha.‛ The daughter responded
saying words of comfort: ‚O mother, please do not worry! I will do something so that the
Sangha
,
headed by the Buddha, would accept and partake of our meal first.‛
After that, the daughter filled the gold bowl, which was worth a hundred thousand, with
milk-food unmixed with water. She added butter, honey, molasses, etc. to enrich the food.
She covered it with another gold bowl turned upside down and tied both the gold bowls
with garlands of jasmine so that it might look like a ball of flowers. When the Buddha
entered the city, she carried it herself on her head and left the house in a company of her
many attendants.
On the way a dialogue took place between the wealthy lady and the watchmen:
Watchmen: Do not come here, daughter!
Lady: Dear uncles! Why don’t you allow me to go? (People of past good deeds
speak endearing words. Others are not able to reject their repeated request.)
Watchmen: We are to keep watch, by the general's order, that nobody else must be
allowed to offer alms-food, daughter.
Lady: But, uncles, do you see any food in our hands that warrants you to bar me
like this?
Watchmen: We see only the ball of flowers.
Lady: Well, did your general then say even offering of flowers was not allowable?
Watchmen: As for an offering of flowers, it is allowable, daughter.
The lady then saying to the watchmen, ‚In that case please go away. Do not prevent us,
uncles,‛ she went to the Buddha and offered her gift with a request, ‚Please, Glorious
Buddha, accept my offering of the ball of flowers.‛ The Buddha glanced at a watchman,
signalling him to bring the floral ball. The lady made obeisance and said:
‚Glorious Buddha, may my life throughout
saÑsÈra
be free from want and worry.
May I be lovable to many, like this ball of jasmine flowers, and be named SumanÈ
in all my coming existences.‛