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The poor man said that he had 
conquered 
his stinginess. The king thought, 
"such a person is 
rare" and therefore set the man up 
in life with a 
standard of living fit for a 
millionaire.The man offered 
everything he had been given to 
the Buddha 
except for a shawl for himself and 
one for his wife. 
The king therefore gave the man 
even more possessions. 
In the morning the Buddha 
revealed to the rest of 
the monastic community that if the 
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man had managed 
to conquer his stinginess since the 
beginning 
of the sermon, he would have been 
made four times 
as rich. If he had conquered his 
stinginess at midnight 
he would have been twice as rich. 
His hesitation 
had blunted the power of his 
meritorious intention. 
The Buddha concluded that if 
anyone ever 
has the faith to do a good deed, 
then they should 
quickly do that good deed before 
the intention is 
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overtaken by stinginess. 
G.5 Ex. Sumedha Hermit 
(.1.L3Off) 
At the fruition of the ninth 
asaIkheyya kappa of 
pursuing perfections the 
bodhisattva was born as 
a hermit called Sumedha. He 
trained himself in 
meditation until attaining magical 
powers — being 
able to fly through the air. One day 
he travelled 
in the air and saw all the people of 
a certain town 
building a road. He asked why 
they were building 
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the road. They replied that the 
Buddha DipaIkara 
had already arisen in the world so 
they were creating 
a road to receive the Buddha. 
Sumedha the hermit 
asked permission to rebuild part of 
the road 
for himself, and the people of the 
town permitted 
him. They thought he would use 
his hermit's powers 
to magic the road to completion, so 
they gave 
him a piece of road that ran over a 
piece of subsided 
ground, with a deep hole in it. 
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Sumedha 
wanted to cultivate generosity the 
`hard way' in 
order to fulfil his Perfections so 
instead of using 
magical powers he started to mend 
the road by the 
Blessing Fifteen: Generosity 195 
sweat of his brow. Consequently, 
he had not finished 
leveling his piece of road when the 
Buddha 
and his disciples reached the place. 
Sumedha 
thought, `the road I have built is 
not finished —
never mind, only two metres 
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remains — so I will 
lie down in the hole in the road 
myself. When the 
Buddha arrived, he bowed at the 
feet of the Buddha 
and invited the Buddha and all of 
his disciples 
to be his field of merit and allow 
him to be a human 
bridge for them all to traverse the 
unfinished 
piece of road. The Buddha and all 
the disciples 
walked over his body and instead 
of feeling aches 
and pains, Sumedha was filled 
with joy to have been 
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of service to the Buddha. That was 
the lifetime in  
which the DipaIkara Buddha gave 
Sumedha the 
prophecy of his own Buddhahood 
that he would 
need to go on to attain full 
enlightenment four 
asalkheyya and 100,000 kappas 
later. It was also 
the lifetime that the bodhisattva 
recognized generosity 
as the foundation of all other 
Perfections (as 
mentioned at §A.3 above). 
G.6 Ex. Aputtaka millionaire 
(DhA.iv.76ff) 
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One day in the time of the Buddha, 
King Pasenadi 
of Kosala (of SAvatthE) came for 
audience with the 
Buddha in the afternoon. King 
Pasenadi said that a 
miraculous thing had happened 
concerning a millionaire 
in his town. (Millionaires in our 
own time 
are simply rich people, but in those 
times `millionaire' 
was a title bestowed by a king, on 
wealthy 
economists. Some in those times 
may have been 
wealthy but if they had no 
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knowledge of economics, 
they would not qualify for such a 
title. Millionaires 
had the duty to be patrons who 
would use 
their knowledge and their wealth 
to support the 
king in the development of the 
nation. They were 
almost like bankers of the present 
day.) A millionaire 
had died without heir so the whole 
legacy of 
the millionaire became national 
property and had 
been taken for storage in the 
palace. When the millionaire 
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was alive he had been so stingy 
that he 
would not even allow expenditure 
to feed himself 
decently. He would survive only 
on rice husks and 
over-ripe fruit sold at clearance 
prices. He would 
wear only rag clothes — anyone 
who saw him 
couldn't believe he was a 
millionaire. He would not 
even buy soap so he always 
smelled from never 
washing. 
The King asked how such a person 
could be so 
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rich but seemed unable to spend 
any money on himself. 
