The Greatest Offering
The Story of Venerable Sariputta's Uncle
Chapter 8: The Thousands • Verse 7
The Story of Venerable Sariputta's Uncle
Chapter 8: The Thousands • Verse 7
Though month after month for a hundred years one should offer sacrifices by the thousands, yet if only for a moment one should worship those of perfected minds that honor is indeed better than a century of sacrifice.
While residing at the Veluvana Monastery, the Buddha spoke this verse with reference to a brahmin who was Venerable Sariputta's maternal uncle.
Venerable Sariputta once went to his uncle and asked whether he ever did any good deed. His uncle said that every month he gave alms worth a thousand pieces of money.
Asked to whom he gave, he said to the naked ascetics. Asked what he hoped to gain, he said he hoped to reach the world of Brahma, and that his teachers had told him this was the way.
Sariputta told him that neither he nor his teachers knew the way to the world of Brahma; only the Buddha knew it. He offered to take his uncle to the Buddha and ask him.
So Sariputta brought his uncle to the Buddha, told him what had been said, and asked him to show the brahmin the way to the world of Brahma. The Buddha asked the brahmin whether he had been reported correctly, and he said he had.
The Buddha told him that even if he gave alms this way for a hundred years, it would be far more fruitful for someone with a believing heart to look upon one of the Buddha's disciples for a single moment, or to offer him just a spoonful of rice.
The Story of Venerable Sariputta's Uncle
Chapter 8: The Thousands • Verse 7
Though month after month for a hundred years one should offer sacrifices by the thousands, yet if only for a moment one should worship those of perfected minds that honor is indeed better than a century of sacrifice.
While residing at the Veluvana Monastery, the Buddha spoke this verse with reference to a brahmin who was Venerable Sariputta's maternal uncle.
Venerable Sariputta once went to his uncle and asked whether he ever did any good deed. His uncle said that every month he gave alms worth a thousand pieces of money.
Asked to whom he gave, he said to the naked ascetics. Asked what he hoped to gain, he said he hoped to reach the world of Brahma, and that his teachers had told him this was the way.
Sariputta told him that neither he nor his teachers knew the way to the world of Brahma; only the Buddha knew it. He offered to take his uncle to the Buddha and ask him.
So Sariputta brought his uncle to the Buddha, told him what had been said, and asked him to show the brahmin the way to the world of Brahma. The Buddha asked the brahmin whether he had been reported correctly, and he said he had.
The Buddha told him that even if he gave alms this way for a hundred years, it would be far more fruitful for someone with a believing heart to look upon one of the Buddha's disciples for a single moment, or to offer him just a spoonful of rice.