Timely Gifts (AN5.36)

Numbered Discourses 5.36

4. With Sumanā

Timely Gifts

“Mendicants, there are these five timely gifts.

What five?

A gift to a visitor.

A gift to someone setting out on a journey.

A gift to someone who is sick.

A gift at a time of famine.

Presenting the freshly harvested grains and fruits first to those who are ethical.

These are the five timely gifts.

The wise give at the right time,

being bountiful and rid of stinginess.

A religious donation at the right time

to the noble ones, upright and unaffected,

given with a clear and confident mind,

is indeed abundant.

Those who rejoice at that,

or do other services,

don’t miss out on the offering;

they too have a share in the merit.

So you should give without holding back,

where a gift is very fruitful.

The good deeds of sentient beings

support them in the next world.”