4.58. Sudatta (AN4.58)

Then the householder Anāthapiṇḍika approached the Blessed One…. The Blessed One then said to him:

“Householder, a noble disciple who gives food gives the recipients four things. What four? He gives life, beauty, happiness, and strength. (1) Having given life, he partakes of life, whether celestial or human. (2) Having given beauty, he partakes of beauty, whether celestial or human. (3) Having given happiness, he partakes of happiness, whether celestial or human. (4) Having given strength, he partakes of strength, whether celestial or human. Householder, a noble disciple who gives food gives the recipients these four things.”

One who respectfully gives timely food
to those self-controlled ones who eat what others give,
provides them with four things:
life, beauty, happiness, and strength.

The man who gives life and beauty,
who gives happiness and strength,
will obtain long life and fame
wherever he is reborn.

© Bhikkhu Bodhi, The Numerical Discourses of the Buddha (Wisdom Publications, 2012)

This excerpt from The Numerical Discourses of the Buddha by Bhikkhu Bodhi is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

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Prepared for SuttaCentral by Blake Walsh.