THE ANUD¢PAN¢
attained the
anÈgÈmÊ-magga
stage.
(7) Offering made to a
sakadÈgÈmin
or to one who has attained the
sakadÈgÈmÊ-phala
stage.
(8) Offering made to one who is striving to realise
sakadÈgÈmÊ-phala
or one who has
attained
sakadÈgÈmÊ-magga
stage.
(9) Offering made to a
sotÈpanna
or to one who has attained the
sotÈpatti
stage.
(10) Offering made to one who is striving to realise
sotÈpatti-phala
or one who has
attained
sotÈpatti-magga
.
(11) Offering made to recluses (outside the Teaching of the Buddha or when the Teaching
is not in existence) who are accomplished in
jhÈna
or Supernormal Power attainment.
(12) Offering made to ordinary lay person who possesses morality.
(13) Offering made to ordinary lay person who is devoid of morality.
(14) Offering made to an animal.
Of these 14 kinds of offering made to individuals, giving one full meal to an animal will
bring wholesome results of long life, good looks, physical wellbeing, strength, and
intelligence for one hundred lives. Then in an ascending order, giving one full meal to a lay
person of poor morality will bring these wholesome results for one thousand lives; to lay
person of good morality at a time when the Buddha’s Teaching is not in existence and he
has no opportunity to take refuge in the Triple Gem, for a hundred thousand lives; to
recluses and ascetics accomplished in
jhÈna
attainment, for ten billion lives; to lay men and
novitiates (during a period when the Teachings of Buddhas are extant) who take refuge in
the Triple Gem, and up to the Noble person who has attained the
sotÈpatti-magga
, for an
innumerable period (
asa~khyeyya
) of lives; and to persons of higher attainment up to the
Buddha, for countless periods of lives. (According to the Commentary, even one who only
takes refuge in the Triple Gem may be considered as a person who is practising for
realisation of
sotÈpatti-phala
).
There is no mention of
bhikkhus
of loose morality in the above list of 14 kinds of
recipient of offerings made to individuals. The Buddha’s enumeration of offering made to
a person devoid of morality concerns only the period when the Buddha’s Teaching is not in
existence. For these reasons, there is a tendency to consider that offerings made to
bhikkhus
of impure morality while the Buddha’s Teaching are still not in existence are
blameworthy. But one should remember that anyone, who has become a Buddhist, at the
very least, takes refuge in the Triple Gem; and the Commentary says that whoever takes
refuge in the Triple Gem is a person who is practising for realisation of
sotÈpatti-phala
.
Furthermore, when an offering made to an ordinary lay person, who is devoid of morality
(while the Teaching of Buddha is not in existence), could be of much benefit, there is no
doubt that offerings made to an ordinary lay person devoid of morality while the Teaching
of the Buddha is still existing could be beneficial too.
Again, the Milinda-PaÒha Text, NÈgasena Thera explains that an immoral
bhikkhu
is
superior to an immoral lay person in ten respects, such as reverence shown to the Buddha,
reverence shown to the Dhamma, reverence shown to the Sangha, etc. Thus, according to
the Milinda PaÒha, an immoral
bhikkhu
is superior to an immoral lay person; and since he
is listed by the Commentary as one who is practising for realisation of
sotÈpatti-phala
, one
should not say that it is blameworthy and fruitless to make an offering to a
bhikkhu
who is
devoid of morality.
There is yet another point of view in connection with this matter. At a time when there is
no Teaching of the Buddha, immoral
bhikkhus
cannot cause any harm to the Teaching; but
when the Teaching is in existence, they can bring harm to it. For that reason, no offering
should be made to
bhikkhus
who is devoid of morality during the period when there is the
Buddha’s Teaching. But that view is shown by the Buddha to be untenable.
At the conclusion of the discourse on seven kinds of offering to the Sangha (
sa~ghika-
dÈna
)(see below), the Buddha explains to Œnanda: