5.37. Food (AN5.37)

“Bhikkhus, a donor who gives food gives the recipients five things. What five? One gives life, beauty, happiness, strength, and discernment. (1) Having given life, one partakes of life, whether celestial or human. (2) Having given beauty, one partakes of beauty, whether celestial or human. (3) Having given happiness, one partakes of happiness, whether celestial or human. (4) Having given strength, one partakes of strength, whether celestial or human. (5) Having given discernment, one partakes of discernment, whether celestial or human. A donor who gives food gives the recipients these five things.”

The wise one is a giver of life,
strength, beauty, and discernment.
The intelligent one is a donor of happiness
and in turn acquires happiness.

Having given life, strength, beauty,
happiness, and discernment,
one is long-lived and famous
wherever one is reborn.

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

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Prepared for SuttaCentral by Blake Walsh.