Jataka 180
Duddada Jātaka
Easy to Give
as told by Eric Van Horn
originally translated by William Henry Denham Rouse, Cambridge University
originally edited by Professor Edward Byles Cowell, Cambridge University
This is a lovely and simple story about the joy of giving.
Ajahn Brahm of Bodhinyana Monastery in Australia was once asked by a lay follower how could he learn to feel the joy of giving more. Ajahn Brahm said that one way to do that is to look at the inspiring stories of other people who give. He went on to tell several stories of giving that are very inspirational.
One of them is about a young teenage girl from Thailand. She was very poor and lived in a poor village there. She was also brain damaged from birth, and she could not speak. But the villagers looked after her, and she was very devoted to the temple and the monks.
One day Ajahn Brahm was sweeping the back of the temple, and he sensed that someone had snuck in. He thought maybe the temple was being robbed. So he very quietly peeked around the corner, and there he saw this young girl. She was looking around cautiously to see if anyone was watching. Then she went up to the alter, put something there, and then turned around and ran out the door.
Ajahn Brahm went up to the altar to see what she had put there. What he saw was a very crudely made origami lotus flower. She was probably embarrassed that anyone would know who had made it. But she had made this gift from the goodness of her heart. It was the best that she could do, and it was the most that she could give.
This is the joy that comes from a kind and generous heart. And of course Ajahn Brahm made sure that none of the other monks removed that lotus flower from the altar.
“It is hard to do as good people do.” The Master told this story while he was at Jetavana. It is about alms given in common.
Two friends from Sāvatthi - young men of good position - made a collection, providing all the necessities to give to the Buddha and his followers. They invited them all, provided for them for seven days, and on the seventh presented them with all their requisites. The eldest of these saluted the Master and said - sitting beside him – “Sir, among those who contributed, some gave much and some gave little, but let it bear much fruit for all alike.” Then he offered the gift. The Master’s reply was, “In giving these things to the Buddha and his followers, you, my lay friends, have done a great deed. In days of old wise men gave in the same way, and thus offered their gifts.” Then at his request he told a story from the past.
Once upon a time, when Brahmadatta was the King of Benares, the Bodhisatta was born into a brahmin family from Kāsi. When he grew up, he was educated at Takkasilā University, after which he renounced the world and took up the holy life. He went to live with a group of disciples in the Himalaya Mountains. He lived there for a long time.
Once he needed to procure salt and seasoning, so he went on a pilgrimage through the countryside. In due course he arrived in Benares. There he settled in the King’s park. On the following morning he and his company went on alms rounds to a village outside the gates of the city. The people there gave him alms. On the next day he sought alms in the city. The people were all glad to give him alms. They got together and made a collection, and they provided plenty for the band of recluses. After the presentation their spokesman offered his gift with the same words as above. The Bodhisatta replied, “Friend, where there is faith, no gift is small.” And he returned his thanks in these verses:
“It is hard to do as good folk do, to give as they can give,
Bad men can hardly imitate the life that good folk live.
“And so, when good and evil go to pass away from earth,
The bad are born in lowly realms, in heaven the good have birth.”
Figure: The Bodhisatta’s Thanksgiving
This was his thanksgiving. He remained there for the four months of the rains, and then returned to the Himalaya. There he practiced all the kinds of holy meditation, and without a single interruption continued in them until he passed away and was reborn in a heavenly realm.
When this discourse came to an end the Master identified the birth: “At that time,” he said, “the Buddha’s company was the body of recluses, and I was their leader.”
