Ignorance Brings Suffering
The Story of Ananda, the Rich Man
Chapter 5: Fools • Verse 3
The Story of Ananda, the Rich Man
Chapter 5: Fools • Verse 3
The fool worries, thinking, "I have sons, I have wealth." Indeed, when he himself is not his own, whence are sons, whence is wealth?
While residing at the Jetavana Monastery, the Buddha spoke this verse with reference to a miserly rich man named Ananda.
In Savatthi there lived a very wealthy man named Ananda. Though he possessed eighty billion, he was very reluctant to give anything in charity. He would tell his son, Mulasiri, not to think their wealth was very much, never to give any of it away, and to make it grow, or else it would dwindle.
Ananda had five pots of gold buried in his house, and he died without ever telling his son where they were.
He was reborn in a village of beggars not far from Savatthi. From the time his mother became pregnant, the beggars' income fell, and they concluded that someone wicked and unlucky must be among them. By splitting into groups and eliminating one after another, they traced the misfortune to the pregnant woman and drove her out of the village.
Her son was born extremely ugly and repulsive, his hands, feet, eyes, ears, nose, and mouth all out of place, so that he looked like a mud spirit. Even so, his mother did not abandon him, for great is a mother's love for the child she has carried.
Whenever she begged alone she received alms as before, but whenever she took her son with her she got nothing. So when he was old enough to go about by himself, she put a plate in his hand and sent him off, telling him that he had brought them great distress, that she could no longer support him, and that he should beg in the city, where meals were given to the poor and to travellers.
Wandering through Savatthi, the boy remembered his old house and his past life, and went inside. When Mulasiri's sons saw him, they were frightened by his looks and began to cry, and the servants beat him and threw him out.
The Buddha, who was on his alms-round, saw what happened and asked Venerable Ananda to fetch Mulasiri. When Mulasiri came, the Buddha told him that the young beggar had been his own father in his previous existence, but Mulasiri could not believe it.
So the Buddha had the beggar boy show where he had buried the five pots of gold. Only then did Mulasiri accept the truth, and from that time on he became a devoted lay disciple of the Buddha.
The Story of Ananda, the Rich Man
Chapter 5: Fools • Verse 3
The fool worries, thinking, "I have sons, I have wealth." Indeed, when he himself is not his own, whence are sons, whence is wealth?
While residing at the Jetavana Monastery, the Buddha spoke this verse with reference to a miserly rich man named Ananda.
In Savatthi there lived a very wealthy man named Ananda. Though he possessed eighty billion, he was very reluctant to give anything in charity. He would tell his son, Mulasiri, not to think their wealth was very much, never to give any of it away, and to make it grow, or else it would dwindle.
Ananda had five pots of gold buried in his house, and he died without ever telling his son where they were.
He was reborn in a village of beggars not far from Savatthi. From the time his mother became pregnant, the beggars' income fell, and they concluded that someone wicked and unlucky must be among them. By splitting into groups and eliminating one after another, they traced the misfortune to the pregnant woman and drove her out of the village.
Her son was born extremely ugly and repulsive, his hands, feet, eyes, ears, nose, and mouth all out of place, so that he looked like a mud spirit. Even so, his mother did not abandon him, for great is a mother's love for the child she has carried.
Whenever she begged alone she received alms as before, but whenever she took her son with her she got nothing. So when he was old enough to go about by himself, she put a plate in his hand and sent him off, telling him that he had brought them great distress, that she could no longer support him, and that he should beg in the city, where meals were given to the poor and to travellers.
Wandering through Savatthi, the boy remembered his old house and his past life, and went inside. When Mulasiri's sons saw him, they were frightened by his looks and began to cry, and the servants beat him and threw him out.
The Buddha, who was on his alms-round, saw what happened and asked Venerable Ananda to fetch Mulasiri. When Mulasiri came, the Buddha told him that the young beggar had been his own father in his previous existence, but Mulasiri could not believe it.
So the Buddha had the beggar boy show where he had buried the five pots of gold. Only then did Mulasiri accept the truth, and from that time on he became a devoted lay disciple of the Buddha.