The Buddha looked at the previous 
lives of the 
man and told the king that in a 
previous lifetime, 
the man had donated food to a 
paccekabuddha. 
Arahants, paccekabuddhas and 
fully-enlightened Buddhas 
are so pure of mind that anybody 
giving a 
donation to any such will accrue a 
lot of merit. On 
this particular occasion he had 
instructed his wife 
to offer food to the paccekabuddha 
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and went to work. 
When he returned he found out 
that his wife had 
given all the best of their food to 
the paccekabuddha. 
He thought with regret, "If we had 
eaten that food 
ourselves, we would have had 
plenty to eat for 
many days. If we had given the 
food to our workers, 
they would have worked their 
hardest for us 
for many days." When the merit of 
the donation of 
food gave its fruit, he became a 
very rich man, but 
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from his regret at a later time, he 
was always stingy 
in any expenditure for his own 
convenience. He was 
only able to use remnants because 
at that time when 
he regretted having offered food to 
the paccekabuddha, 
all he thought of giving the 
paccekabuddha 
was remnants. 
G.7 Ex. Daddalla VimAnavatthu 
(Vv.48) 
In the time of the Buddha there 
were two sisters. 
The elder was called Patta and the 
younger was 
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called Supatta. Both sisters did as 
many merits as 
they could throughout their lives. 
Patta intended 
to do more merits than her little 
sister. When Patta 
passed away, through the power of 
her merit, she 
was reborn as an angel and was 
born in the second 
level of heaven (TavatiOsa). Patta 
the angel wondered 
where her little sister had gone. 
Only much 
later did an angel of very bright 
complexion introduce 
herself as her former little sister 
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who was now 
an angel in the higher fifth level of 
heaven 
(Nimmanaradi). Patta the angel 
was confused. She 
had always done many more 
merits than her little 
sister — how come she had a 
lower rebirth? Supatta 
the angel revealed that even 
though she had had 
less chance than her elder sister to 
make generous 
donations to monks, whenever she 
did make a merit 
196 A Manual of Peace: 38 Steps 
towards Enlightened Living 
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it was always a donation to the 
monastic community 
[saIghadAna] rather than the 
personalized 
merit [paEipuggalikadAna] offered 
by the elder sister. 
As the result of her donations, the 
elder sister's 
mind was not truly broad, and the 
merit she accrued 
was reduced. As for her little 
sister, although 
she had less opportunity to make 
merit, she always 
offered it with the thought,"May 
my gift be received 
by any monk who practices in 
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earnest 
any monk 
who is a representative of the 
monastic community 
will do." Thus when the younger 
sister passed 
away, as a result of her mind being 
broader and 
having fewer biases in her 
understanding of 
Dhamma, she took a more 
fortunate rebirth than 
her sister when she passed away. 
G.8 Ex. JEjaka Brahmin & his 
wife AmittatApanA 
1)4.521-4, 593 
Some people like to ask about the 
story of Vessandara. 
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In that particular JAtaka,there is an 
evil man a hundred 
years old called JEjaka who has a 
young wife 
called AmittatApanA (aged 17). 
Some ask what this 
old man did to get himself a wife 
young enough to be 
his grandchild. AmittatApanA was 
someone fond of 
giving but instead of offering fresh 
flowers to the monks 
she would always offer only 
shriveled flowers. When 
the time came for her to marry, 
then her husband was 
also old and shriveled. As for 
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JEjaka, he would always 
like to offer flowers to the monks 
that were fresh so 
when the merit gave its fruit the 
result was different. 
For a similar reason, if people 
habitually offer only second-
hand things to the monks, maybe 
they will always 
get a widow(er) for their spouse! 
G.9 Ex. Bhattabhatika the 
woodcutter 
(DhA.iii.87ff.) 
There was once a millionaire 
called Gandha SeEEhE 
who inherited a fortune — and 
considering that he 
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would be unable to take it with 
him when he died, 
made every attempt to use up his 
wealth within his 
lifetime by every sort of 
extravagence. He would 
spend 100,000 kahapanas each 
day alone on his own 
food. His extravagence became 
renowned and he 
would thus eat in public so that the 
peasants could 
come to watch what delicacies he 
would eat each day. 
One day a wood-cutter passed by 
and became so entranced 
by the millionaire's food that he 
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