Treasury of Truth: Text from the Illustrated Dhammapada by Ven. Weragoda Sarada Thera

Author:Ven. Weragoda Sarada Thera
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Tags: The Buddha's Teachings, Buddhism, teachings, scriptures.
Published: 2001-07-08T21:06:54+00:00

Worst Diseases And Greatest Happiness

15 (5) The Story of a Lay-Disciple (Verse 203)

The Buddha spoke this verse at the village of âlavi, with refer-

ence to a lay-disciple.

One day, the Buddha saw in his vision that a poor man would

attain sōtàpatti fruition at the village of âlavi. So he went to

that village, which was thirty yojanas (leagues) away from Sà-

vatthi. It so happened that on that very day the man lost his

oxen. So, he had to be looking for the oxen. Meanwhile, alms-

food was being offered to the Buddha and his disciples in a

house in the village of âlavi. After the meal, people got ready

to listen to the Buddha’s discourse; but the Buddha waited for

the young man. Finally, having found his oxen, the man came

running to the house where the Buddha was. The man was tired

and hungry, so the Buddha directed the donors to offer food to

him. Only when the man had been fed, the Buddha gave a dis-

course, expounding the Dhamma step by step and finally lead-

ing to the Four Noble Truths. The lay-disciple attained

sōtàpatti fruition at the end of the discourse.

Afterwards, the Buddha and his disciples returned to the Jēta-

vana Monastery. On the way, the monks remarked that it was

so surprising that the Buddha should have waited and directed

those people to feed the young man before he gave the dis-

course. On hearing their remarks, the Buddha said, “Monks!

What you said is true, but you do not understand that I have

come here, all this distance of thirty yōjanas, because I knew

that he was in a fitting condition to take in the Dhamma. If he

were feeling very hungry, the pangs of hunger might have pre-

vented him from taking in the Dhamma fully. That man had

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