Just as the moon, unblemished,
going through the property of space,
outshines through brightness
all the constellations in the cosmos,
in the same way, the person of conviction,
consummate in virtue,
outshines through generosity
all misers in the world.
Just as a hundred-billowed,
lightning-garlanded,
thundering cloud,
raining down on the wealth-bearing [earth],
fills the highlands and low,
just so does one consummate in vision,
a disciple of the rightly self-awakened one,
wise,
excel the miser in five ways—
in life-span, status, beauty, & pleasure1—
and, having been strengthened by wealth,
after death, rejoices in heaven.
Notes
1. The fifth point, sovereignty, was omitted from the verse, apparently because it did not fit with the meter.
Origin URL: https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/AN/AN5_31.html