In whatever place
a wise person makes his dwelling,
–there providing food
for the virtuous,
the restrained,
leaders of the holy life–
he should dedicate that offering
to the devas there.
They, receiving honor, will honor him;
being respected, will show him respect.
As a result, they will feel sympathy for him,
like that of a mother for her child, her son.
A person with whom the devas sympathize
always meets with auspicious things.
Those
who cross the foaming flood,
having made a bridge, avoiding the swamps
–while people are binding rafts–
have already crossed
: the wise.
Notes
1. The translation here follows the Burmese and Sri Lankan editions of the text. The PTS and Thai editions state that the Buddha went to the rest-house hall in the morning–which, given the events that follow, doesn’t seem right, for he would have spent the entire day teaching the lay followers of Pāṭali Village. The Burmese and Sri Lankan editions of the account of these events given in DN 16 state explicitly that the Buddha went to the rest-house hall in the late afternoon, which seems more reasonable. The PTS edition of that passage doesn’t state the time of day, while the Thai edition states that he went in the morning.
2. Pāṭaliputta later became the capital of King Asoka’s empire. The “breaking open of the seed-pods (pūṭa-bhedana)” is a wordplay on the last part of the city’s name.
Archaeological evidence from what may have been part of Asoka’s palace in Pāṭaliputta shows burnt wooden posts buried in mud–perhaps a sign that the palace burned and then was buried in a flood.
Origin URL: https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/KN/Ud/ud8_6.html