འཕགས་པ་སངས་རྒྱས་ཀྱ་རྟགས་པ་བརྗད་པ་ཤས་ལྡན་གྱ་མད 4

4

As to accept this gift of alms?
Please accept this midday meal today
For having saved me so.

“Please think kindly as I invite you
To my parents’ home tomorrow.
Together with all of your monks
Please come to partake of a midday meal.”

The Blessed One remained silent, signaling his acceptance of the child Jñānaka’s request. Aware that the Blessed One had accepted by not speaking, the child Jñānaka went before his parents and announced, “Dear father and mother, I offered alms to the Blessed One and have invited him tomorrow for a midday meal.”

The parents of the child Jñānaka were pleased and rejoiced, full of happiness and delight. Filled with joy and elation, they arranged a spread of delicious foods and tasty delicacies that very night. They had the entire city of Vaiśālī swept clean and strung with silk tassels. They lit incense in incense burners, sprinkled fragrant water, and elegantly scattered flowers. When the night had passed and the appropriate time had come, they went to the Blessed One and said, “Honorable One, Blessed One, it is time for the midday meal. The food is ready.”

At dawn, the Blessed One donned his lower garment, dressed in his robes, and picked up his alms bowl. Escorted and encircled by an assembly of monks, he went to the home of Jñānaka’s parents where they sat upon seats that had been prepared for them. Noticing that the Blessed One and the saṅgha of monks were seated, the child Jñānaka brought forth many delicious foods and tasty delicacies, offering them carefully with his own hands. Seeing that the Blessed One had finished his midday meal, he presented a set of cotton robes and a pair of sandals to each member of the saṅgha, and three new robes and a pair of new shoes to the Blessed One.