འཕགས་པ་སྤབས་པའ་བླ་གྲས་ཀྱས་ཞས་པ་ཞས་བྱ་བ་ཐག་པ་ཆན་པའ་མད intro.3

intro.3

Following the discourse, Pratibhānamati invites the Buddha to his home for the midday meal. As a final illustration of the law of karma, we are introduced to two beggars who seat themselves among the saṅgha when the midday meal is being served. One of them does not observe the proper etiquette of ensuring honored guests are served first and thus is not served anything to eat or drink. Enraged, he leaves, harboring a very negative judgment of the assembly and perversely vowing revenge. As a result, he soon suffers an unfortunate death followed by millions of eons in hell. The other beggar, however, observes proper etiquette and is served abundant food and drink. He entertains a virtuous aspiration to serve the Buddha and his assembly for an entire week. The effect of this noble wish is that he soon becomes the king of a neighboring land whose ruler has perished without an appropriate heir. He is astounded at his sudden reversal of fortune and seeks to understand its source. Through the blessings of the Buddha he realizes how his past actions determined his current fortune. He therefore invites the Buddha and the saṅgha and serves them just as he had aspired to do. The Buddha delivers a teaching that propels the king to the state of a stream enterer. The sūtra concludes with the audience praising the Buddha and rejoicing in his teaching. Through its descriptions and examples of the workings of karma, the sūtra underscores the importance and benefits of upholding core Buddhist virtues of kindness, gratitude, generosity, honesty, and respect, while warning of the grave consequences awaiting those who do the opposite.