法句譬喻經 16.p7

16.p7

“There are four kinds of charitable offerings. “What are the four? First, where the gifts are large, and the merit small; secondly, where the gifts are small, and the merit large; thirdly, where the gifts are large, and the merit large; fourthly, where the gifts are small, and the merit also small. And now, with respect to the first, when is the gift large, and the merit small? In the case of the foolish and deluded man who takes away life for the purpose of offering up sacrifices to the gods, accompanied by wine-drinking, singing, dancing, and the bestowal of wealth. Here the gifts are great, but the merit small indeed. With regard to the case when the gifts are small and the merit small, this is so when, from covetousness and an evil heart, the offerings given to the learned (or religious persons) are small and stint; in such case the reward also is stint. And when is it that the offerings, though small, entail a large reward? In the case when, from a principle of love, a man offers to a virtuous person (or religious man) what small gift he has, with a desire to learn from him the principles of true wisdom, this man reaps great reward. And lastly, the case of a great gift securing a great reward, as in the case of one who, realising the vanity of all earthly things, out of a good heart gives his wealth to found monasteries, or to purchase grounds for fruits, with which to make offerings to the Three Holy Ones, or who gives clothing and other necessaries for this same purpose, his merit, like the waters of the five rivers which enter the ocean, is immeasurable, his reward returns into his own bosom many fold, as the return of the seed sown by the husbandman in land prepared for it.”