གསར་མདག་ག་སྔན་གྱ་སྦྱར་བ་ཞས་བྱ་བ 9

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welcomed the blessed pratyekabuddha, bowed his head at the feet of the blessed pratyekabuddha, and invited him to sit on a seat that had been prepared. King Kanakavarṇa then asked the blessed pratyekabuddha, ‘Sage, for what purpose have you come here?’

“‘For the purpose of food, great king,’ the sage replied.

“Upon this, King Kanakavarṇa was very distraught, and weeping, he cried, ‘Oh, how poor I am! Even though I have dominion over Jambudvīpa, I am not able to provide alms to even a single sage!’

“Then the deity of the royal capital Kanakāvatī uttered this verse to King Kanakavarṇa:

What is suffering? It is to be poor.
What is greater suffering? It is poverty itself.
To be in poverty is the same as death.⁶⁵
I would not choose poverty over death!⁶⁶

“King Kanakavarṇa then summoned the person in charge of the storehouse and asked, ‘Sir, is there any food in the house that I could offer to this sage?’

“‘Your Majesty,’ he replied, ‘Please know that all the food in Jambudvīpa has been exhausted apart from a single measure of food that remains for Your Majesty.’

“King Kanakavarṇa thought, ‘If I eat it, I will live. If I do not eat it, I will die.’ But then he thought, ‘Even if I eat it,⁶⁷ I will certainly come to die—enough of this life of mine! How could such a virtuous and excellent sage leave my house today with an alms bowl as pristine as before he entered?’⁶⁸

“King Kanakavarṇa then gathered his accountants, ministers, courtiers, gatekeepers, and councilors, and said, ‘Please rejoice, sirs! This is King Kanakavarṇa’s final act of charity.⁶⁹ By this root of virtue,